Elon Musk told the political strategist Mark Penn that if DOGE tried to cut $2 trillion, it'd have a "good shot" of ending up at $1 trillion.

In a Wednesday interview on X, Elon Musk said cuts of $2 trillion to the federal budget might not be possible and was a "best-case outcome."

Elon Musk, who U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has tapped to oversee a government cost-cutting effort, acknowledged that his declared goal of cutting $2 trillion in spending from the $6.8 trillion federal budget would be a long shot.