The backlash against Elon Musk and the activities of his Department of Government Efficiency has prompted a rare intervention from US president Donald Trump.

CNBC reported that Trump has imposed limitations of the power of DOGE, after he told his Cabinet secretaries during a meeting Thursday that staffing decisions will be left up to them, not Elon Musk and DOGE.

Trump began his second term in office by signing many executive orders, one of which announced it “establishes the Department of Government Efficiency to implement the President’s Doge Agenda, by modernising Federal technology and software to maximise governmental efficiency and productivity.”

Doge Cuts

In November Donald Trump had appointed both Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to head up an advisor group called the Department of Government Efficiency, with a remit to offer advice on cutting “wasteful” US government spending.

DOGE is not a government department but instead was intended to offer the White House “advice and guidance” and will partner with the Office of Management and Budget to “drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to government never seen before.”

In January Vivek Ramaswamy stepped down as co head of Doge, leaving Elon Musk solely in charge.

Musk has previously stated they will seek to cut approximately $2 trillion from the federal budget and cut regulations.

But it is understood that the wages of federal employees accounts for only 15 percent (some reports put it as low as 5 percent) of federal spending and 1 percent of GDP, which potentially means the bulk of cuts in the future will fall on US government projects, budgets and initiatives.

Job purges

In the past month Musk and DOGE have indiscriminately purged thousands of federal employees (including many thousands of disabled veterans).

In some cases Musk and co was forced to rehire fired personnel, as evidenced by asking nuclear scientists and CDC staffers to return to work – after they had been terminated.

The chaotic nature of DOGE’s cuts mirrors the chaos of Musk’s takeover at Twitter. It has also resulted in 21 civil service DOGE employees resigning, saying they were refusing to use their technical expertise to “dismantle critical public services.

Over the weeks, concern has mounted at Musk’s and DOGE’s indiscriminate firing of federal staff, including from federal agencies currently investigating Elon Musk businesses.

Concern has also been raised at DOGE personnel accessing sensitive data of millions of US citizens.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak slammed the “sledgehammer” approach of Musk and DOGE, and also criticised Trump and Musk over the controversial US treatment of Ukraine.

Another concern about DOGE emerged when on Tuesday it placed a list of “non-core federal properties” for sale, which included the headquarters of the FBI, and the buildings that house the US Justice Department, Housing Development, and other federal agencies.

That list was subsequently taken down, and was other lists that had falsely claimed the number of cost savings achieved, after the claims were found to be factually incorrect.

Trump intervention

Now CNBC reported that Trump said he has instructed Cabinet members to work alongside DOGE on spending and workforce reductions, while clarifying that final job cuts will be at the discretion of the department leaders.

“We just had a meeting with most of the Secretaries, Elon, and others, and it was a very positive one,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “It’s very important that we cut levels down to where they should be, but it’s also important to keep the best and most productive people.”

“As the Secretaries learn about, and understand, the people working for the various Departments, they can be very precise as to who will remain, and who will go. We say the ‘scalpel’ rather than the ‘hatchet,’” Trump also posted.

Trump’s message was a rare curtailing of Musk’s authority, but it should be noted that Trump also praised Musk and DOGE after Thursday’s meeting.

“I think they’ve done an amazing job,” he told reporters.

Musk called the meeting “very productive” in a post on X.

It was Musk’s second time attending a Trump Cabinet meeting, despite him not being an elected official.

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday that his directive to his Cabinet members was: “Keep all the people you want, all the people that you need.”

But he also indicated that Musk would step in if the department heads don’t make sufficient cuts.

“If they can cut, it’s better. If they don’t cut, then Elon will do the cutting,” Trump was quoted by CNBC as saying.