White House court filing says Musk is not the official leader of DOGE

• The White House said Elon Musk is not technically the Department of Government Efficiency’s leader. A court filing states, “Mr. Musk is not the U.S. DOGE Service Administrator.”
• The new information comes from an affidavit in a case brought against Musk by 14 states’ attorneys general to stop him from maintaining control over federal agencies.
• Officials at the White House did not say who is the actual administrator for DOGE.

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The Department of Government Efficiency is expanding its reach within the federal government, aiming to conduct a massive overhaul. But one question remains: Who’s really in charge? It turns out Elon Musk isn’t technically leading the department.

What’s in the court filing?

The new information came from an affidavit filed by the White House Monday, Feb. 17 in a case brought against Musk by more than a dozen states’ Democratic attorneys general to stop him from exercising control over federal agencies.

According to the filing signed by Joshua Fisher, director of Office of Administration at the White House, Musk is “not an employee of the U.S. DOGE Service, or the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization,” adding “Mr. Musk is not the U.S. DOGE Service Administrator.”

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Fisher instead called him a “non-career special government employee” comparing Musk’s role to Anita Dunn, a long-time adviser to former President Joe Biden.

The judge did, however, not say who the administrator of DOGE actually is.

The filing states Musk can only advise the president and communicate the president’s directives, and has no formal authority to make government decisions himself.

However, Trump’s past statements have suggested otherwise. 

In December 2024, he said that Musk, alongside Vivek Ramaswamy, would be leading DOGE.

After Ramaswamy’s departure from the agency, Trump continued to refer to Musk as its leader.

The technical designation in the affidavit does not appear to impact Musk being the key person representing DOGE, which he has touted, appearing alongside Trump to talk about its mission.

What happened at the court hearing?

According to ABC News, during a recent court hearing for the case, the judge had concerns over the department’s unstructured operations.

“DOGE appears to be moving in no sort of predictable and orderly fashion,” Judge Tanya Chutkan said. “This is essentially a private citizen directing an organization that’s not a federal agency to have access to the entire workings of the federal government.”

However, ABC News also reported that Chutkan appears to be leaning toward denying a request to temporarily block DOGE from firing employees or accessing federal department records.

She described the states’ request as “prophylactic,” raising doubts about issuing an order because the plaintiffs could not prove concrete harm stemming from DOGE’s actions. 

The judge heard arguments on Monday, Feb. 17, when federal courts were closed for President’s Day, to consider an emergency request by the attorneys general who filed the suit.

The states said their ability to carry out educational and other programs were at risk. They accused the DOGE team of using data collected from agency systems to dismantle initiatives and direct mass firings.

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What is Musk saying about DOGE criticism?

Musk responded to criticism of DOGE in a post to X on Monday. 

“I love the people. We just want to fix the waste and fraud that is bankrupting the country,” Musk said. “The scrutiny on me is extreme, so it’s not like I could ‘get away’ with something, nor do I have any incentive to do so.”

The judge said she plans to make a ruling on the case sometime Tuesday, Feb. 18.