The White House is reportedly working to remove traces of Elon Musk’s influence from the government agency that housed DOGE.
President Donald Trump appointed a new leader, Mike Rigas, at the General Services Administration earlier this month, stacking him above the former acting administrator, Musk-aligned tech entrepreneur Stephen Ehikian.
That move was reportedly part of a wider effort to install Trump institutionalists at the GSA, which Musk infiltrated for nearly five months while he headed up the Department of Government Efficiency.
During his controversial tenure atop the cost-cutting DOGE, the billionaire made unconventional appointments into top roles, including tech-bro allies and Gen Z programmers with no prior government experience.
In recent days, the White House has assigned nine employees to the GSA from the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management, in a clear attempt to dilute the influence of DOGE staffers from Musk’s circles such as Ehikian, Josh Gruenbaum, and Thomas Shedd, Politico reported on Thursday.
Most of those staff have ties to Rigas, and to Trump’s first administration, rather than Musk’s orbit, per Politico.
One source close to DOGE told the site that with the appointment of Rigas, a Trump administration veteran, “DOGE has lost all remaining influence.” It’s not clear if Ehikian intends to stay on.
The White House and GSA did not immediately return requests for comment.
“All parties involved after the President’s appointment of Mike Rigas as Acting Administrator are working collaboratively to ensure GSA continues delivering the best value in real estate, acquisition, and technology services to the government and the American people,” a GSA spokesperson told Politico.
The appointments from the OMB are said to include Stephen Billy, who contributed to Project 2025; the former director of intergovernmental affairs from the first Trump administration, Doug Hoelscher; David LaCerte, another Project 2025 contributor who served in Trump’s first term; and former BlackRock investment analyst Kevin Hennecken.
Musk wrapped up his time as a special government employee at the end of May, promising at the time that “I’ll continue to be visiting here and be a friend and adviser to the president.”
Days later, what had been a simmering feud between the two men erupted into all-out war, with Musk accusing the president of being named in the so-called “Epstein files” and slamming the megabill at the heart of his domestic policy agenda.
They traded barbs in the weeks that followed, and DOGE’s influence has steadily waned, amid a staff exodus, legal issues, and bureaucratic obstacles.
