Elon Musk spent billions to help elect Donald Trump. (Reuters: Mike Segar/File)
In short:
Billionaire Elon Musk has been made a "special government employee", which potentially avoids disclosure rules about conflicts of interest and finances.
The US Agency for International Development, the world's largest single aid donor and a target of criticism by Mr Musk and Mr Trump, has been closed and employees locked out of their offices.
What's next?
An ethics professor says Mr Musk's status may make it impossible for the public and government to hold him accountable.
Elon Musk, who has moved swiftly to shrink the size of the US government at President Donald Trump's behest, is now considered a "special government employee", the White House says.
The designation allows Mr Musk, the world's richest man, to work for the federal government but potentially avoid disclosure rules about conflicts of interest and finances that apply to regular government employees.
Mr Musk still runs electric car company Tesla and aerospace company SpaceX while chairing Mr Trump's cost-cutting effort called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
As CEO of SpaceX, Mr Musk oversees the company's contracts with the Pentagon and intelligence community that are worth billions of dollars.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Mr Musk was classified as a "special government employee". A second senior White House official said Mr Musk was not receiving a government pay cheque and was following the law.
Special government employees are appointed to their positions for no more than 130 days but Mr Trump has not said how long Mr Musk's position will last.
Donald Trump insists there are limits to Mr Musk's power. (Reuters: Brian Snyder)
Mr Musk, who has promised "mass head-count reductions" across the federal bureaucracy, has drawn wide scrutiny in recent days as his team has been given access to or has taken control of numerous government systems.
His moves have struck fear into the government workforce and caused chaos inside some agencies.
Reuters reported on Friday that aides to Mr Musk charged with running the US government human resources agency had locked career civil servants out of computer systems containing the personal data of millions of federal employees, according to two agency officials.
Union and advocacy groups sued the US Department of the Treasury and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday over the decision to give Mr Musk and others at DOGE access to the federal payments system.
The Alliance for Retired Americans, the American Federation of Government Employees and the Service Employees International Union, objected to the defendants' "unlawful ongoing, systematic, and continuous disclosure of personal and financial information" to Mr Musk and his team.
Also on Monday, a federal prosecutor appointed by Mr Trump asked Mr Musk for information about anyone trying to impede his work, warning of possible criminal sanctions, in a letter posted on X.
Edward Martin, the interim US attorney in Washington DC, said in the letter any action to threaten or confront employees of Mr Musk's DOGE "may break numerous laws".
Elon Musk's power is being criticised inside and outside Congress. (Reuters: Kevin Lamarque)
International aid agency closed
Mr Musk also has targeted the US Agency for International Development (USAID) for closure, calling the humanitarian agency a left-wing organisation unaccountable to the White House.
Critics of Mr Musk say his accusations are often lodged without evidence and may be ideologically driven.
A senior White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mr Trump was considering merging USAID into the State Department and had "entrusted Elon to oversee the efficiency of this agency".
On Monday, agency employees were locked out of their headquarters in downtown Washington DC, prompting two Democratic senators to block confirmations of State Department nominees in protest.
The lockout added to the chaos that has consumed the agency — which distributes billions of dollars of humanitarian aid around the world — since the president ordered a freeze on most US foreign aid hours after taking office on January 20.
At USAID, two senior security staff were put on leave after refusing to provide classified documents to DOGE employees on-site over the weekend.
"What's happening to USAID is against the law," Democrat senator Brian Schatz told Reuters during a protest outside the agency headquarters. "It's flatly illegal, and it is dangerous to Americans at home and abroad."
Senator Brian Schatz is joined by fellow Democrats, USAID employees and others to protest the lockout. (Reuters: Kent Nishimura)
Some USAID staff waved signs as senators spoke, including one that read: "USAID saves lives."
Democrats have argued that eliminating USAID's independence requires an act of Congress. Mr Trump told reporters on Monday that he did not believe that was necessary.
"I love the concept [of USAID], but they turned out to be radical left lunatics," Mr Trump said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in San Salvador that he was now the acting head of USAID, calling the agency "completely unresponsive" and accusing the staff there of being "unwilling to answer simple questions" about programs.
"If you go to mission after mission and embassy after embassy around the world, you will often find that in many cases, USAID is involved in programs that run counter to what we're trying to do in our national strategy with that country or with that region. That cannot continue," Mr Rubio said.
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He informed Congress in a letter of the looming reorganisation of the agency, saying some parts of USAID might be absorbed by the State Department and the remainder may be abolished.
Senator Schatz said USAID was not just about saving other countries from starvation and disease. "There is a reason that USAID is an arm of American foreign policy, and it is because we understand that a stable world means a stable America," he said.
In fiscal year 2023, the US distributed, partly via USAID, $US72 billion ($116 billion) of aid worldwide on everything from women's health in conflict zones to access to clean water, HIV/AIDS treatments, energy security and anti-corruption work.
It provided 42 per cent of all humanitarian aid tracked by the United Nations in 2024.
The State Department issued worldwide stop-work directives after Mr Trump's freeze order, with the exception of emergency food assistance. Experts warned that the move risks killing people.
Democratic members of Congress have decried what they characterise as an unelected billionaire amassing too much power over the federal government.
Did Elon Musk make a Nazi or Roman salute?
Photo shows SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks during a rally
Mr Trump defended Mr Musk on Monday but said there were limits to what his adviser could do.
"Elon can't do and won't do anything without our approval, and we'll give him the approval, where appropriate; where not appropriate, we won't. But he reports in," Mr Trump said to reporters.
"It's something that he feels very strongly about, and I'm impressed, because he's running, obviously, a big company," Mr Trump added
"If there's a conflict, then we won't let him get near it. But he does have a good, natural instinct. He's got a team of very talented people."
Flowers left outside the USAID office carry tags saying "Democracy dies in darkness" and "Today it's us at USAID, tomorrow it's you". (AP: Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Questions about accountability
Since taking office on January 20, Mr Trump has embarked on a massive government makeover, firing and sidelining hundreds of civil servants in his first steps toward downsizing the bureaucracy and installing more loyalists.
A separate US official said Mr Trump was not closely monitoring Mr Musk's moves but was being kept up to date.
"He's read in," the official said of Mr Trump's awareness of Mr Musk's activities.
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Photo shows A crowd in front of a screen with Elon Musk
Kathleen Clark, a government ethics professor at the Washington University School of Law, said most special government employees were not required to publicly file financial disclosures.
Mr Musk's new designation could be a way to avoid disclosing publicly his finances and his many conflicts, she said.
"If they do not make public his financial disclosure, it may make it impossible for the public and non-governmental organisations and journalists to hold him and the government accountable and make sure he does not participate in matters where he has conflicts," she said.
Mr Musk spent over a quarter of a billion dollars to help Mr Trump win November's presidential election.
On X, the social media platform Mr Musk also owns, he shared a post from right-wing commentator Rogan O'Handley that said Mr Musk had prominently campaigned with Mr Trump and voters had knowingly voted for his cost-cutting agenda.
Reuters
