Elon Musk Has 'No Actual Authority To Make Government Decisions,' Says Trump White House On DOGE

Tech billionaire Elon Musk is under legal scrutiny for his role as a senior advisor to President Donald Trump, with allegations of exercising “virtually unchecked power”.

What Happened: The White House clarified on Monday that Musk is not a part of the Department of Government Efficiency team but serves as a senior advisor to the President. This clarification comes as the Trump administration faces a lawsuit alleging Musk’s influence is excessive for a non-elected, non-Senate-confirmed individual, reported the Associated Press.

A lawsuit filed by several Democratic states seeks to restrict Musk and the DOGE team from accessing government systems, arguing that Musk’s influence contravenes the Constitution. The Trump administration, however, maintains that Musk is not a DOGE employee and does not have the authority to make government decisions himself, as stated by Joshua Fisher, director of the White House Office of Administration.

Fisher said that Musk has “no actual authority to make government decisions himself.”

Musk, known for his vocal support for DOGE’s work, has promoted it on his social media platform X and during a public appearance at the White House. The specifics of his role, though, continue to be a point of contention in the ongoing lawsuit.

Judge Tanya Chutkan was not convinced in Monday’s hearing when Department of Justice lawyers said that Musk did not have any formal powers. She said, “I think you stretch too far. I disagree with you there.”

See Also: ‘Fork In The Road’—75,000 Federal Workers Took Musk’s Offer, But Was It Enough?

Why It Matters: This legal challenge comes in the wake of Musk’s involvement in a debate on Social Security data accuracy. Musk shared statistics showing millions of Americans over 100 years old listed as alive in the system, sparking a discussion about the accuracy of Social Security Administration data.

Musk’s claim that all DOGE actions were posted to the official DOGE website was met with skepticism by fellow billionaire Mark Cuban when the site was found to be blank. As noted by Benzinga, the DOGE website, which Musk claimed served as a central location for all departmental updates, was empty for weeks, leading to criticism of DOGE’s transparency efforts.

Image via Shutterstock

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This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Shivdeep Dhaliwal