 "Elon Musk has a badge allowing him to access the White House complex. Image Credit: Reuters")
Elon Musk must be feeling pretty good right now.
His preferred candidate Donald Trump is back in the White House.
What’s more, Musk has a seat in the heart of his administration on day 1 of his second term.
But what did Musk, who will head up the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) get on the first day of Trump’s second term?
Let’s take a closer look:
An email address and office space
The Hill reported that Musk has already been assigned a White House email address.
A source said that Musk, the self described ‘First Buddy,’ has been given an email address as part of the Executive Office of the President’s internal search function.
The source also showed the outlet a screenshot of Musk’s new email address with the EOP suffix.
“It seems to confirm he’s going to have an office at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building,” the source added.
The New York Times reported that Musk has also been given an office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
Musk will operate Doge out of this office building – which is right next to the White House.
It remains to be seen whether Doge will be formally established as a government department.
Some Trump transition officials have said Musk could be a “special government employee.”
The New York Times reported that Musk already has a badge for the White House complex.
He was said to be already working there.
US Doge Service
According to Bloomberg, this paves the way for Musk to launch Doge – which is aimed at trimming $2 trillion from the US government.
President Trump on Monday renamed the US Digital Service — an in-house technology think-tank within the presidency — as the US DOGE Service
It will staff Musk’s group, which will be a temporary organisation authorised to recruit outside volunteer experts.
The outlet quoted Trump as saying that Musk would be given an office “for about 20 people we’re hiring to make sure these get implemented.”
The order also established Doge teams comprising at least four people at every federal agency to implement the program.
The order said the mission would make the government more efficient “by modernising Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.”
Meanwhile, Musk no longer needs to share power with Vivek Ramaswamy.
Ramaswamy, the former presidential candidate, was tasked to co-chair Doge with Musk.
However, the White House said he is no longer involved with Doge and that he instead will be campaigning for the governership of Ohio.
Ramaswamy on Monday wrote on X that it was an “honour to help support the creation of DOGE.”
“I’m confident that Elon & team will succeed in streamlining government. I’ll have more to say very soon about my future plans in Ohio,” he added.
The Trump administration has already been sued over Doge by a union representing hundreds of thousands of federal employees.
With inputs from agencies