Elon Musk’s role working for Trump has been downgraded to ‘writing software’

For more than a month, Elon Musk has been eyeing a position leading a task force under a hypothetical Trump administration. Now, it appears his role has been downgraded to “writing software” to help slash the federal budget, according to Former President Donald Trump’s transition team co-chair.

“He’s going to be adjacent to [the government]. I think adjacent to it and writing software for the government and then giving the software to the government and helping the government,” Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick told CNN Wednesday evening. “It’s going to be amazing.”

That’s a big shift from prior public discussions about the potential commission, which Musk reportedly pitched to the former president months ago. Its name, the Department of Government Efficiency, is a reference to Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency, DOGE. The group would be tasked with auditing the “entire” federal government and recommending reforms, Trump said last month.

“Elon, because he’s not very busy, has agreed to head that task force,” Trump said at the New York Economic Club. “It’d be interesting, if he has the time, he’d be a good one to do it. But he’s agreed to do it.”

Just days ago, Trump told Fox News that “Elon has a lot of roles he could take.” He previously floated the idea of naming him “secretary of cost-cutting.” Musk, for his part, has said that no “title” or pay is needed but that he would love the hypothetical job.

On Sunday, while chatting with Lutnick in New York, Musk said he would cut “at least” $2 trillion from federal spending, something that would be difficult to do without breaking some of Trump’s campaign promises. It’s unclear what “software” Musk could write that would be able to wipe out that much spending, nor how he would have the time to do that while running his portfolio of companies.

The federal government has spent $6.75 trillion in fiscal year 2024, according to the Treasury Department. More than half of that spending went to Social Security and Medicare — which Trump has said he will not “cut one penny from” — as well as interest on federal debt and defense.

Lutnick told CNN on Wednesday that Musk “can’t sell” SpaceX or Tesla (TSLA), which he would likely have to do in order to take a Trump administration job. Experts largely agree that Musk would have to divest his holdings or otherwise distance himself from some potential conflicts of interest, as former Exxon Mobil (XOM) CEO Rex Tillerson did when he joined Trump’s first administration.

Tesla and SpaceX have collectively received more than $15 billion in government contracts and frequently come into conflict with regulators. Musk has proposed using a Trump administration role to streamline rules for approving autonomous vehicles and, more broadly, simplifying regulations.