The statement confirmed longstanding suspicions that Doge, created<\/a> by an executive order that Donald Trump signed on his first day, was on its way out. The tech<\/a> billionaire Elon Musk and the former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy were tapped to lead the effort and were expected to drive \u201clarge scale structural reform\u201d through 24 July 2026.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are actually trying to be as transparent as possible,\u201d Musk said<\/a> about the department back in February, ignoring the fact that Doge agents refused to identify themselves in many cases, slashed agency spending often without consulting with the agencies, and did not transparently provide a public accounting of its work. \u201cI don\u2019t know of a case where an organization has been more transparent than the Doge organization.\u201d<\/p>\n Suspicions that Doge may have been disbanded began to surface earlier this summer, after Politico reported<\/a> in June that staffers had \u201cpacked up their clothes and bedding\u201d at the department\u2019s headquarters, where they had been sleeping since February, and looked for new homes.<\/p>\n The rehousing followed the explosive online feud between Trump and Musk, and many former employees reportedly grew worried that their role in slashing government programs and eliminating jobs could carry criminal repercussions. By May<\/a>, more than 200,000 federal workers had been laid off and roughly 75,000 had accepted buyouts. The organization said these cuts saved<\/a> billions of dollars in expenditure, but it was impossible for experts to authenticate these claims because of the lack of public accounting.<\/p>\n \u201cNow, if somebody from Doge, or representing themselves from Doge, asked me to do something, I wouldn\u2019t just blindly do it,\u201d a former Doge official who now reports to a federal agency told Politico<\/a> back in June.<\/p>\n While Trump administration officials have not publicly commented on the fact Doge reportedly no longer exists, documents<\/a> revealed by Reuters showed that the OPM, the federal government\u2019s human resources office, have since taken over many of the department\u2019s former responsibilities. Trump has also been known to speak about Doge in the past tense and Musk officially leaving Washington in May further heightened speculations.<\/p>\n Many of the agency\u2019s key players have since moved into other roles across government. Amy Gleason, the acting administrator, became an adviser to the health and human services secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, in March. Zachary Terrell, another senior member of the team, is now chief technology officer at the Department of Health, while Rachel Riley has taken up the post of chief of the Office of Naval Research, according to Reuters<\/a>.<\/p>\n The most prominent of these departures was Joe Gebbia, the co-founder of Airbnb, who has since been instructed by Trump to beautify government websites.<\/p>\n So far, since his Doge work, Gebbia has redirected his efforts, launching websites to recruit law enforcement officers to patrol Washington DC and advertise the president\u2019s extensive drug pricing program.<\/p>\n Quick GuideContact us about this storyShow The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know.<\/p>\n If you have something to share on this subject, you can contact us confidentially using the following methods.<\/p>\n Secure Messaging in the Guardian app<\/strong><\/p>\n The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said.<\/p>\n If you don’t already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS<\/a>\/Android<\/a>) and go to the menu. Select \u2018Secure Messaging\u2019. <\/p>\n SecureDrop, instant messengers, email, telephone and post<\/strong><\/p>\n If you can safely use the Tor network without being observed or monitored, you can send messages and documents to the Guardian via our SecureDrop platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1763977064_192_4000.jpg\")
<\/p>\n