Donald Trump-Elon Musk press conference Updates: Trump thanks Musk for his ‘time', Musk pledges to remain Trump adviser

Trump assured that many of the DOGE employees are staying behind and suggested that Musk will remain integral in the project. "Many of the DOGE people are staying behind, too, so they're not leaving, Elon is really not leaving. He's gonna be back and forth. I want to thank Elon for his time as a special government employee for coming and helping us."

Musk has brushed off questions about how DOGE would continue without him, even suggesting it could “gain momentum” in the future.

“DOGE is a way of life,” he told reporters recently. “Like Buddhism.”

A black spot near Elon Musk's right eye during a joint press conference with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Friday raised speculations amid reports of drug use during Trump campaign. What really happened? Read here

Donald Trump said he will speak to China's President Xi Jinping and hopefully work out their differences on trade and tariffs, after earlier on Friday accusing Beijing of violating an agreement with Washington.

"I'm sure that I'll speak to President Xi, and hopefully we'll work that out," Trump said at the White House, speaking alongside billionaire Elon Musk.

Elon Musk said on Friday that his departure from the White House does not mark the end of DOGE and that much of his cost-cutting team will remain in place and he will continue to give advice to President Donald Trump.

Musk said he was confident that "over time" the Department of Government Efficiency will reach $1 trillion of savings he promised.

Donald Trump handed a golden key as a gift to Elon Musk, the departing leader of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Donald Trump on Friday again claimed credit for the India Pakistan ceasefire, saying that he had a role to play to stop the cross-border firings. He reiterated his claim that India and Pakistan reached a mutual understanding after he said he will stop trade with the countries.

Donald Trump, wishing senior adviser Elon Musk well on his last official day at the White House, said on Friday that Musk is not really leaving and will be back often.

During a joint appearance in the Oval Office, Trump said of Musk: "He's done a fantastic job."

“This is not the end of DOGE but the beginning,” says Elon Musk as he receives a gift from Donald Trump for his service.

Heavily praising Elon Musk, Donald Trump said Elon Musk is not going away totally, and he will be ‘back and forth’ at DOGE

Donald Trump began the press conference by praising Elon Musk, calling him “a fantastic friend” who “didn’t need this,” referring to his stint at the White House.

“Government's a little nasty on occasion,” Trump added.

Elon Musk has worked tirelessly, Donald Trump says during the press conference as the Tesla CEO stands beside him at Oval Office.

“I am having a Press Conference tomorrow at 1:30 P.M. EST, with Elon Musk, at the Oval Office. This will be his last day, but not really, because he will, always, be with us, helping all the way. Elon is terrific! See you tomorrow at the White House,” Donald Trump had said earlier.

“Upon the request and recommendation of many people, I am herby terminating the employment of Kim Sajet as Director of the National Portrait Gallery. She is a highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI, which is totally inappropriate for her position. Her replacement will be named shortly. Thank you for your attention to this matter,” Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post.

The press conference announced by Donald Trump, which will also feature Elon Musk, is set to start soon. Stay tuned.

Tesla shareholders called for Elon Musk to return to work as sales slumped and protests targeted the electric vehicle maker, while Space X had a series of fiery rocket failures.

Vice President JD Musk praised Elon Musk's "incredible" job in an interview with Newsmax and vowed that "the DOGE effort will continue."

"DOGE is integral to the federal government's operations, and its mission, as established by the President's executive order, will continue under the direction of agency and department heads in the Trump administration," White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said.

Without billionaire Elon Musk in the Trump administration, his cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency project is likely to sputter out, a former DOGE staffer said in an interview after leaving the team.

Software engineer Sahil Lavingia, who spent almost two months working for the group of pro-Musk technologists, said he expects DOGE to quickly "fizzle out."

"It'll just die a whimper," Lavingia, who was fired from DOGE earlier this month, told Reuters. "So much of the appeal and allure was Elon." He said he expected DOGE staffers to "just stop showing up to work. It's like kids joining a startup that will go out of business in four months."

Elon Musk's time at DOGE has led an ideologically-driven rampage through the federal government, with its young "tech bros" slashing tens of thousands of jobs.

It has also shuttered whole departments including the US Agency for International Development (USAID), leading to huge cuts in foreign aid that critics say will hit some of the world's poorest people and boost US rivals.

US President Donald Trump hosts a grand Oval Office farewell for Elon Musk on Friday as the world's richest man ends his turbulent reign as the government's cost cutter-in-chief.

The pair will hold a joint press conference at 1.30pm (1730 GMT), with Trump attempting to put a positive spin on Musk's departure from the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after just four months.

Musk said Wednesday that his time as a formal adviser to Trump is coming to a close. His high-profile political work for the president had spurred worries among investors about the fallout for his companies, most prominently Tesla Inc.

Steve Davis, who served as Elon Musk’s de facto second-in-command at the Department of Government Efficiency, is following the billionaire adviser out of President Donald Trump’s signature cost-cutting effort, Bloomberg reported quoting a person familiar with the move on Thursday.

Like Musk, Davis was serving as a special government employee, a designation that allowed him to keep his job as CEO of one of the billionaire entrepreneur’s companies, the Boring Co., even as he worked on the DOGE effort. SGEs are limited to 130 days of work for the government in any year.

Musk announced he was stepping down from his White House stint on Wednesday, giving Tesla investors some succor after shares slumped this year in part due to the backlash to his support of Trump and right-wing parties in Europe.

On Tuesday, Musk criticised the price tag of Republicans' tax and budget legislation making its way through Congress.

In addition, he had recently pledged to spend less money on politics after he plunked down nearly $300 million on Trump's presidential campaign and on other Republican candidates last year.

In the four months since Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency began slashing federal spending and staffing, a handful of the agencies he has targeted trimmed their combined spending by about $19 billion compared with the same period last year, according to U.S. Treasury Department summaries reviewed by Reuters.

That is far below Musk's initial goal of $2 trillion in savings and amounts to about a half of 1% of total spending by the federal government.

Elon Musk earlier told reporters he had “done enough” and would step back from spending money on politics. The richest man in the world had contributed around $300 million on Donald Trump's 2024 US presidential campaign and on other Republican candidates last year.

In an interview with the Washington Post ahead of the SpaceX launch on May 27, Elon Musk expressed frustration that DOGE had become a scapegoat for criticism. “DOGE is just becoming the whipping boy for everything. Whenever something goes wrong anywhere, we get blamed even if we have nothing to do with it,” he said.

In a post on X on May 28, Tesla CEO and DOGE leader Elon Musk announced that his tenure as a special government employee will be ending soon, and he will be focussing more on his businesses.

He said he would step down from his role at the White House. The announcement came a day after Elon Musk, on May 27, criticised the price tag of Republicans' tax and budget legislation making its way through Congress.

The Donald Trump Elon Musk press conference is scheduled to begin at 1:30 pm EST, which is 11 pm IST. The press conference will be streamed live from the Oval Office of the White House.

In a post on Thursday on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump announced he will be holding a press conference from the White House, where Elon Musk would be present.

“This will be his last day, but not really, because he will, always, be with us, helping all the way. Elon is terrific,” he wrote.