Trump admin live updates: Trump says Americans may have less because of trade war

Elon Musk at the White House on Wednesday described his first 100 days in Washington leading his Department of Government Efficiency as “very, very intense,” and, while he said he was proud of his team’s work, he blamed what he called an “entrenched set of interests” for hindering their effectiveness so far.

Speaking to a small group of reporters in the Roosevelt Room, Musk was joined by fellow DOGE lieutenants Steve Davis and Antonio Gracias.

Musk was asked what he would have done differently with DOGE after 100 days and said while he believes they have made progress and have been effective, he said DOGE hasn’t been “as effective as I’d like.”

“I think we’ve been effective, not as effective as I’d like, I think we could be more effective, but we made progress.”

Musk was pressed multiple times on whether he still believed his DOGE team would reach their $1 trillion cost-cutting goal – telling reporters he still believes it is “possible” but acknowledged “it’s really difficult.”

“I think it’s possible to do that, but there’s that. It’s a long road to go and, you know, this, this, this really, it’s really difficult,” he said. “But our rate of savings per day is pretty good. You know, we’re like, $1.6 billion a day, 100 days in.”

Musk claimed that if DOGE is going to get to $1 trillion in cuts, it may come down to “how much pain is, you know, the cabinet and Congress going only to take. It can be done, but it requires dealing with a lot of complaints.”

Asked by ABC News what specifically those obstacles were blocking him from reaching that $1 trillion goal, Musk blamed “an entrenched set of interests in the vast federal bureaucracy that wants to keep things as they were before and increase the expenses.”

He described what he called the “default” of the federal bureaucracy as “spend what you did last year plus 5% indefinitely… So in order to change that, it’s like changing the direction of a fleet of supertankers.”

“We are making as much progress as we can… there’s a lot of inertia in the government… So it’s like, it’s not easy. This is, this is a way to make a lot of enemies and not that many friends.”

Pushed again, Musk said is it possible: “Absolutely.”

But the biggest question is does Musk and DOGE have the support.

“Is there a sufficient political will in Congress and elsewhere to actually do that?” he said. “It remains to be seen. If we can do it. We will is it? Is it possible to do, Yes.”

-ABC News’ Will Steakin