By Molly Goddard
12:16pm PST, Mar 6, 2025
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Did President
Donald Trump put his foot in his mouth during the State of the Union address?
While speaking to the nation for the first time since he returned to the White House on Tuesday, March 4, the Republican leader referred to
Elon Musk as the "head" of DOGE. The government officials have been hit with numerous lawsuits for their bold actions and have previously avoided explicitly naming the tech mogul as the leader of the department.
Join us to hear why this could be a big issue for Trump's attorneys…
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"To further combat inflation, we will not only be reducing the cost of energy but will be ending the flagrant waste of taxpayer dollars. And to that end, I have created the brand-new Department of Government Efficiency.
DOGE — perhaps you've heard of it, perhaps — which is headed by Elon Musk, who is in the gallery tonight," Trump said in the joint session on Congress.
The president's small declaration may bring significant issues as he and the Tesla founder have cut huge amounts of government jobs and ended many federally funded programs, prompting people to take legal action.
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Musk's conflict of interest has also been questioned, especially after he allegedly pressured the Federal Aviation Administration to breach its contract with Verizon in favor of his company,
SpaceX.
In legal documents, Trump's attorneys claimed Musk is "not an employee of the U.S. DOGE Service or the U.S. DOGE Service temporary organization."
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The affidavit specifically labeled Musk as "an employee of the
White House office," with the title "Senior Advisor to the President as a non-career Special Government Employee."
Amy Gleason, meanwhile, was named DOGE administrator by officials.
During a recent preliminary injunction hearing, Judge Theodore Chuang pressed one of Trump's lawyers about who's really the head of the department.
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"Who was the head of DOGE before Amy Gleason?" Chuang questioned.
"I can't answer that, I don't know," the attorney replied.
"I mean, that seems like a knowable fact, doesn't it?" the judge pointed out.
"I'm sure it is knowable; I just don't know it. I'm very conscious of being accurate with the court. … I just can't make a representation," the
government counsel said.
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Trump has said only glowing things about Musk and the work he's doing for the country.
"You know, I wanted to find somebody
smarter than him," the president explained in an interview with Fox News. "I searched all over. I just couldn't do it. I couldn't. I really tried hard. I couldn't find anyone smarter. We settled on this guy."
