By Molly Goddard
3:31am PDT, Apr 5, 2025
_
"As I said very early on, Musk is a short-timer," Bill O'Reilly told Chris Cuomo about Elon Musk reportedly leaving Donald Trump's administration and his special
government job with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
"It's just too hot. You just can't have a guy that hot," the right-wing journalist added of the billionaire's bold moves — like laying off thousands of federal workers. "He did a good job exposing the government waste. But now, the technicians should take over. I think he'll remain a Trump advisor, but I do think he'll go back to the private sector."
"You don't need Elon to go out and sell, it's sold,' O'Reilly emphasized. "Most Americans know that we're being fleeced, the taxpayer's being fleeced. So he's accomplished what he wanted to accomplish."
_
The words of wisdom from Bill O'Reilly come as Elon Musk is set to leave his special government job at the end of May.
Despite reports claiming the tech mogul's exit is related to his standing with Donald Trump, federal regulations make it clear
special government employees (SGEs) can only stay at their posts for 130 consecutive days.
_
Donald Trump touched on the change in his administration during a Monday, March 31, meeting with the press in the
Oval Office.
"At some point, he's going to be going back," the businessman explained about Elon Musk returning to his own ventures. "I'll keep him as long as I can keep him. He's a very talented guy. I love very smart people, and he's very smart. And he's done a good job. I like high-IQ people. At some point, Elon's going to want to go back to his company."
_
After the rumors ran rampant about Donald Trump and Elon Musk's working relationship, White House Press Secretary
Karoline Leavitt took to X to make it clear the SpaceX founder's end date was set months in advance.
"Elon Musk and President Trump have both *publicly* stated that Elon will depart from public service as a special government employee when his incredible work at DOGE is complete," the media liaison wrote.
_
During a Thursday, April 3, interview on
Fox & Friends, Vice President
J.D. Vance touched upon Elon Musk's future with Donald Trump's administration: "DOGE has got a lot of work to do and yeah, that work is going to continue after Elon leaves," he said. "But fundamentally, Elon is going to remain a friend and an adviser of both me and the president. The work of DOGE is not even close to done. He's done a lot of good things."
