Top DOGE Official Quickly Exits and Snubs Musk on Way Out the Door
Well, that’s not very efficient.
Elon Musk’s much-hyped White House panel is losing its top lawyer to the private sector mere days into its existence, a Wall Street Journal report revealed Thursday.
Bill McGinley, whom Donald Trump tapped to be the Department of Government Efficiency’s lead counselor last month, no longer wishes to continue in the role. His departure comes after Vivek Ramaswamy was pushed out earlier this week.
“I am in discussions regarding a number of private sector opportunities and will have something to announce in the next couple of weeks,” McGinley told the Journal. “I support President Trump, Vice President Vance, and the great teams in the White House and across the administration 100%.”
McGinley’s statement notably made no mention of Musk, who has been getting under the skin of some people in MAGA world lately.
DOGE, named as such by Musk due to its association with a dog-centric internet meme, has had a rough week.
It is still unclear what, exactly, the department plans to do under the leadership of the world’s richest man—who has been quiet on the government efficiency front but has been posting relentlessly about the incredibly evocative hand gesture he made during an inauguration day rally.
Many online have likened his salute to the “Sieg Heil” used in Nazi Germany, prompting Musk to crack a number of ill-timed Holocaust jokes on Thursday.
The billionaire Tesla CEO said previously he hopes to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget in a best-case scenario, but it remains unclear how he might reach such a high amount.
Adding to Musk’s headaches, perhaps, are a trio of lawsuits filed against DOGE by watchdog groups this week, including Public Citizen and the State Democracy Defenders Fund.
Those suits argue that group, which Trump made part of the executive branch via an executive order on day one, illegally skirts federal transparency rules that require advisory groups to disclose their hiring practices and interactions with government bodies. Those lawsuits have not kept Musk from taking his place inside a West Wing office, however, just steps away from the Oval Office.