Mr. Musk, who says he will devote more time to his private companies, never came close to achieving his goal of cutting $1 trillion from the federal budget.
President Trump gave Elon Musk a farewell from the Oval Office on Friday, praising him as an innovator during a joint news conference after Mr. Musk said this week that he would step away from his role as Mr. Trump’s chief cost cutter.
Mr. Trump, who gave Mr. Musk a golden key emblazoned with the White House insignia, said the world’s richest man would remain an adviser.
Reading from prepared remarks, the president called Mr. Musk “one of the greatest business leaders and innovators the world has ever produced” and praised his work finding what Mr. Trump said was “waste, fraud and abuse” in the federal budget.
Mr. Musk brushed off questions about a new report in The New York Times about his use of drugs on the campaign trail. But he said he hoped to continue to be a “friend and adviser to the president” and expressed confidence that the cost-cutting effort he started — called the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE for short — would continue working and would eventually find the $1 trillion in savings he had promised.
“The DOGE team will only grow stronger over time,” he said.
While the event was billed as a send-off for Mr. Musk, it quickly turned into a largely solo news conference from Mr. Trump. The president fielded a range of questions, including whether he has marital advice for President Emmanuel Macron of France after a video emerged that appeared to show his wife shoving him in the face. (He did not have any advice.) Mr. Trump was also asked whether he would consider pardoning Sean “Diddy Combs. (He said he has not given it much thought.)
Mr. Musk’s departure comes as his influence inside the Trump administration appears to be waning. He has faced friction with shareholders in his companies, which have struggled during his White House stint, and with the president, with whom he has clashed on tariffs and budget issues.