What did Donald Trump do today?

He gave every conceivable answer on what Elon Musk's role in government is.

Trump has let his political funder and Twitter booster Elon Musk take extraordinary liberties with executive power. Musk has even been allowed to upstage Trump in Oval Office events. Exactly what authority Musk has is something that Trump and his staff has tried to avoid speaking to. But between yesterday and today, they gave all possible answers to that question, in three very different venues.

In a court filing yesterday, a Trump administration official stated under oath that while Musk was a "special government employee," a status that allows him to be exempt from most oversight and ethics rules, he was not a "DOGE" employee or its head.

Today, press secretary Karolina Leavitt said the opposite, asserting that Musk was in de facto control of DOGE: "Elon Musk has been tasked with overseeing DOGE on behalf of the president and DOGE employees." She did not answer when asked who the actual administrator of DOGE is.

And in an unusual joint interview that aired on Fox News today, Trump sat next to Musk and said that, in effect, there were no limits on Musk's authority and Trump trusted him to simply "do what's right." Presidents virtually never give interviews alongside "subordinates," for fear of looking weakened or dependent on them. Even interviews with their own vice-presidents are rare. 

TRUMP: If he's got a conflict, I mean, look, he's, he's in certain areas, I mean—I see this morning, I [laughs] I didn't know, but I said "do the right thing," where they're cutting way back on—the electric vehicle, uh… subsidies.

MUSK: Yeah.

TRUMP: They're cutting back! Not only cutting back—

MUSK: Correct.

TRUMP: Yeah. Now, I wouldn't tell you—

MUSK: Well—

TRUMP: He's probably not that happy with it, but that would have been one thing he would have come to me and said, "Listen, you gotta do me a favor, this is crazy," but this was in the—the tax bill, they're cutting back on the subsidies. I didn't—I wasn't involved in it. I said, "Do what's right, and you can—" and they're coming up with the tax where it's just preliminary. But— I mean— if he were involved, wouldn't you think he'd probably do that? Now maybe he does better if you cut back on the subsidies, who knows, cause, he figures, he does think differently. He thinks he has a better product—

MUSK: Yeah.

TRUMP: And as long as he has a level playing field, he doesn't care what you do. He's told me that!

MUSK: Yeah.

In other words: Trump is telling courts that Musk is a mere advisor, the press that Musk is running DOGE, and Fox News viewers that he's not even really bothering to look over Musk's shoulder.

It's not constitutional for Trump to delegate real authority to Musk while hiding behind the fig leaf that he is "just an advisor." Actual officers of the United States—none of whom in American history have ever wielded the kind of president-by-proxy power that Musk does—are subject to ethics laws, divestment requirements, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, security checks, heightened tax scrutiny, impeachment, and criminal prosecution for abuse of office.

Why does this matter?

• A president who gives three mutually exclusive answers to the same question is lying at least twice.

• Trump may genuinely not know what Musk is doing or how to stop him.