Elon Musk is not leaving the nation’s capital quietly.
The Tesla CEO confirmed his exit from Washington, D.C., in a post on X Wednesday night, saying that his scheduled time as a special government employee is coming “to an end.”
“I would like to thank President [Trump] for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” Musk wrote on X, referring to his work with the Department of Government Efficiency.
The post came one day after telling CBS in an interview that is scheduled to air in full this weekend that he was “disappointed” by the price tag of Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” that could produce over $3 trillion in new red ink if the bill is passed.
The bill “increases the budget deficit … and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” he said.
White House adviser Stephen Miller said on X that the bill would in fact reduce the deficit and that DOGE cuts would have to be formalized in subsequent legislation.
The world’s richest man is making his views on a variety of subjects well known in Washington as he returns his attention to his many businesses, including Tesla (TSLA) and SpaceX (SPAX.PVT).
He told Bloomberg last week that he is going to do less political spending in the future, saying “I think I’ve done enough,” and acknowledged to Ars Technica that “I think I probably did spend a bit too much time on politics.”
His ongoing feud with OpenAI’s Sam Altman even became part of the Washington conversation after the Wall Street Journal reported that Musk pushed back against a deal announced last week that has OpenAI (OPAI.PVT) and other tech giants building an AI data center in Abu Dhabi.
The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times reported that Musk tried to include his AI company, xAI, in the deal, but that didn’t happen.
Musk also made it clear this week that he is returning to the office so he can focus on his businesses, including Tesla, SpaceX, and X.
“Back to spending 24/7 at work and sleeping in conference/server/factory rooms,” he said Tuesday on X, adding that he “must be super focused on X/xAI and Tesla (plus Starship launch next week), as we have critical technologies rolling out.”
Tesla itself is gearing up for crucial robotaxi trials in Austin, starting at the end of July.
Musk and Tesla have bet the future of the company on self-driving and the ability for its cars to perform robotaxi services. Tesla’s dedicated robotaxi — the Cybercab — is slated for a 2026 launch as well. And Tesla’s long-awaited, more affordable EVs are expected to be revealed in the first half of the year.
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