Elon Musk’s special status in Donald Trump’s inner circle was starkly defined at the president’s latest cabinet meeting.

Surrounded by department heads like Marco Rubio, Robert F Kennedy, and Pete Hegseth, Musk stood out for more than his red hat.

Each of the other men around the table had a place setting with their name and title – national security adviser, secretary of state, defense secretary.

Expect for one: The Tesla boss had only his name, ‘Elon Musk’.

The missing title was a visual representation of the controversial role the world’s richest man plays as one of Trump’s closest advisors.

Having spent the past two months taking a chainsaw to the public service, his critics call him the unelected ‘First Buddy’ illegally wielding massive power over Americans.

Liberals like Senator Bernie Sanders and and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have been sent into a tailspin over his growing influence in the White House, it calling an ‘unelected oligarchy’.

Elon Musk’s table place setting at a cabinet meeting on Monday had only his name – unlike others around him who also had their titles

Surrounded by department heads like Marco Rubio, Robert F Kennedy, and Pete Hegseth, he stood out for more than his red hat

Thousands of protesters rallied on Presidents Day in Washington, DC and other major cities in a ‘Not My President’ rally as many of the signs condemned Musk as acting as an unelected DOGE ‘king’.

‘Elon Take Your Nazis and Go to Mars,’ one sign read. Other signs read ‘Burn a Tesla, Save Democracy’, ‘Deport Nazi Musk’ and ‘You Can’t Spell Felon Without Elon’.

Musk is officially a ‘special government employee’ with the title of ‘senior adviser to the president’, according to official documents.

The Department of Government Efficiency is not an official department that would be led by a cabinet secretary, and thus doesn’t need Senate approval.

Court filings last month also made clear that Musk is ‘not the US DOGE Service Administrator’ in any official capacity.

‘In his role as senior advisor to the president, Mr Musk has no greater authority than other senior White House advisors,’ the court filing noted.

The document added that he had ‘no actual or formal authority’ to make government decisions by himself.

He is a White House employee and not an employee or service administrator of DOGE, which is a temporary organization within the executive office of the president.

Each of the other men around the table had a place setting with their name and title – national security adviser, secretary of state, defense secretary

Musk was wearing a red MAGA-style hat that said, ‘Trump was right about everything’ in all caps

Trump, Musk, and others in the administration regularly play up or downplay Musk’s role and powers in the government, depending on the situation.

The president made it clear on several occasions that Musk was running the show at DOGE, regardless of what was on paper. 

Musk has said DOGE is ‘pretty much’ in every federal department, and has fired tens of thousands of government employees in the name of cost cutting.

But on other occasions he sought to minimize his responsibility – even wearing a T-shirt reading ‘tech support’ to an Oval Office photo op.

‘Elon Musk is a special government employee and has abided by all applicable federal laws,’ White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has said.

Trump and Cabinet officials spent nearly an hour talking about their accomplishments and answering questions from journalists at the White House.

Musk was wearing a red MAGA-style hat that said, ‘Trump was right about everything’ in all caps.

For Trump, these have been opportunities to highlight his administration’s progress on his agenda, such as ramping up deportations and reducing the federal workforce.

Musk sat at the foot of the table, directly opposite Trump, during the hour-long meeting

They’re also a showcase for Musk’s influence. Near the end of Monday’s meeting, Trump praised the billionaire entrepreneur as ‘a patriot’ who is selflessly serving his country.

‘Elon has never asked me for a thing,’ he said.

Special government employees are frequently used by presidential administrations, since they ware created in 1962, to fill talent gaps with specialist knowledge and expertise, without having to make them full-time staffers.

Trump’s AI and crypto czar David Sacks is another in his administration, and Joe Biden appointed communications advisor Anita Dunn during his presidency.

But SGEs are usually limited to a very narrow focus, such as Sacks, and never to the extent of Musk’s influence.

This, along with Musk’s ownership of Tesla, SpaceX, and Starlink – which receive government contracts – has lawmakers worried about conflict of interest.

A demonstrator protests against US President Donald Trump’s policies and executive orders during the US holiday, Presidents’ Day

Senator Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, highlighted these concerns in a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on January 31 as DOGE tried to access the department’s payment system.

‘I am concerned Musk’s enormous business operations in China – a country whose intelligence agencies have stolen vast amounts of sensitive data about Americans, including US Government employee data by hacking US government systems – endangers US cybersecurity and creates conflicts of interest that make his access to these systems a national security risk,’ he wrote.

Leavitt has attempted brush aside such concerns when asked about them at her press briefings.

‘For concerns regarding conflicts of interest between Elon Musk and DOGE, President Trump has stated he will not allow conflicts, and Elon himself has committed to recusing himself from potential conflicts,’ she said.

‘DOGE has been incredibly transparent about what they’re doing, posting daily updates on X and updating their website.

People participate in a “TeslaTakedown” protest against Elon Musk 

‘It’s standard practice for administrations to hire individuals as special government employees to focus on specific issues, based on their outside experience, for a limited period of time.’

‘All SGEs are filling out the appropriate paperwork, receiving briefings on ethics rules, including the conflict of interest rules, and abiding by all applicable federal laws.’

The president has also tried to reassure Americans that he and his administration was watching Musk for conflicts of interest or a lack of transparency.

Federal law ‘prohibits government employees from participating personally and substantially in official matters where they have a financial interest’.

This also applies to ‘their spouse, minor child, general partner and certain other persons and organizations’.

They can apply for a waiver from this rule if their ‘interest is not large’ or they are viewed as such an important asset that it outweighed a the conflict.

SGEs also have restrictions put on them to go with their status. They are only expected to work, for the government for 130 days or less in a 365-day period.