Billionaire Elon Musk has provided the White House with political cover while DOGE pursued a cost-cutting drive that has made it deeply unpopular among career staffers.

The New York Times previously reported there was a "power struggle" between the two regarding the acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service.

According to Axios, the heated argument between Elon Musk and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent happened after Musk made an end-run around the Treasury boss to have Trump install a former IRS agent who leaked details about former president Joe Biden ’s son’s taxes atop the tax collecting agency as a temporary commissioner until Trump’s pick to lead it is confirmed by the Senate.

The automaker's shares rose nearly 8% on Wednesday after Musk said he would cut back his work for President Trump to a day or two per week.

Elon Musk intends to focus more on his job as Tesla CEO, but it’s unclear if the billionaire will be able to solve a big problem of his own making: damage to its brand

Elon Musk says he’ll be spending less time in Washington slashing government costs and more time running Tesla after his electric vehicle company reported a big drop in profits

Tesla boss Elon Musk has pledged to "significantly" cut back his role in the US government after the electric car firm reported a huge drop in profit and sales for the start of this year. Musk has led the newly created advisory body - the Department for Government Efficiency (Doge) - since last year,

Tesla's profits fell 71% over the first three months of this year, a company earnings release on Tuesday showed. The company's performance fell short of analysts' expectations. Total revenue decreased by 9% from one year earlier,