Trump Live Updates: President tries to change the narrative about the economy

A few months ago, his Caginess stood with his knocking trust in contrast to what he would achieve in the government. Mr. Musk was on stage at a Trump rally in Madison Square Garden in October and told a roaring crowd that he could cut “at least two trillion” in federal expenditure. Later he halved this figure.

Now Mr. Musk, who has never worked in the government before, was forced to further revise his expectations, even though he still insists that his goals are technically possible. His 101 days in the government were stormy, and his series of interviews this week – including the session on Wednesday with reporters from important newspapers and television networks – seemed to be an attempt to trace control over messaging.

With cabinet secretaries, he has gotten into conflict and submitted complaints from legislators, the services and jobs of which the voters were threatened by the cuts of his Ministry of Government Efficiency. He has argued and confronted with the President about the tariffs, including his decision, to reduce entire agencies, including the US agency for international development and the consumer financial protection Bureau.

He also met a math problem, warned against the budget experts of both parties: there is no way to lower trillion dollars without tackling the most politically sensitive parts of the budget, net programs for social security and military spending.

The billionaire says he is proud of the cuts that mastled. He says that he is planning to spend most of his time working on his company, including Tesla, X and SpaceX, but expects him to dedicate two days a week to the government's work and visit Washington every other week.

Doge was originally supposed to operate until July 4, 2026, but Mr. Musk said he could imagine how the entire four years of the Trump administration through the entire four years. He said it would be to President Trump how long he wanted to continue working on the initiative. Mr. Musk may only serve as a “special government agent” for 130 days, but if he reduces his hours to part -time, he could extend his time to work for the Trump government.

Mr. Musk insisted that Doge would do well in his absence. But he was evasive and picked up jokes when he was asked who would fill his place.

“Doge is a attitude to life. Like Buddhism,” said Mr. Musk.

He pushed again: “Is Buddha needed for Buddhism?”

In Mr. Musk's story he gave Doge, which he gave with a “start-up” compared to his attention compared to a “start-up” that he required to bring it to the ground. Mr. Musk claims to have saved 160 billion US dollars so far.

But Doge's online -“Wall of the receipts” does not make up 64 percent of this total. The group has only listed $ 58 billion of its savings by linking them to specific canceled contracts, grants and rental contracts. The other 102 billion US dollars are not explained. And even the savings of 58 billion US dollars that mastiff has taken up are significantly inflated by taking direct mistakes and assumptions about the future.

Mr. Musk said it was still “absolutely” possible to find $ 1 trillion savings to face the problem of Billooning State debt, but it should continue to be seen whether there was “sufficient political will in the congress and elsewhere” in order to actually do so. “

“And we can't make it,” he said.

Mr. Trump made Mr. Musk clear that some of the most considerable parts of the federal government have no limits to serious reforms. The President has excluded changes to social security and Medicare, which makes more than a third of the federal expenses. And Defense Minister Pete Hegseth said that he wants the Pentagon budget to be increased to $ 1 trillion.

On Wednesday in the White House, Mr. Musk confirmed that billions more had to be saved from waste from waste and that his team had found clear evidence of fraud.

Mr. Musk thought about his time in Washington and informed Mr. Trump an unusual detail about his life.

“I think we are good friends and we will be in Air Force One or Marine One, and he says:” Hey, do you want over over? “And I'm” sure “,” said Mr. Musk.

Mr. Musk spent several times the night in the bedroom in Lincoln.

During one of these overnight stays, Mr. Musk said, Mr. Trump called him late at night to tell him that he should be sure that he would get ice out of the kitchen that he got out of the kitchen. The billionaire said he helped in a whole container with Karamell Häagen-Dazs.

“I thought the stuff was amazing,” he said.

David A. Fahrenthold Reported reports.