*

Musk's time as DOGE head comes to an end

*

Trump says 'Elon has worked tirelessly'

*

Musk fell far short of making massive savings he promised

By Nandita Bose

WASHINGTON, May 30 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald

Trump praised billionaire Elon Musk's efforts to cut federal

spending during a joint press conference in the Oval Office on

Friday, as the Tesla CEO departs the administration after a

chaotic tenure that saw the elimination of thousands of jobs and

billions of dollars in contracts.

Musk, who headed the Department of Government Efficiency,

disrupted numerous agencies across the federal bureaucracy but

ultimately fell far short of the massive savings he had

initially promised. A White House official said on Wednesday

that Musk would be leaving the administration.

"Elon has worked tirelessly helping lead the most sweeping

and consequential government reform program in generations,"

Trump said from behind the Resolute Desk, as Musk stood to his

right, wearing a black DOGE hat and a t-shirt that read "The

Dogefather" in the style of the movie "The Godfather."

In recent days, Musk had prompted some frustration among

White House officials by criticizing Trump's sweeping tax and

spending bill as too expensive. Some senior aides, including

Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Chief of Staff Susie

Wiles, saw Musk's remarks on the tax bill as an open break from

the administration, with Miller particularly irked by the

comments.

There was no evidence of tension during the joint appearance

on Friday, where Trump said Musk would continue to play a role

in his administration.

"Elon is really not leaving," Trump said. "He's going to be

back and forth."

Initially, the White House and senior aides insisted Musk,

the world's richest man, was a key figure who wasn't going

anywhere. But more recently, they began pointing to the

expiration of his 130-day mandate as a special government

employee, which was set to end around May 30, as a natural

endpoint.

Musk has said he intends to devote most of his energy to his

business empire, including Tesla and SpaceX, after some

investors expressed concern that DOGE was occupying too much of

his time.

He has also said he plans to ratchet back his political

spending, after he spent nearly $300 million backing Trump's

presidential campaign and those of other Republicans in 2024.

Musk initially claimed DOGE would slash at least $2 trillion

in federal spending. Four months into its efforts, DOGE now

estimates it has saved $175 billion.

But the details it has posted on its website, where it gives

the only public accounting of those changes, add up to less than

half of that figure.

U.S. Treasury summaries reviewed by Reuters show that the

agencies targeted by DOGE have cut about $19 billion in combined

spending compared to the same period last year, far below Musk's

original target and amounting to just about a half of 1% of

total federal expenditures.

Musk said on Friday that he would continue to serve as a

Trump adviser and expressed confidence that DOGE would

eventually achieve much deeper savings.

"This is not the end of DOGE but really the beginning," he

said.