Elon Musk's tactics frustrate some senior White House officials

As tech billionaire Elon Musk expands his influence over more than a dozen US federal agencies, frustration is growing among some top aides to President Donald Trump, who want more coordination from Musk's team as he slashes the US government, according to four people aware of the tensions.

Trump's chief of staff, Susie Wiles, and her team have at times felt out of the loop as Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency seeks to fire thousands of federal workers while accessing sensitive data and disrupting operations, the four people said. Wiles and some of her top aides spoke to Musk recently about the issues, according to one of the sources.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, Musk projected alignment between himself, his tight-knit group of DOGE staffers and Trump. But underlying tensions with some White House officials highlight potential difficulties for Trump in balancing his core team with Musk's DOGE staff as they upend agencies in a sweeping restructuring that has challenged congressional authority and faced a series of lawsuits.

In the recent conversation, Wiles and her staff delivered a message to Musk: "We need to message all this. We need to be looped in," according to the source familiar with the encounter. Reuters was not able to determine the specific date they spoke or what, if any, changes Musk made after that conversation. The source added that Trump himself continued to speak positively about Musk to donors and others.

Musk did not respond to a request for comment. The White House declined to comment. An official with knowledge of the matter pushed back at the sources' description of tensions, saying initial "operational hiccups" had been smoothed out. Musk sends reports to Wiles at the end of each day and they speak by phone almost every day, the official said.

The official added that it was Musk's idea to speak with reporters on Tuesday at the Oval Office with his four-year-old son, X, by his side. "He showed up with his kid. We rolled with it," the official said.

On Tuesday, Trump issued an executive order that expanded Musk's power over the federal bureaucracy, requiring federal agencies to work with DOGE to make large workforce reductions and limit hiring. The order calls for DOGE to station a "team lead" at every government agency who will oversee all hiring decisions.

"This is a unified team," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Wednesday. "Elon Musk is serving at the pleasure of the president, just like everybody else on this team. He takes directives directly from the president of the United States."

At the Oval Office news conference, with Trump beside him, Musk defended his role as an unelected official who has been granted unprecedented authority by the Republican president to dismantle parts of the US government. He told reporters he speaks to Trump nearly every day, saying his work is in the interest of the public and democracy.

"The people voted for major government reform, and that's what people are going to get," said Musk. "All of our actions are maximally transparent."

DOGE, however, has operated in deep secrecy. It has provided almost no information on whom it employs, where it is operating or what actions it is taking inside government agencies. It posts little information about its work, providing only dollar figures for purported cuts in specific agencies and little concrete detail. It has stunned federal employees, sending its members into at least 15 agencies and gaining access to sensitive data. As a "special government employee," Musk's financial disclosure filings will not be made public, the White House has said.

One of the four sources said that Wiles was not upset with Musk's efforts to dismantle government agencies and downsize the federal workforce, but rather with his approach. Wiles, one of the two managers of Trump's 2024 election campaign, wants Musk and DOGE to keep her team informed and work in a more orderly fashion, said the source, who has direct knowledge of the matter.

"There is some frustration, but it's overblown to say it's a rift," the source said.

The fourth source, an associate of high-ranking White House officials, described the friction as more serious and said Wiles' subordinates had expressed discomfort over information that Musk released on his social media platform X before it had been vetted by senior White House staff. "They're definitely finding things out on Twitter."

CONCERN OVER EMAILS

One point of contention is a series of emails that Musk associates began sending out to federal employees, including a January 28 message offering two million federal workers financial incentives to quit. Wiles and her team did not sign off on some of those emails, according to one of the four sources and a separate, fifth, source close to Trump.

To be sure, many of Trump's close allies and White House aides appear to revel in Musk's uncompromising style of governance. But his backing is far from unanimous, according to Reuters interviews.

Musk, the world's richest person, spent over a quarter of a billion dollars to help Trump win last year's presidential election. After Trump's November victory, Musk began to spend extended periods of time with Trump, who has called Musk "fantastic" and praised DOGE staffers as a group of "super geniuses."

As chief of staff, Wiles is one of Washington's top power brokers. Under her management, Trump's latest presidential campaign was widely praised as his most disciplined to date. She has a reputation for being self-effacing, turning down an invitation from Trump to speak to the crowd on the night he won the election. Multiple White House officials said they've never heard her raise her voice. She is often spotted by Trump's side while traveling on Air Force One. On a recent trip to California, when the cameras turned in her direction, she moved away.

Musk, meanwhile, is known for his intense, freewheeling approach to work and his enthusiasm for the limelight. He often posts dozens of times a day on his social media platform X, takes suggestions from site users and touts his propensity to work through the weekend.