Musk-a-Lago: Inside Elon Musk’s role on Trump’s transition team

Inside, Trump sits with just a handful of his closest associates—and his newfound buddy-in-chief, Elon Musk.

Some of those waiting outside have been summoned by the president-elect. Others have asked Mar-a-Lago members they know to invite them to the resort, hoping to get a few minutes with him. Nearly as important is getting on Musk’s radar.

The two men have been inseparable over the past week at Mar-a-Lago, where the Tesla CEO has become such a fixture that Trump has given him his own “walk-on song" for the DJ to play when he enters the dining room: David Bowie’s “Space Oddity."

Musk has become the “most influential" member of the president-elect’s orbit, according to two people close to the transition. The world’s richest man has been sitting in on meetings and interviews with candidates for cabinet positions, joining Trump’s calls with foreign leaders like Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, and recruiting friends and allies for key positions in the government.

A spokeswoman for the Trump transition didn’t return a request for comment. Musk didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Musk personally spent $200 million to elect Trump, according to people familiar with the matter, an extraordinary amount for an individual and more than the billionaire had publicly indicated. After The Wall Street Journal reported in July that Musk privately told people he would donate around $45 million a month to his pro-Trump super PAC, Musk said he was donating at a “much lower level."

Musk also joined Trump on Wednesday on his first trip to Washington, D.C., after being re-elected for a White House meeting with President Biden, but the pair have been spending most of their time together in Trump’s office at the club.

Musk has been staying at Mar-a-Lago, according to people familiar with the matter, along with members of his family. Sometimes Musk is with his 4-year-old son X in tow. Trump’s granddaughter posted a photo of him on the golf course, saying “Elon achieving uncle status." At night, he has been spotted dining with Trump and his wife, Melania. “I’m happy to be the first buddy," Musk posted on X, formerly Twitter.

Musk doesn’t have a formal title on Trump’s transition team but works daily with transition co-chairs Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon in sessions over key personnel moves and minutiae, some of these people explained. With large screens in front of them, Musk and others weigh in on candidates as their headshots are presented on large television screens.

Melissa Rein Lively, a publicist who has been publicly angling for the job of White House press secretary, has been seeking to meet with Trump advisers including Musk. She said Musk recently texted her and suggested they get together while in Florida, saying he heard she was someone he should meet. She has pitched him on being his personal spokeswoman if the White House job doesn’t work out.

When Trump is sworn into office in January, Musk will take charge of a new entity Trump calls the Department of Government Efficiency with former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. (The name, with the initials DOGE, is Musk’s homage to dogecoin, a cryptocurrency that he frequently jokes about.)

In the role, which is expected to be outside the government, Musk has said he would look for places to cut red tape and slash trillions of dollars from the government budget.

But even as he has threatened to cut jobs, Musk has in the past week turned to close friends to fill new government roles that could also impact his six companies, including Tesla, SpaceX and X, people close to the transition and Musk say.

SpaceX, which has signed more than $15 billion in government contracts over the past decade, is the dominant firm used by the Pentagon and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Musk and his companies have been repeatedly probed by government agencies.

People close to the transition expect Musk’s friend and Silicon Valley entrepreneur David Sacks to be among those advising the new government efficiency group, some of the people said.

Musk’s allies in Silicon Valley, including engineers, have been sending in their résumés after some were encouraged by the billionaire businessman to do so.

John Hering, another investor in many of Musk’s companies, is fielding many of these reach outs, one of the people said.

“I think one of the more attractive elements for those people, it will feel to them they are working for Elon instead of President Trump," one person familiar with the process said.

Some Silicon Valley donors have privately expressed frustration at the nominees Trump has announced so far, grumbling that their views should be better represented after the money and time they gave to the Trump campaign.

Trump posted on X last night that Musk’s role at DOGE will be to work with the White House Office of Management and Budget to implement its recommendations for cutting costs.

Musk is particularly fixated on what he sees as the bloated size of the federal workforce and has argued—possibly in jest—that more than half of the government’s employees should be fired, the people familiar said.

As a chief executive, he has made drastic layoffs at his companies, and he hopes to do the same thing across the government. But it’s easier to fire private-sector workers than government employees, who enjoy strong job protections.

Musk has predicted that he could cut federal spending by at least $2 trillion. Veterans of past administrations, including prominent Republicans, are skeptical he will be able to achieve that goal without cutting programs that have broad bipartisan support.

Whatever his exact role, his potential portfolio during Trump’s second term is so expansive that once source described him as being “in charge of the federal budget."

Musk has said that laid-off federal workers should receive up to two years of severance, as well as job training, according to a person familiar with his plans.

He is expected to target cuts at agencies that regulate or investigate his companies, including the Federal Trade Commission, Justice Department, Securities and Exchange Commission and Internal Revenue Service, according to people who have worked with Musk and talked to him about the agencies.

Other veterans of Trump’s first term believe that Trump will eventually turn on Musk, particularly if he outshines him at events or tries to take the lead in communicating with world leaders, many of whom Musk has pre-existing relationships with.

But so far, people who have witnessed their interactions said Trump and Musk seem to be getting along.

Over the weekend, Trump dined with Musk on Mar-a-Lago’s expansive patio. People who were there said Musk was treated like a celebrity by patrons of the private club, who competed for his attention. So bright is his star power among the conservative Trump supporters who spend their evenings at Mar-a-Lago that one club regular compared him to Paul McCartney.

Andrew Restuccia contributed to this article.

Write to Brian Schwartz at brian.schwartz@wsj.com, Dana Mattioli at dana.mattioli@wsj.com, Rebecca Ballhaus at rebecca.ballhaus@wsj.com and Emily Glazer at Emily.Glazer@wsj.com