Stephen Miller got a bit tongue-tied trying to explain the hierarchy of reporting when it came to DOGE.
While speaking with CNN’s Brianna Keilar, Miller was asked who was in charge of DOGE – the newly minted Department of Government Efficiency that has been responsible for slashing a number of government agencies and spending. Miller quickly responded that President Trump was in charge.
“He’s the administrator of DOGE,” Keilar followed up.
“No,” Miller said. “DOGE is … the what was formerly U.S. Digital Services, is an agency of the federal government. That reports into the office, the executive office of the president which reports to the President of the United States. The way that Article 2 works is that a president wins an election and then he appoints staff including myself, including Mike Waltz, including Suzie Wiles, including Elon Musk, and those staff report to him.”
Keilar pointed to the press conference Musk and Trump held in the Oval Office last week about DOGE and its transparency. Musk refers often throughout the interview to DOGE as a “we” and “us” when talking about the group’s efforts.
“Does Elon Musk know he’s not in charge of DOGE?” Keilar asked.
Last week’s press conference finally put Musk in front of reporters for questions about DOGE, its goals, and how the tech mogul might keep himself in check if there was a conflict of interest. Musk said the “high-level goal” of DOGE was to “restore democracy.” He added that the goal was to cut between $1-2 trillion in annual spending before being asked how he would be policing against potential conflicts of interest since his companies Tesla and SpaceX have received government spending.
“All of our actions are fully public,” he said. “So if you see anything and say like, ‘Wait a second. Hey, Elon, that seems like maybe there’s a conflict there,’ it’s not like people are going to be shy about saying that. They’ll say it immediately.”
Watch the clip between Miller and Keilar above.
