Billionaire Elon Musk said Friday he would remain a "friend and advisor" to Donald Trump, as the US president hosted an Oval Office farewell for the man who led his turbulent cost-cutting drive.
"I look forward to continuing to be a friend and advisor to the president," Musk told reporters after Trump handed a golden key as a gift to the departing leader of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Musk, clad in a black T-shirt and jacket and wearing a baseball cap as he stood next to the seated Trump, said he would keep supporting the team that is "relentlessly pursuing a trillion dollars in waste" in reductions that will "benefit the American taxpayer."
He complained about how he has been portrayed, saying: "We became, like, essentially the DOGE bogeyman, where any cut anywhere would be ascribed to DOGE."
Musk, the world's richest person, has said he is stepping back from his role at the White House to focus on his companies, which include Tesla, SpaceX and social media platform X.
His formal exit comes after a bombshell report in The New York Times on his alleged drug use.
The newspaper said that Musk used so much ketamine during the 2024 campaign that he developed bladder problems and that he was also taking ecstasy and psychoactive mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year.
Musk was immediately asked about the report. He did not reply directly and instead denounced The New York Times over its previous coverage of Russian interference in the 2016 election before moving to the next question.
DOGE under Musk's guidance has slashed billions of dollars in government spending, much of it already approved by Congress, including eviscerating the main US agency delivering foreign aid.
A Boston University study said that tens of thousands of people have already died because of the freeze in funding, a finding earlier denied by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
"We're totally committed to making the DOGE cuts permanent and stopping much more of the waste in the months that come," Trump said.
He said that Musk "is really not leaving" as DOGE is working on further priorities such as "modernization" of the tax-collecting Internal Revenue Service, whose ranks have been slashed.
Trump said of Musk: "I have a feeling it's his baby, and I think he's going to be doing a lot of things."
Pointing to Musk's Starlink satellite internet service, Trump said: "Frankly, I don't think he gets credit for what it's done, but he's a very good person."
With AFP
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