President Donald Trump said he wants Elon Musk to stay on his team ‘as long as possible’ during a conversation with reporters Thursday, adding DOGE had found something ‘horrible’ without divulging details.

The president made his remarks during a conversation with reporters on Air Force One after Trump was asked how much longer Musk would stay on as a ‘special government employee.’ 

The questions followed a report from Politico this week claiming Trump had told his inner circle that Musk will be leaving his role as a ‘special government employee’ with DOGE soon. The report cited internal frustrations with Musk’s ‘unpredictability’ and his potential to be a ‘political liability.’  

‘Elon is fantastic. He’s a patriot,’ Trump told reporters, adding Musk can stay at the White House ‘as long as he’d like’ and that he personally wants him to stay ‘as long as possible.’

‘I like smart people, and he’s a smart person. I also like him, personally,’ Trump added. ‘We’re in no rush. But there will be a point at which time Elon’s going to have to leave.’

‘Special government employees’ are permitted to work for the federal government for ‘no more than 130 days in a 365-day period,’ according to data from the Office of Government Ethics. Musk’s 130-day timeframe, beginning on Inauguration Day, would expire May 30.

When asked if he would consider appointing Musk to a different post to keep him around longer, Trump said that could be a possibility. 

‘I would. I think Elon’s great,’ Trump responded. ‘But he also has a company to run, or a number of companies to run.’

According to the president, ‘the secretaries’ within his cabinet will take over the work Musk has been doing with DOGE upon Musk’s exit from DOGE.

That work, Trump added, found something ‘horrible’ and ‘incredible’ today, but he would not divulge further details to reporters.

Musk’s work with DOGE officially began after President Trump signed an executive order establishing the office Jan. 20. The role of ‘special government employee’ was created in 1962 to permit the executive or legislative branch to hire temporary employees for specific short-term initiatives.

When asked for a specific date of Musk’s potential departure, the president responded that it could be as long as ‘a few months.’

‘I’d keep him as long as I can keep him,’ Trump told reporters earlier this week. ‘He’s a very talented guy. You know, I love very smart people. He’s very smart. And he’s done a good job.’

The president added on Air Force One that he envisions many of the employees working under Musk at DOGE will eventually find their way into full-time positions in various federal agencies.

Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump confirmed that multiple employees within the National Security Council were fired Thursday, adding to National Security Advisor Mike Waltz’s recent political woes that have snowballed since Democrats first slammed him over March’s Signal chat leak. 

‘Always, we’re going to let go of people we don’t like, or people we don’t think can do the job, or people who may have loyalties to somebody else,’ Trump said from Air Force One when asked about reports on the NSC firings. 

Trump confirmed that NSC members had been fired, but remarked it was not many individuals. 

Trump added that he continues to trust his NSC team, remarking that they’ve ‘done very well’ and ‘had big success with the Houthis.’  

Waltz, who previously served as a Florida congressman and as a decorated combat Green Beret, has come under fire from Democrats and critics since March, when the Atlantic magazine’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg published a firsthand account of getting added to a Signal group chat with top national security leaders, including Waltz, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, while they discussed strikes against Yemen terrorists. Trump and his administration have repeatedly defended the national security leader amid criticisms over the chat leak.  

Signal is an encrypted messaging app that operates similarly to texting or making phone calls, but with additional security measures that help ensure communications are kept private to those included in the correspondence. 

The Atlantic’s report characterized the Trump administration as texting ‘war plans’ regarding a planned strike on Houthi rebels in Yemen. The Trump administration has maintained, however, that no classified material was transmitted in the chat, with Trump repeatedly defending Waltz amid the fallout. 

‘As the president has made it very clear, Mike Waltz continues to be an important part of his national security team,’ Trump administration press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the media in brief remarks outside of the White House’s press room Monday afternoon. ‘And this case has been closed here at the White House, as far as we are concerned.’ 

‘There have been steps made to ensure that something like that can obviously never happen again,’ she continued. ‘And we’re moving forward. And the president and Mike Waltz and his entire national security team have been working together very well, if you look at how much safer the United States of America is because of the leadership of this team.’ 

Fox News Digital has compiled a timeline of accusations and outrage directed at and involving Waltz since the Atlantic’s first report on the chat leak. 

• March 24: The Atlantic publishes a report that Goldberg was added to a Signal chat that claimed national security leaders were discussing ‘war plans’ with one another.
• March 25: Trump tells NBC News he believes a staffer in Waltz’s office was behind mistakenly adding the Atlantic’s editor-in-chief to the group chat.
• March 25: Democratic outrage over the Atlantic article mounts, including Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, calling on Waltz and Hegseth to resign.
• March 25: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe join an annual Senate Intelligence Committee hearing and report no classified material was shared in the chat and that the Signal chat was ‘lawful.’
• March 25: Waltz joins Fox News and takes ‘full responsibility’ for the Signal chat leak. Waltz added that he ‘100 percent’ did not personally know Goldberg before the Signal debacle.’I take full responsibility. I built the group,’ Waltz said on ‘The Ingraham Angle’ March 25. ‘It’s embarrassing. We’re going to get to the bottom of it.’
• ‘I take full responsibility. I built the group,’ Waltz said on ‘The Ingraham Angle’ March 25. ‘It’s embarrassing. We’re going to get to the bottom of it.’
• March 26: Politico reports anonymous sources found Trump was irritated with Waltz over the leak, while the president publicly defended Waltz as ‘a very good man.’
• March 26: The Atlantic publishes a follow-up story that included direct texts from the Signal chat, but notably did not include the phrase ‘war plans’ in its headline, instead characterizing the texts as ‘attack plans.’
• March 26: Administration officials slam the Atlantic’s follow-up story as exposing a ‘hoax’ against Trump. Waltz also doubled-down that the Signal messages published in the Atlantic article did not include, ‘locations. No sources & methods. NO WAR PLANS.’
• March 26: Leavitt says Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency team would help investigate the Signal leak.
• March 28: Politico reports Trump did not want to fire Waltz and ‘give the press a scalp,’ according to anonymous sources reportedly familiar with private discussions.
• March 30: Goldberg joins NBC News’ Kristen Welker and says Waltz’s claims the two had never met or spoken are ‘simply not true.’
• March 31: Leavitt declares Signal case is ‘closed,’ reiterating that ‘Mike Waltz continues to be an important part of his national security team.’
• April 1: Washington Post reports Waltz and National Security Counsel staff used Gmail to conduct government business. NSC spokesman Brian Hughes pushed back on the Washington Post report in a comment provided to Fox Digital Thursday:’This is the latest attempt to distract the American people from President Trump’s successful national security agenda that’s protecting our nation. Let me reiterate, NSA Waltz received emails and calendar invites from legacy contacts on his personal email and cc’d government accounts for anything since January 20th to ensure compliance with records retention, and he has never sent classified material over his personal email account or any unsecured platform.’
• ‘This is the latest attempt to distract the American people from President Trump’s successful national security agenda that’s protecting our nation. Let me reiterate, NSA Waltz received emails and calendar invites from legacy contacts on his personal email and cc’d government accounts for anything since January 20th to ensure compliance with records retention, and he has never sent classified material over his personal email account or any unsecured platform.’
• April 1: House Oversight Democrats open investigation into Waltz’s use of Gmail.
• April 2: Politico reports Waltz’s office set up at least 20 different Signal group chats to coordinate with other officials. NSC pushes back that Signal is allowed on government devices and is an app used by both the Biden and Trump administrations:’Signal is an approved, encrypted messaging app and any claim NSC officials sending classified information over these channels is false. It can be used for unclassified messaging and a user has the responsibility to preserve any official record created,’ Hughes said in Thursday comment provided to Fox Digital. ‘Some in NSC, like those in the media and many areas across the federal government, use the Signal app. There are federal agencies that automatically install the app on government devices, as was testified to in congressional hearings last week. Using Signal to send unclassified information is appropriate and these same facts have been reported multiple times in the last few days. All communications are a reflection of a thoughtful dialog of those committed to the effective implementation of the President’s agenda.’
• ‘Signal is an approved, encrypted messaging app and any claim NSC officials sending classified information over these channels is false. It can be used for unclassified messaging and a user has the responsibility to preserve any official record created,’ Hughes said in Thursday comment provided to Fox Digital. ‘Some in NSC, like those in the media and many areas across the federal government, use the Signal app. There are federal agencies that automatically install the app on government devices, as was testified to in congressional hearings last week. Using Signal to send unclassified information is appropriate and these same facts have been reported multiple times in the last few days. All communications are a reflection of a thoughtful dialog of those committed to the effective implementation of the President’s agenda.’
• April 3: The New York Times reports far-right activist Laura Loomer reportedly presented Trump with a list of National Security Counsel staff who have been disloyal and should be fired.
• April 3: Trump confirms some members at NSC have been fired. He told the media that Loomer was not involved with the firings of the NSC members on Thursday.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on the matter, but did not immediately receive a reply. 

A 1947 agreement outlining obligations as host of the United Nations continues to give employees and their family members relatively unfettered access to the U.S. 

At a time of increased national security fears and immigration enforcement by the Trump administration, experts are urging a re-examination of the host nation agreement with an eye to the functional immunity granted to U.N. staff and the limited vetting given to those with U.N. visas.

‘The United States appears to have taken a relaxed view of the individuals entering the country associated with the U.N., either as employees or as representatives of various country missions. And yet we know that U.N. employees have had, and continue to have, close, direct relationships with terrorist organizations, like UNRWA and Hamas,’ Anne Bayefsky, director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust and president of Human Rights Voices, told Fox News Digital.

Bayefsky said there is ‘a disconnect between the welcome routine and the significant harm to American interests. Hosting the U.N. does not require the host country to facilitate or endure threats to its national security.’

The federal government grants G visas to employees, spouses and children of international organizations, including the U.N., who reside in, or are visiting, the U.S. According to the State Department’s website, ‘if you are entitled to a G visa, under U.S. visa law, you must receive a G visa. The exceptions to this rule are extremely limited.’ The Department of State also explains that ‘Embassies and consulates generally do not require an interview for those applying for G-1 – 4 and NATO-1 – 6 visas, although a consular officer can request an interview.’

Hugh Dugan, a senior advisor to 11 U.S. former ambassadors to the U.N., told Fox News Digital that it ‘appears to me that the issuance of the G visas for [U.N. employees] is a relatively rubber stamp exercise.’ While not requiring interviews of personnel has ‘become a matter of convenience, frankly, we should always be able to assess a threat to our country.’’

Dugan, a former National Security Council special assistant to the president and senior director for international organization affairs, said nations like Russia and China are only allowed to travel a certain distance from U.N. headquarters. ‘We are mindful of our adversaries’ activities and presence here, but the door is open to participate in the U.N. and the host country agreement makes that possible so that no country would be barred because of a certain political atmosphere or issue that might be brewing between us and them.’

Fox News Digital asked the State Department whether it requires interviews for staff from adversarial member states, including Cuba, Venezuela, Russia, North Korea, Iran and China, but received no response. A State Department spokesperson reiterated that consular officers ‘have full authority to require an in-person interview for any reason.’

Peter Gallo, formerly an investigator with the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), told Fox News Digital that he is particularly concerned about the functional immunity granted to U.N. staff participating in activities related to their employment. Gallo explained that ‘U.S. legal system has come to accept that pretty much it’s a blanket coverage.’ He added that ‘immunity breeds impunity.’

Gallo claimed that there is an epidemic of sexual offenses and misconduct among U.N. staff. He cited an incident in which a U.N. employee outside the U.S. sexually harassed ‘a young female in his department.’ Gallo said it took two years after receipt of the investigation report for an investigation to be completed, which resulted in the demotion of the offending employee. Gallo said the employee who was harassed, and her harasser remained in the same organization.

Gallo said that if employees take part in misconduct while based at U.N. headquarters, the U.S. government should be able to examine cases and determine whether staff should retain their G visas. 

Dugan said that if U.N. personnel ‘knew that [immunity] could be lifted at any time by us… they might start behaving a lot differently.’ 

In response to questions about whether U.N. staff have been accused of sexual misconduct in the U.S., or whether U.N. staff who engaged in misconduct have had their G visas revoked, a State Department spokesperson explained the department ‘generally does not provide’ revocation statistics. They also said that ‘all visa applicants, no matter the visa type and where they are located, are continuously vetted.  Security vetting runs from the time of each application, through adjudication of the visa, and afterwards during the validity period of every issued visa, to ensure the individual remains eligible to travel to the United States.’

The spokesperson said officials of the U.N. ‘are expected to respect applicable laws of the United States, including criminal laws. Failure to do so may constitute an abuse of privileges of residence.’ They added that this ‘applies for those who hold diplomatic immunity for their positions as well.’

Among staff who have raised internal alarm bells is U.N. special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese, who traveled to the U.S. in 2024 to deliver a report before the Third Committee of the General Assembly. Albanese, whose antisemitism has been condemned widely by senior U.S. diplomats and the State Department, was allowed to tour multiple U.S. college campuses while in the U.S.

In addition to qualifying for ‘rubber stamp’ G visas, staff of international organizations like the United Nations can qualify for green cards if they have spent half of at least seven years of employment inside the U.S., or have been in the U.S. for a combined total of 15 years prior to retirement.