Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has announced he is stepping down as a top adviser to President Donald Trump, citing frustrations with Washington’s bureaucracy

Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., during a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa's president, not pictured, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, May 21, 2025. Trump rejected Ramaphosa's argument that there's no genocide against White Afrikaners, airing a video and showing images in the Oval Office that he said showed how they were beaten and killed. Photographer: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Musk announced he quit via his X platform

ELON MUSK has declared he’s quitting his prominent gig as a top adviser to President Donald Trump, expressing disillusionment with the capital’s red tape and the recent congressional spending package.

The tech titan, Musk unleashed the bombshell on X—his own social media haven—on Wednesday.

“As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” Musk penned.

“The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”

His exit was corroborated by an administration source, electing anonymity whilst addressing the shift, reports the Express.

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Musk’s bow-out lands hot on the heels of his public disapproval of Trump’s much-vaunted fiscal legislation. Chatting with CBS, the business magnate aired his “disappointment” over what Trump extols as his “big beautiful bill.”

This controversial law champions hefty tax reductions and beefed-up immigration rules. Yet Musk lambasted it as a “massive spending bill” that balloons the national debt and sabotages the efforts of his Department of Government Efficiency—DOGE.

Musk has announced he is quitting his government role(Image: Getty)

“I think a bill can be big or it could be beautiful,” Musk mused to CBS. “But I don’t know if it could be both.”

In a candid admission from the Oval Office on Wednesday, President Trump offered mixed feelings about the bill, stating, “I’m not happy about certain aspects of it, but I’m thrilled by other aspects of it,” and hinted at possible future changes with, “We’re going to see what happens. It’s got a way to go.”

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Elon Musk, known for his crusade to reform federal operations and slice unnecessary expenditure, now turns his attention back to his corporate quests after a concerted stint in political financing.

Signalling a decrease in his campaign contributions, Musk declared, “I think I’ve done enough.”

Despite high-flying objectives for DOGE, which aimed to carve out $1 trillion in governmental savings, Musk conceded sluggish advancements to The Washington Post: “The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realized,” adding, “I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in D.C., to say the least.”

Musk stepping away is indicative of yet another overhaul within Trump’s advisory team amidst growing in-house dissent and critique of core policy directions.

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