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Trump Tells Inner Circle That Musk Will Leave Soon
Politico ^ | 4/2/2025 | Rachel Bade

Posted on 04/02/2025 8:47:06 AM PDT by Miami Rebel

President Donald Trump has told his inner circle, including members of his Cabinet, that Elon Musk will be stepping back in the coming weeks from his current role as governing partner, ubiquitous cheerleader and Washington hatchet man.

The president remains pleased with Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency initiative but both men have decided in recent days that it will soon be time for Musk to return to his businesses and take on a supporting role, according to three Trump insiders who were granted anonymity to describe the evolving relationship.

Musk’s looming retreat comes as some Trump administration insiders and many outside allies have become frustrated with his unpredictability and increasingly view the billionaire as a political liability, a dynamic that was thrown into stark relief Tuesday when a conservative judge Musk vocally supported lost his bid for a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat by 10 points.

It also represents a stark shift in the Trump-Musk relationship from a month ago, when White House officials and allies were predicting Musk was “here to stay” and that Trump would find a way to blow past the 130-day time limit.

One senior administration official said Musk is likely to retain an informal role as an adviser and continue to be an occasional face around the White House grounds. Another cautioned that anyone who thinks Musk is going to disappear entirely from Trump’s orbit is “fooling themselves.”

The transition, the insiders said, is likely to correspond to the end of Musk’s time as a “special government employee,” a special status that temporarily exempts him from some ethics and conflict-of-interest rules. That 130-day period is expected to expire in late May or early June.

Musk’s defenders inside the administration believe that the time is right for a transition, given their view that there’s only so much more he can cut from government agencies without shaving too close to the bone.

But many others say, he’s an unpredictable, unmanageable force who has had issues communicating his plans with Cabinet secretaries and through the White House chain of command led by Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, frequently sending them into a frenzy with unexpected and off-message comments on X, his social-media platform — including sharing unvetted and uncoordinated plans to gut federal agencies.

The political threat Musk poses was highlighted Tuesday after Democrats seized on Musk’s roughly $20 million investment in the Wisconsin race, with some openly calling it a referendum on the polarizing mogul.

Trump, however, had already started easing the glide path starting more than a week before the election — including at a March 24 Cabinet meeting where he told attendees that Musk would be transitioning out of the administration, according to one of the insiders, who did not attend the meeting but was briefed on the comments. A senior administration official confirmed Trump discussed Musk’s transition at the meeting.

Immediately after making the announcement, Trump invited reporters and cameras in for the tail end of the meeting, where he lavished praise on Musk, who attended the meeting wearing a red MAGA hat. Cabinet secretaries — many of whom had clashed with Musk just weeks before over Musk’s bull-in-a-china-shop approach to cutting their departments — in turn jumped in to hail his bureaucracy-slashing campaign.

“Elon, I want to thank you — I know you’ve been through a lot,” Trump said, mentioning death threats and the spate vandalism directed at the cars built by Tesla before calling him “a patriot” and “a friend of mine.”

Both men subsequently hinted publicly at a transition. When Fox News’ Bret Baier asked Musk on Thursday whether he’d be ready to leave when his special government employee status expires, he essentially declared mission accomplished: “I think we will have accomplished most of the work required to reduce the deficit by $1 trillion within that time frame.”

On Monday night, Trump told reporters that “at some point Elon’s gonna want to go back to his company,” adding: “He wants to. I’d keep him as long as I could keep him.”

“As the President said, this White House would love to keep Elon around for as long as possible,” White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said Tuesday as election results from Wisconsin rolled in. “Elon has been instrumental in executing the President’s agenda, and will continue this good work until the President says otherwise.”

But many close to Trump are increasingly relieved that Musk is expected to soon move on from his central role at Trump’s side and that the litany of DOGE surprises — which have ranged from a weekend email blast demanding federal workers list their work output to accidental cuts to Ebola prevention programs — might finally be coming to a close.

That’s to say nothing of their concerns about Musk as a political liability who has served as a rallying point for fractured Democrats.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Conspiracy; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: buhbye; concerntroll; concerntrolling; considerthesource; doge; elon; elonmusk; fakenews; gaslighting; hopeso; ibtz; mds; musk; musktesla; opcantspell; politico; politicogarbage; politicolies; pollutico; projection; rachaelbade; tds; trysellingthetruth; zot
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To: Mr. K

Musk actually said he was, about 130 days at Doge from Jan 20, so some time on June!


41 posted on 04/02/2025 9:40:01 AM PDT by gbs
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To: TangoLimaSierra

“Trumps inner circle”

That’s ridiculous, it was announced last week Musk would be leaving in May.


42 posted on 04/02/2025 9:47:55 AM PDT by Toespi
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To: Mr. K

Far more accurate than right wing conspiracy blogs.


43 posted on 04/02/2025 9:54:37 AM PDT by nwrep
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To: TangoLimaSierra

“”I think Musk himself said recently he would be leaving shortly.””

He told someone - Brett Baier (?) that he would be leaving at the end of May...


44 posted on 04/02/2025 9:59:11 AM PDT by Thank You Rush ( )
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To: dynoman

I only had to read one more reply to see what I posted had already been posted....Live and learn!


45 posted on 04/02/2025 9:59:57 AM PDT by Thank You Rush ( )
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To: Miami Rebel

Pollutico?

Yeah

No.


46 posted on 04/02/2025 10:07:36 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Democrats are the Party of anger, hate and violence.)
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To: Carl Vehse

They are not subject to prosecution for their official conduct. Yes, if a circuit judge kills her husband, she’s not immune.


47 posted on 04/02/2025 10:12:28 AM PDT by Miami Rebel (pro-)
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To: Bernard

I hope Big Balls takes over. 😁


48 posted on 04/02/2025 10:13:19 AM PDT by hellinahandcart
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To: laplata

I believe that the DOGE people are going to stay in place. Elon has been the spokesman and taking 99% of the heat for it. It has obviously hurt his companies.
The real experts in DOGE are the ones we do not hear about.

Not only has Tesla stock recovered today. NVIDA is back up to 111.85 after a low of 105 last week. So, a lot of the tech stocks and the DOW are up today.


49 posted on 04/02/2025 10:14:17 AM PDT by woodbutcher1963
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To: Miami Rebel

I always take the Politico as the bastion of truth. 🙄


50 posted on 04/02/2025 10:28:08 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: Miami Rebel

I guess Musk learned that you shouldn’t mess with the far-left Neanderthals’ Slush funds, ATMs, Nepotism Job Programs, scams, cons and just down right burglary and thievery. Obviously, there are a lot of boneheads living in this country who don’t work and pay taxes so they don’t care how much the politicians and their uncivil serpents steal for their nest eggs as long as “da po’ folks” get their cut.


51 posted on 04/02/2025 10:32:45 AM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (If you're an average "middle American", white supremacist Sen. Chrissy Coons called you stupid.)
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To: Miami Rebel
However a judge can be prosecuted for his actions, such as bribery and other crimes. And this prosecution is separate from (and may be prior to) any impeachment and conviction by the House and Senate. See the discussion on the Art. III.S1.10.2.3 Good Behavior Clause Doctrine.
52 posted on 04/02/2025 10:35:15 AM PDT by Carl Vehse (Make Austin Texas Again!)
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To: Miami Rebel; All

For all the FRidiots that believed a Polutico story, the press secretary just nuked you. In other words, Polutico lied. Imagine that......


53 posted on 04/02/2025 10:35:17 AM PDT by Lakeshark (Trump. He stands for the great issues of the day. Stay the course!)
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To: Georgia Girl 2

So word is coming from the Trump side that this story is garbage and that Elon will leave only when his work at Doge is complete. Fox news then pointed out that Elon’s work as a special government employee is legally limited to 130 days.


54 posted on 04/02/2025 10:39:36 AM PDT by Revel
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To: Miami Rebel

Warning: Miami Rebel is a RINO hack.


55 posted on 04/02/2025 10:43:13 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: Miami Rebel

You know what to expect with every Pollutico story and they never disappoint.


56 posted on 04/02/2025 10:48:44 AM PDT by SharpRightTurn (“Giving money & power to government is like giving whiskey & car keys to teenage boys” P.J. O’Rourke)
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To: woodbutcher1963

Very good post. Thanks.

I was sure DOGE was going to carry on with its mission and not just go away when Musk left but hadn’t heard about the how or who.

Good news about stocks recovering.


57 posted on 04/02/2025 11:07:44 AM PDT by laplata (They want each crisis to take the greatest toll possible.)
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To: laplata

BS——> Gotta love anon sources

“according to three Trump insiders who were granted anonymity to describe the evolving relationship”


58 posted on 04/02/2025 11:12:06 AM PDT by OL Hickory (Jesus and the American soldier-1 died for your soul/1 died for your freedom)
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To: Mr. K

It was not leaked.


59 posted on 04/02/2025 11:13:28 AM PDT by Cobra64 (Common sense isn’t common anymore)
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To: OL Hickory

Karoline Levit has just stated this report is utter GARBAGE!!!


60 posted on 04/02/2025 11:15:01 AM PDT by Trump Girl Kit Cat (Yosemite Sam raising hell)
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