Donald Trump: ”Musk måste bli mer aggressiv”

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), officially the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization, is an initiative of the second Trump administration. Despite its name, DOGE is not a Cabinet-level department, but rather a temporary contracted organization (scheduled to end on July 4, 2026) under the United States DOGE Service (formerly the United States Digital Service). Its purpose is to carry out Trump's agenda of federal spending cuts and deregulation, and, according to the order that established it, to "modernize federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity". Neither DOGE nor Trump has constitutional authority to cut spending, but they can make recommendations for cuts to Congress, which holds the power of the purse. Trump has said that businessman Elon Musk is "in charge" of DOGE, but the White House has denied that Musk is a DOGE administrator or DOGE employee, and said Musk "has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions". Its creation and subsequent actions have been the subject of significant controversy, including protests and ongoing lawsuits. DOGE's actions of dissolving agencies and seizure of congressionally authorized funds have been described as violating Article 1 of the Constitution and creating a potential constitutional crisis. Some Democratic Party members criticized DOGE's actions, stating that the organization does not have authority for its actions, calling its actions a "takeover", "freeze", or "coup". Conflict of interest concerns have been raised because Musk's company SpaceX has extraordinary influence in the federal government and his six companies have received over US$20 billion in taxpayer money; the companies have clashed with various regulators. The White House said Musk himself would determine if DOGE actions presented conflicts of interest with his businesses. Musk said DOGE actions are "maximally transparent", although Trump granted DOGE an exemption from public disclosure of its activities. The White House and the Republican Party have defended DOGE and Musk, stating they are in full compliance with federal law. Thirty days after its inception, DOGE reported it had saved $55 billion in federal spending, though analysis of its tracking website found about $8.6 billion. In one case it miscounted the value of a $8 million contract it had canceled as $8 billion. Analysis conducted by NPR found significant discrepancies in the DOGE reporting, including that $46.5 billion of its reported $55 billion savings were not linked to any specific items. Musk, DOGE and others made many false or baseless allegations of supposed fraud being discovered, many going viral on X.