Who’s really in charge of DOGE if not Elon Musk? Government lawyers ‘don’t know’

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Last week, a judge in a separate case noted that DOGE is trying to “escape” the “obligations that accompany agencyhood” — including being subject to the Freedom of Information Act, the Privacy Act and the Administrative Procedures Act — “while reaping only its benefits.” Trump’s administration is facing an avalanche of lawsuits alleging the president and Musk have launched a constitutional wrecking ball, flying in the face of checks and balances and usurping authority to dismantle entire federal agencies without any action from Congress. The next day, when a reporter asked White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt who, then, exactly, is the administrator for DOGE, she called him a “special government employee within the executive office of the president, and the agencies are directing the cuts and … the wasteful spending.” That same day, Trump himself appeared to contradict Leavitt and his own administration’s sworn statement when he stated: “I signed an order creating the Department of Government Efficiency, and put a man named Elon Musk in charge.” By the weekend, Musk declared federal employees must answer an email from the government’s HR agency or they would be fired, throwing agencies into chaos and drawing a series of contradictory messages from agency officials. open image in gallery Trump has appeared to contradict White House testimony about Elon Musk’s role in the administration but claims DOGE ‘has nothing to do with the Constitution’ After taking office, Trump renamed the existing United States Digital Service to the U.S. DOGE Service, or Department of Government Efficiency. “Who’s telling them what to do?” Based on the “limited record” in front of her, Kollar-Kotelly said she has “some concerns about the constitutionality of USDS structure and operations.” In a letter to Trump last week, after the White House told a court that Musk is not even an employee of DOGE, House Oversight Committee Democrat Gerry Connolly demanded further clarification on Musk’s role.