Trump's Cabinet Ready To Take Back Power With Musk Stepping Back, Sources Say
HuffPost
Billionaire Elon Musk has provided the White House with political cover while DOGE pursued a cost-cutting drive that has made it deeply unpopular among career staffers.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet will likely move to limit the influence of Department of Government Efficiency employees and reassert control over budgets and staffing once Elon Musk steps back from DOGE, two government sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The Department of Government Efficiency, created by executive order the day Trump took office and helmed by billionaire Musk, has spearheaded efforts to shrink the federal workforce and slash the deficit via mass firings, contract cancellations and reduced services to Americans across the federal government.
But Musk confirmed plans on Tuesday to reduce his government time commitment to one or two days a week to focus on his battered car company Tesla, raising questions about the future of the agency’s work. As a special government employee, his mandate appeared due to expire at the end of May.
The billionaire has provided the White House with political cover while DOGE pursued a cost-cutting drive that has made it deeply unpopular among career staffers. Cabinet secretaries view DOGE employees as encroaching on their traditional authority to hire and fire, and some have been reluctant to do its bidding.
In recent weeks, tensions had escalated within the Trump administration over the authority granted to Musk. During a March cabinet meeting, Secretary of State Marco Rubio clashed with Musk, accusing him of undermining USAID and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confronted Musk over proposed layoffs of air traffic controllers amid aviation safety concerns, sources familiar with the situation said.
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“This is not what we voted for," said Florida state Sen. Ileana Garcia (R), while accusing Trump of undermining “the sense of fairness and justice.”
The victims were found lying on the sidewalk Sunday night along South Las Vegas Boulevard, police said.
"This Administration's actions are not about public safety — they're about stoking fear,” the former vice president wrote on social media.
Critics spotted a grand irony in the House speaker's remarks.
The president was also reminded of a massive hypocrisy.
The former Trump insider warned the billionaire of how the president plans to "drop the hammer."
Thousands took to the street in Los Angeles in response to Trump's extraordinary deployment of the National Guard against Gov. Gavin Newsom's wishes.
The president nearly took a dive as he climbed up the stairs on Sunday.
"I don’t think that’s heavy-handed," House Speaker Mike Johnson said about the possibility of sending active-duty military to respond to immigration protests in a major American city.
Trump went against Gov. Gavin Newsom to federalize 2,000 California National Guard troops to quell the protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles.
"You mean the 'Opportunity Society' and 'We're not going back' didn't stir the hearts of people living paycheck to paycheck, who can't afford healthcare, and who each month are squeezed through rising prices and inflation? Why, I'm surprised...not really."
Tear gas and smoke have filled the air on the southern outskirts of Los Angeles as confrontations between immigration authorities and demonstrators extended into a second day.
Musk said publicly last year that his trans daughter Vivian Wilson had been "killed by the woke mind virus."