Within hours of President Donald Trump praising Elon Musk during his speech Tuesday, his shout-out was entered into evidence in a lawsuit involving the nebulous government cost-cutting task force that Musk leads.
The lawsuit argues the so-called “Department” of Government Efficiency—which is operating without congressional approval or oversight—runs afoul of the Constitution’s appointments clause and violates federal laws governing outside advisory committees.
In response, Trump’s lawyers have repeatedly tried to argue that Musk isn’t really in charge of DOGE, writing in court filings that “he has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions.” Instead, Amy Gleason is the administrator of the U.S. DOGE Service, government lawyers argued just last week in court.
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About 20 minutes into his primetime address Tuesday, Trump directly contradicted those claims.
“To further combat inflation, we will not only be reducing the cost of energy, but will be ending the flagrant waste of taxpayer dollars,” he told a joint session of Congress. “And to that end, I have created the brand-new Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE—perhaps you’ve heard of it. Perhaps. Which is headed by Elon Musk, who is in the gallery tonight. Thank you, Elon. He’s working very hard.”
Two hours later, lawyers for the plaintiffs in the DOGE case filed a notice of new evidence citing Trump’s speech, as first spotted by Politico’s legal affairs reporter Kyle Cheney. His comment that DOGE is “headed” by Musk “conclusively demonstrates that expedited discovery is urgently needed” to determine the nature of DOGE and its relationship the U.S. DOGE Service.
During his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order that renamed the U.S. Digital Service—an agency former President Barack Obama had created in 2014 to help government departments fix tech problems—the “U.S. DOGE Service.” More than a month later, the administration revealed Gleason as its “acting administrator.”
But by then Musk and his team had already spent weeks taking over government systems, canceling hundreds of billions of dollars in government contracts, shuttering federal agencies, and attempting to purge the civil service.
On Feb. 10, Musk appeared with Trump in the Oval Office during a press conference in which he claimed—without providing evidence—that DOGE had uncovered billions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse. On Feb. 26—after Gleason’s identity and “role” were revealed—Musk joined Trump for the first Cabinet meeting of his current term to report on DOGE’s activity.
Last week, the judge in the appointments clause case called the situation “highly suspicious,” Lawfare’s Anna Bower reported.
When Judge Theodore Chuang asked the government’s lawyer who was in charge of DOGE before Gleason, the lawyer replied, “I don’t know.” Chuang then asked if there was an appointment paper or official document describing Musk’s advisory role, which seemed to catch the lawyer off guard.
“The plaintiffs are saying Musk was the head of DOGE. You’re saying, ‘He wasn’t, but we can’t tell you who was,’ which admittedly is highly suspicious,” Chuang said.
Bower and other journalists covering the case were quick to pick up on Trump’s statement on Tuesday night.
“WHO IS ACTUALLY IN CHARGE OF DOGE” Bower wrote on the social media platform X.
“A boost for the plaintiffs in the Appointments Clause cases,” Just Security’s Ryan Goodman wrote on the social media platform Bluesky.
