Immediately from the public war of words between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, anxiety is increasing among the remaining personnel of the Efficiency Department of the Government founded to musk, with some employees worried not only for their future in the government but also of potentially becoming the future objectives of the administration, according to sources.
Some Doge employees still integrated into federal agencies fear that the crack and public consumption between Trump and Musk can leave them vulnerable to political compensation and damage their future labor perspectives, they told ABC News to ABC News.
Some fear that their association with dogs can turn them into objectives if the dispute intensifies and Trump moves to investigate the government initiative that Musk led until he moved away last week, the sources said.
Others worry that if Trump distances himself from Dogle, his ties with this could become a professional responsibility, fountains said.
Musk, Tesla and Spacex’s billionaire CEO, approached Trump during the last year while campaigning for Trump’s re -election before helping to launch Doge to try to meet Trump’s goal to reduce the federal government. Dege, a quasigubernamental entity, has generated controversy as government agencies closed and obtained access to confidential data.
The relationship between the president and the richest person in the world broke out in an exchange of insults in social networks on Thursday when Musk criticized Trump for “ingratitude” during the 2024 elections, while Trump threatened to “finish Elon’s subsidies and government contracts.”
In the midst of the dispute, the presenter of the War Room and former Trump Advisor, Steve Bannon, a Trump ally for a long time that has criticized Musk for years, has been asking the president to initiate investigations on the billionaire after Thursday’s explosion.
Elon Musk attends a press conference at the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, on May 30, 2025 and President Donald Trump talking at the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, on June 5, 2025.
Reuters
“This is a national security problem,” Bannon said in his program on Thursday. “We are dealing with a very unstable individual who says dangerous things about the president of the United States. It must be investigated … and all government contracts must be suspended.”
Several of Musk’s main allies who served as special government employees with Musk, including Steve Davis, his former Lieutenant and Doge operational leadership, departed Doge last week along with Musk. But many Doge employees remain integrated into federal agencies, even in the Office of Personnel Management, Veterans, Treasury, IRS and Social Security Administration, said the sources.
Even so, Musk’s departure marked an important turning point for Doge and how he will work day by day, since officials like Davis helped lead the Doge team daily for months throughout the federal government.
In the absence of Musk, Dege’s staff will continue to inform their respective agency leadership, the sources said. Last week, the White House said that progress to the “duxes leaders are each and every one of the members of the president’s cabinet and the president himself.”
The sources tell ABC News that some dogs employees who still work within the federal government have begun to look for jobs in other places. And while there is a concern among some about their future professional perspectives, some important technological companies have expressed interest in hiring former Doge students, with companies such as Coinbase even creating a specifically dedicated contracting portal that recruits former Doge staff.
The White House Press Director, Harrison Fields, told ABC News in a statement: “The mission of eliminating waste, fraud and abuse is part of the Federal Government DNA and will continue under the direction of the president, his cabinet and agency chiefs to improve government efficiency and prioritize the administration responsible for taxpayers.”
When asked about any possible investigation into Doge, a White House advisor said the president only focused on approved his signature expenses bill, known as the “great bill.”
Despite Trump and Musk’s public dispute, the president has not yet publicly criticized Dogs during the Word of Words, and has previously praised the initiative.
In a white house availability at the Oval office last week, Trump said Musk “pronounced a colossal change in the old ways of doing business in Washington” and described Doge as “the most swept and consequent government reform program in generations.”
Musk, on the other hand, minimized the idea that Dege needed to survive when he left the Trump administration last week.
“Doge is a way of life, like Buddhism,” he said. “You wouldn’t ask the question, ‘Who would lead Buddhism?'”
