President Donald Trump stepped on his own legal team's arguments in court when he boasted Wednesday about how he had put tech billionaire Elon Musk in charge of the federal government's Department of Government Efficiency task force to eliminate waste and fraud from federal departments.
"I signed an order creating the Department of Government Efficiency, and put a man named Elon Musk in charge," said Trump in his speech to the Future Investment Initiative Institute, to a smattering of applause. "Thank you, Elon, for doing that."
This claim, however, goes directly against the arguments made by the Justice Department while arguing before U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan against a cohort of Democratic state attorneys general, who were seeking an emergency order barring DOGE from making further cuts or accessing sensitive information from seven federal agencies. Those attorneys said “Musk has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself,” and that he may only “advise the President and communicate the President’s directives.”
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That argument caused a stir among many legal observers, as the idea Musk is not actually in charge of DOGE contradicts what he and Trump had said up to that point — and contradicts Trump's latest remarks.
"WHO IS THE ADMINISTRATOR OF DOGE??????????" Lawfare's Anna Bower posted to X, highlighting the disconnect.
Ultimately, Chutkan declined to grant the restraining order, ruling that Appointments Clause issues like this generally do not constitute an emergency seeking immediate relief — but she warned in her opinion that the lawsuit against Musk's authority may eventually prevail on the merits.
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