Musk dished on his criticism of Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), attacks on DOGE, and his deadline for a total of $1 trillion in cuts, among other topics.
Here’s some of the most vital information from the nearly hourlong interview.
Wider DOGE team gets chance on camera
Seven other DOGE leaders, including the Treasury Department’s Tom Krause and Office of Personnel Management leader Anthony Armstrong, sat alongside Musk in the interview.
DOGE Administrator Amy Gleason was not present for the sit-down, though Steve Davis, who has been named Musk’s “top lieutenant,” was and said he is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the department. Davis worked for Musk at X, SpaceX, and the Boring Company.
“@BretBaier group interview was hugely important for them,” the Washington Examiner’s Byron York said in a post on X. “Seeing Musk with his top aides brought home the point that these are serious people doing serious work. When the whole thing is posted, watch it.”
Others included Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia, who is working on a digital retirement project for the department, DOGE engineer Aram Moghaddassi, Health and Human Services DOGE leader Brad Smith, and Interior Department DOGE leader Tyler Hassen.
Musk’s 130-day objective
Musk said he believes most of DOGE’s work will be done by the time he reaches the end of his 130-day window as a “special government employee.” Such an employee can only work 130 days out of a 365-day period.
“I think we will have accomplished most of the work required to reduce the deficit by $1 trillion within that time frame,” he said. That time frame lines up with a late May finish for Musk and DOGE.
He believes they can move even faster. “What seems like incredibly fast action by government standards is — it’s slower than I’d like, to be totally frank,” Musk said.
The Tesla CEO believes the $1 trillion goal in cuts can be achieved without slashing vital services such as Social Security. “This is a revolution, and I think it might be the biggest revolution in government since the original revolution,” he said.
“America will be solvent,” he added. “The critical programs that people depend upon will work, and it’s going to be a fantastic future. And are we going to get a lot of complaints along the way? Absolutely.”
DOGE skeptics ‘never attack any specifics’
While DOGE has received an immense amount of criticism for its role in the federal government, Musk believes its critics often don’t point to specific faults.
“When they attack DOGE, they never attack any of the specifics,” Musk said. “They’ll say something we’re doing is somehow unconstitutional or illegal or whatever. We are like, ‘Well, which lane line of the cost savings do you disagree with?’ And they can’t point to any. And we list them all on http://doge.gov.”
One of the largest controversies concerning DOGE was the closure of the U.S. Agency for International Development, which many viewed as a foreign policy blunder. A judge recently ruled that DOGE likely violated the Constitution by firing many of USAID’s employees.
DOGE working to upgrade systems like old Pennsylvania mine
Gebbia said Musk told him about the Pennsylvania limestone mine that houses the retirement records of all government employees and implored him to help them fix the system. The Airbnb co-founder is now working to digitize the retirement system.
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Musk hopes that a digitized retirement system will speed up the retirement process, which currently takes months. Such a speedup could hasten his clean-out of federal government employees who are deemed no longer essential.
Gebbia said the process will be overhauled “within the next couple of months.”
Musk defends calling Kelly a traitor
Musk called Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), a former astronaut and Navy veteran, a “traitor” after Kelly visited Ukraine earlier this month to push for new weapons support.
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He explained the comment on Thursday. “Well, I think somebody should care about the interests of the United States above the interests of another country, and if they don’t, they’re a traitor,” he said.
When pressed about Kelly’s military background and service as a senator as evidence he isn’t a traitor, Musk stumbled. “That doesn’t mean, uh, it’s OK for him to put the interests of another country above America.”
