In the heels of the public war of words between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, anxiety rises among the remaining employees of the Department of Effectiveness of the Government based on Musc, certain members of the worried staff not only of their future in the government, but of the potentially future objectives of the administration, according to sources.
Certain members of DOGE staff are still anchored in federal agencies fear that the Rift and the Public Mud between Trump and Musk will leave them vulnerable to political remuneration and damage their future job prospects, several familiar sources with Internal Discussions in ABC News said.
Some fear that their association with DOGE to make objectives if the quarrel is degenerating and that Trump is moving to investigate the government’s washing initiative that Musk directed until it moved away last week, the sources said.
Others fear that if Trump is distance from Doge, their links with this could become a professional responsibility, said sources.
Musk, the CEO billionaire of Tesla and SpaceX, approached Trump in the past year when he campaigned for the re -election of Trump before helping to launch Doge to try to reach Trump’s goal of reducing the federal government. A quasi -government entity, DOGE has aroused controversy because it is closed from government agencies and has had access to sensitive data.
The relationship between the president and the richest person in the world broke out in an exchange of insults on social networks on Thursday while Musk was slamming Trump for “ingratitude” during the 2024 elections while Trump threatened to “end the subsidies and government contracts of Elon”.
In the middle of the sputum, the host of the war hall and former Trump advisor, Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of Trump who has criticized Musk for years, calls on the president to launch investigations on the billionaire after Thursday’s bankruptcy.
Elon Musk attended a press conference in the Oval Oval Office of the White House in Washington, May 30, 2025 and President Donald Trump speaking at the White House Oval Office in Washington on June 5, 2025.
Reuters
“This is a national security problem,” said Bannon on Thursday. “We are dealing with a very unstable person by saying dangerous things about the President of the United States. He must be investigated … and all government contracts should be suspended.”
Several of Musk’s best allies who have been special government employees with Musk, including Steve Davis, his long -standing lieutenant and operational manager, left Doge last week with Musk. But many DOGE employees remain anchored in federal agencies, in particular at the office of staff management, veterans, treasury, IRS and the social security administration, sources said.
However, the departure of Musk marked a major turning point for Doge and how it will work day by day, since officials like Davis helped to direct the Doge team for months through the federal government.
In the absence of Musk, Doge’s staff will continue to present themselves to their respective agency leadership, sources said. Last week, the White House said that to move forward the “leaders of the Doge are each member of the president’s office and the president himself”.
Sources tell ABC News that some DOGE staff still working in the federal government have started to look for jobs elsewhere. And although there are concerns about their future career prospects, some major technological companies have expressed their interest in hiring former Doge students – with companies like Coinbase even creating a dedicated hiring portal specifically recruiting the former Doge.
The main press director of the White House, Harrison Fields, told ABC News in a statement: “The mission of eliminating waste, fraud and mistreatment is part of the DNA of the federal government and will continue under the leadership of the president, its office and its agency leaders to improve the efficiency of the government and prioritize the responsible management of taxpayers.”
Asked about any potential investigation into DOGE, an adviser to the White House said that the president was only focused on passing his signature spending bill, known as “Big Beau Bill”.
Despite Trump’s public quarrel and Musk, the president has not yet publicly criticized Doge during the War of Words and previously praised the initiative.
During the availability of the press in the White House in the Oval Office last week, Trump said that Musk “had brought a colossal change in the old ways of doing business in Washington” and described Doge as “the most radical and consecutive government reform program”.
Musk, for his part, minimized the idea that Doge needed him to survive by leaving the Trump administration last week.
“Doge is a way of life, like Buddhism,” he said. “You wouldn’t ask the question:” Who would direct Buddhism? “”
