The billionaire head of the U.S. DOGE Service clashed with Trump Cabinet officials well before he announced he would soon head back to Tesla.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said he will step back from his role with the Trump administration's cost-cutting team known as Doge. Those at the White House, including the president, have said it has long been the plan that Musk would soon step away,

DOGE has cut jobs at nearly every federal agency, canceled thousands of contracts and taken control of computer systems that run the government. As its leader, Musk has been a polarizing figure seen by many Republicans as an agent of cost cutting and efficiency and by Democrats as a blunt-force instrument hurting government services.