Elon Musk and his staffers from the Department of Government Efficiency defended their work in an hour long interview on Fox News as they look to cut down the size of the federal government and eliminate “fraud and waste.”
In the wide-ranging interview Thursday, Musk and his staffers — a group that has been notably out of the public spotlight amid ongoing controversies from DOGE — laid out their vision for efficiency across government agencies, from the Interior Department to the Small Business Administration.
“In the context of the government we’re moving like lightning,” Musk told Fox News host Brett Baier. But in terms of his expectations, it’s moving “slower than I’d like,” Musk said.
Since the beginning of the second Trump administration, Musk and his team at DOGE have cut down entire agencies and instituted mass layoffs and voluntary buy-outs. Musk said they’ve made progress, but that there’s more to do.
Here’s a few takeaways from Musk and his DOGE team.
An ‘Apple Store-like’ experience
The group of tech workers assembled under the DOGE banner includes co-founder of Airbnb, Joe Gebbia, who’s working on DOGE’s project to digitize the retirement process for federal employees.
Speaking about a large mine of retirement papers housed in Pennsylvania, Gebbia said he believes DOGE can help speed up modernizing government systems.
“We really believe that the government can have an Apple Store-like experience. Beautifully designed, great user experience, modern systems,” Gebbia said.
Gebbia’s assessment aligns with the approach that Musk has brought to reshaping the federal government. He added later that DOGE is empowering employees and bringing “the best of Silicon Valley and the business world” to the government.
In defense of Social Security
Musk and his team tackled one of the great controversies they’ve faced in their mission to modernize the federal government: social security.
Democrats have slammed Musk for cutting jobs and creating instability within the Social Security Administration. The Social Security Administration website has crashed numerous times over the last few weeks, while the agency has been overwhelmed with phone calls and has plans to cut thousands of staffers.
But in responding to Democratic criticism, the DOGE team on Thursday defended their work on the Social Security Administration, saying they’re “carefully and methodically” looking at benefits claims and “making sure any fraudulent ones are eliminated,” said DOGE staffer Steve Davis. DOGE engineer Aram Moghaddassi added that they’re working to protect people from fraud by increasing cross-agency communication.
Musk said that their work on social security will help people get their benefits, saying legitimate people will get “more social security, not less.” Musk also said they would make sure the website remains online.
“We’re trying to say that the 94-year-old grandmother is going to get her check,” Musk said.
‘Almost no one’ has been fired
Anthony Armstrong, a former banker who helped Musk acquire X and is now a senior adviser at the Office of Personnel Management, downplayed the scale of the mass layoffs, saying that most federal workers have been leaving “largely through voluntary means.”
He added that they’ve placed a “heavy focus on being generous, caring, compassionate and treating everyone with dignity and respect.”
“You’ve heard a lot of news about people getting fired. At this moment in time, less than .15 of the federal workforce has actually been given a [reductions in force] notice,” Armstrong said.
Most federal agencies and departments have already submitted their plans for a reduction of workforce, due to be implemented in April. A leaked preliminary copy of those plans reported by the Washington Post suggests anywhere from 8 to 50 percent of the workforce of each agency is on the chopping block. Musk and his team did not address the upcoming RIFs.
“Basically almost no one has gotten fired, that’s what we’re saying,” Musk claimed.
