“This ‘scoop’ is garbage,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt declared Wednesday, after Politico claimed to report a “scoop” insinuating Elon Musk will prematurely leave his role as head of the Trump Administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“SCOOP: Pres Trump has told his inner circle & members of his Cabinet that @elonmusk will be stepping back in the coming weeks from his current role,” Politico Capitol Bureau Chief Rachael Bade wrote in a lengthy post on Musk’s X.com social media platform at 11:34 a.m. EDT.
Bade’s post links to her article, “Trump Tells Inner Circle That Musk Will Leave Soon,” published minutes earlier, at 11:17 a.m. EDT.
“This ‘scoop’ is garbage,” Press Sec. Leavitt replied at 12:52 p.m.:
“Elon Musk and President Trump have both *publicly* stated that Elon will depart from public service as a special government employee when his incredible work at DOGE is complete.”
Bade's claim has since been widely re-reported by other liberal media outlets.
At 3:13 p.m., Bade “updated” her article. She then followed up her earlier X.com post at 3:37 p.m. in an apparent bid to “clarify” her earlier claim:
“Elon Musk's wild Washington ride is likely coming to an end in a matter of weeks.
“Pres Trump, to be clear, adores the tech tycoon & is extremely proud of his DOGE work.
“But many Trump allies are counting the days & privately jumping for joy, viewing Musk as a ‘genius,’ yes, but also a bull in a china shop who struggles to work well with others,
“More behind-the-scenes in my latest reflow.”
In her updated article, the Politico bureau chief acknowledges that Musk won’t be leaving ahead of schedule and that, even after that, he’ll continue to work as an adviser to President Trump:
“One senior administration official said Musk is likely to retain an informal role as an adviser and continue to be an occasional face around the White House grounds. Another cautioned that anyone who thinks Musk is going to disappear entirely from Trump’s orbit is ‘fooling themselves.’
“The transition, the insiders said, is likely to correspond to the end of Musk’s time as a ‘special government employee,’ a special status that temporarily exempts him from some ethics and conflict-of-interest rules. That 130-day period is expected to expire in late May or early June.”
In both her social media posts and her article, Bade covers herself by using the ambiguous term “weeks” to timeline Musk’s exit.