Elon Musk, who leads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), described his role at President Donald Trump’s first Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, calling himself a “humble tech support,” as his agency has been at the center of controversy over mass firings and a sweeping email directive to federal employees.
When President Trump asked Elon Musk to speak about the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Musk responded with a touch of humor, stating, “I actually just call myself a humble tech support here.”
He explained that, “as crazy as it sounds, that is almost a literal description of the work of the DOGE team is doing is helping fix the government computer systems.” He further noted that these systems are “extremely old” and there are many mistakes in the systems.
“We are actually tech support. It’s ironic, but it’s true,” he added, flashing his signature T-shirt while wearing a ‘dark MAGA’ hat inside the meeting.
Despite not holding a ministerial position or formal decision-making authority, Elon Musk is officially classified as a “special government employee” and serves as a “senior adviser to the president” in his role leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Musk’s presence at President Trump’s first Cabinet meeting alongside top officials has raised eyebrows, fueling concerns over his growing influence in the administration.
When a reporter asked if any Cabinet members had concerns about Musk’s directives, Trump initially said, “Let the Cabinet speak for a second. Anybody unhappy with Elon?” But before anyone could respond, he quickly added, “If you are, we’ll throw them out of here,” effectively shutting down the question.
Trump had already dismissed concerns earlier in the day, posting on Truth Social in support of Musk: “ALL CABINET MEMBERS ARE EXTREMELY HAPPY WITH ELON. The Media will see that at the Cabinet Meeting this morning!!!”
Musk also defended his stance on the recent productivity email sent to federal staff at the Cabinet meeting asserting: “I think that email was perhaps interpreted as a performance review, but actually it was a pulse check review. Do you have a pulse?”
“And if you have a pulse and two neurons, you could reply to an email,” he added.
He also explained how it was primarily to verify if federal employees were active and existent, though Trump issued a warning that non-respondents were at risk of dismissal.
“We will make mistakes. We won’t be perfect. But when we make mistakes, we’ll fix it very quickly. So for example, with USAID, one of the things we accidentally cancelled, very briefly, was Ebola prevention. I think we all want Ebola prevention, so we restore the Ebola prevention immediately,” he said.
The original email sent on Saturday, requiring responses by Monday midnight, stated that failure to list five weekly accomplishments would result in termination. Subsequently, Musk announced a follow-up email with an extended deadline.
“We think there are a number of people on the payroll who are dead, which is probably why they can’t respond,” Musk stated, following Karoline Leavitt’s Tuesday briefing.
She announced that over 1 million federal employees had complied with Musk and the Office of Personnel Management’s directive to submit a bullet-point list of their work accomplishments from the previous week.