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Elon Musk will attend President Donald Trump’s first cabinet meeting tomorrow, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed.
The billionaire is not a cabinet secretary but is leading the Department of Government Efficiency in dismantling federal agencies.
Leavitt was asked by a reporter at Tuesday’s press briefing whether Musk would be present.
“He is, as a matter of fact,” she replied.
Trump’s press secretary added that Musk would be there because he is working “alongside the president, our cabinet secretaries” and the “entire administration.”
Musk will talk to Trump’s cabinet “about DOGE’s efforts and how all of the cabinet secretaries are identifying waste, fraud and abuse at their respective agencies,” she added.
While the cabinet traditionally includes the 15 department heads and the vice president, when requested by the president, other officials can attend the meetings. Those officials typically include roles such as the president’s chief of staff.
The world’s richest man is merely an employee of the White House, serving as a “senior adviser to the president.” He has “no greater authority other than other senior White House advisers [have],” and has “no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself,” according to a sworn statement from a White House senior official on February 18.
But this week many questioned who was really in charge after Musk demanded federal workers respond to an email where they disclose five things they accomplished last week or risk termination.
Leavitt told reporters that she had responded to the email from the Office of Personnel Management and listed her five accomplishments.
“Giving five bullets on what you did last week is so easy that even the busy White House @PressSec found time to do it!” OPM posted on X.
