Trump tasks Musk, Ramaswamy to take on government efficiency

November 13, 2024

Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk speaks as Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. president Donald Trump reacts during a rally at the site of the July assassination attempt against Trump, in Butler, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 5, 2024.

REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Donald Trump on Tuesday tapped Elon Musk, the richest person on the planet, and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to lead an effort to improve government efficiency.

The president-elect said they will lead the "Department of Government Efficiency,” though a new federal agency cannot be created without an act of Congress. It’s unclear precisely how the so-called agency will function, but Trump said it will “provide advice and guidance from outside of Government.”

The move raises immediate questions about conflicts of interests, particularly given the billions Musk’s companies receive in the form of lucrative government contracts. Musk’s companies have also recently been targeted by the federal government in at least 20 separate investigations or lawsuits.

We’ll be watching to see how this efficiency department takes shape, and whether there is any major pushback on Capitol Hill.

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South Sudan's Vice President Riek Machar, pictured here addressing the press in 2020.

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Subscribe to GZERO Media's newsletter: Signal

An internal GOP poll found a Republican candidate trailing in a special election for a conservative-leaning district in Florida, forcing US President Donald Trump to make a decision aimed at maintaining the Republican Party’s majority in the House.

The Trump administration has dropped multimillion-dollar bounties on senior Afghan officials from the Haqqani network, a militant faction that carried out some of the deadliest attacks on American troops but has now positioned itself as a moderate wing within the Taliban government. But why?

Have you stayed atop GZERO’s news coverage this week? Here’s your chance to prove it.

Canada’s foreign interference watchdog is warning that China, India, and Russia plan on meddling in the country’s federal election. The contest, which launched last weekend, has already been marked by a handful of stories about past covert foreign interventions and threats of new ones.