Elon Musk never asked to stay in the Lincoln Bedroom.
He wants that to be very clear. That’s just where he says President Donald Trump, who loves giving tours of the famous guest suite, sets him up when he stays over at the White House.
“We’ll be on Air Force One, and Marine One, and he’ll be like, ‘Do you want to stay over?’ And I’m like, ‘Sure,’” Musk said. “He’ll actually call, like late at night, and say, like, ‘Oh, by the way, make sure you get some ice cream from the kitchen.’”
From late-night ice cream runs at Trump’s invitation ‒ caramel-flavored Haagen Dazs, to be exact ‒ to better decisions he says he could have made, the tech mogul who heads the Department of Government Efficiency pulled back the curtain on his time working, and sleeping, at the White House in a group interview with a dozen journalists.
Musk, the world’s richest man, is preparing to significantly scale back his role leading the cost-cutting DOGE, which has taken a battering ram to the federal government, slashing programs and cutting workforces. Musk has maintained a frequent presence in the White House during Trump’s first 100 days, sometimes working in the building that doubles as the president’s residence seven days a week overseeing DOGE, he said.
But moving forward, Musk said, he expects to spend about a day or two a week working on DOGE matters and “every other week” in Washington as he returns his attention to his electric vehicle company, Tesla.
“Now, we’re getting more of a rhythm, and so the amount of time that it’s necessary for me to spend here is much less, and I can return to primarily running my companies − which they need me,” he said.
Musk’s hourlong interview, which took place in the White House Roosevelt Room near the Oval Office, marked his most extensive remarks to a room of reporters ‒ besides his occasional interviews with Fox News ‒ since he launched DOGE at the beginning of Trump’s second term. His reduced role comes after Tesla posted first-quarter earnings down 71% during the first quarter of 2025 ‒ the consequences of his increasingly polarizing brand as Trump’s chief sidekick.