Former White House staffer Alyssa Farah Griffin said President Trump is “giving himself distance” by placing Elon Musk in charge of controversial cuts to federal spending at various agencies. “What Trump is doing by putting Elon in charge of so much of overseeing the federal government and these massive cuts is he’s giving himself

President Donald Trump ordered U.S. agencies on Tuesday to work closely with top adviser Elon Musk's effort to shrink the federal workforce by identifying government employees who can be laid off and functions that can be eliminated entirely.

The order gives the so-called Department of Government Efficiency vast reach over the shape of the civil service.