Elon Musk grilled about DOGE transparency, conflicts in Oval Office

Elon Musk joined President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday, where he addressed reporters for the first time amid his aggressive cost-cutting efforts across the federal government.

Musk defended the Department of Government Efficiency as Trump asked him to speak about the team’s work. The Tesla billionaire brought his young son “X” and wore a black coat and “Make America Great Again” hat.

“If there’s not a good feedback loop from the people to the government and if you have rule of the bureaucrat, or if the bureaucracy is in charge, then what meaning does democracy actually have?” said Musk, who is an unelected official himself.

Musk had not faced questions since taking the lead on Trump’s mandate to slash or even dismantle some federal agencies. The White House has said he is classified as a “special government employee” but it’s unclear to whom he is accountable to, other than Trump.

ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott pressed Musk on what accountability he faces and whether he is “policing” himself. Musk in response claimed DOGE’s actions are “maximally transparent.”

While Musk and his DOGE have been posting about some of its activities on social media, the information is often vague and doesn’t include many specifics about what Musk repeatedly claims is widespread corruption and fraud to justify his actions.

ABC’s Scott followed up by asking about potential conflict of interests, as his reporting shows his own firms have received billions of dollars in government contracts.

“Well, all of our actions are fully public,” Musk said. “So, if you see anything you say like, wait a second, hey, you know what that does? That seems like maybe that’s, you know, that there’s a conflict there. It’s not like people are going to be shy about saying that. They’ll say it immediately.”

Trump jumped in to say that if his administration thought there was a conflict, “we would not let him do that segment or look in that area.”

Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order directing federal agencies to coordinate with DOGE to “shrink the size of the federal workforce and limit hiring to essential positions,” according to a White House fact sheet.

Musk said DOGE’s aim is to “rightsize” the government. He said they were exploring federal employees who had high net worths despite low salaries, claiming without providing evidence they may be “getting wealthier at the taxpayer expense.”

“There needs to be a lot of people working for the federal government, but not as many as currently,” he said.

Musk also claimed DOGE’s unprecedented effort to slash spending is not “draconian or radical” and is needed for “America to remain solvent as a country.” He claimed a cursory examination of Social Security showed people in the system were “150 years old” or had “no identifying information.”

DOGE has faced early setbacks from the courts, with a federal judge temporarily blocking Musk and his team from accessing Treasury Department material, including sensitive information such as the Social Security numbers and bank account information of millions of Americans.

The administration and some key Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, have criticized the court action against DOGE. Johnson earlier Tuesday said the courts should “step back” and let DOGE work.

Trump continued to lash out at the courts on Tuesday, saying they’re trying to stop what he claims is tremendous waste inside the government — though he didn’t elaborate or provide specific examples.

“And now a judge who’s an activist judge wants to try and stop us from doing this,” Trump said. “Why? And why would they want to do that? I campaigned on this.”

At one point, Trump said “maybe we have to look at the judges, because that’s very serious. I think it’s a very serious violation.”

His administration’s combative statements against the judiciary, including Vice President JD Vance’s claim that judge’s “aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power,” have legal experts and scholars worried they may try to skirt court orders

“If a judge does block one of your policies, part of your agenda, will you abide by that ruling? Will you comply?” ABC’s Scott asked the president.

“Well, I always abide by the courts and then I’ll have to appeal it,” Trump said, though he went on to lament the length of the appeals process.

“I would hope that a judge, if you go into a judge and you show them, here’s a corrupt situation, we have a check to be sent but we found it to be corrupt. Do you want us to send this corrupt check to a person, or do you want us not to give it and give it back to the taxpayer? I would hope a judge would say, don’t send it, give it back to the taxpayer,” Trump said.

ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart and Will Steakin contributed to this report.