By Suleiman Ibrahim.
Elon Musk‘s new Department of Governmental Efficiency suffered a setback just days after its formal creation with the departure of top staff lawyer Bill McGinley.
The agency, which Trump announced with exuberance during the presidential transition, has already suffered some awkward early steps – including the departure of one of its announced heads, former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. Instead, he is mulling a run for governor of Ohio – an election that won’t take place until 2026.
Now, it has been revealed just days into the administration that the panel’s top lawyer is leaving.
Attorney Bill McGinley is now departing to pursue opportunities in the private sector, the Wall Street Journal reported.
‘I am in discussions regarding a number of private sector opportunities and will have something to announce in the next couple of weeks,’ he told the paper. ‘I support President Trump, Vice President Vance, and the great teams in the White House and across the administration 100%.’
It’s just the latest unusual twist for a government entity that President Trump’s team said would slash $2 trillion from government costs.
When it was first announced, it was to be an entity outside government. The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, was to co-run the organization along with Ramaswamy.
Instead, Trump signed an executive order creating an agency inside the executive branch. In fact, it redesignated an existing organization, the U.S. Digital Service, to create the DOGE.
William J. McGinley will no longer serve as counsel to the new Department of Government Efficiency, according to a new report
McGinley is a partner at Holtzman Vogel with two decades practicing law in Washington.
He previously served as Cabinet Secretary in the White House and representing the Senate Republican campaign arm and the RNC, giving him a wealth of legal experience in politics.
Much of his role would be defending the legal challenges to cuts and reorganizations proposed by the DOGE, which shares the name with a Musk cryptocurrency.
Outside groups sued minutes after Trump began his presidency, arguing it was operating as a federal advisory committee and subject to an act bearing the same name.
Even McGinley’s exact role has been topsy turvy.
Trump had first announced he would be McGinley as White House counsel, a job that would put him at the epicenter of some of Trump’s most fraught decisions, as House January 6 Committee testimony revealed.
Instead, his role with DOGE was announced weeks after the initial release.
Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and X, is overseeing the DOGE alone after the departure of Vivek Ramaswamy
President Trump commented on Musk’s attacks on Sam Altman days after the announcement of a $500 billion AI deal dubbed ‘Stargate’
A Trump transition spokeswoman said at the time of Ramaswamy’s move stated that he ‘intends to run for elected office soon, which requires him to remain outside of DOGE, based on the structure that we announced today.’
News of the staff shift came on a day Trump weighed in on Musk’s attacks on the $500 billion Stargate AI deal that he announced at the White House this week.
Trump explained Musk’s extraordinary public attacks on the deal as a personal grievance with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, although Trump didn’t mention Altman’s name.
‘No, he hates one of the people in the deal,’ Trump explained, in a reference to Altman.
DailyMail.com reached out to McGinley and DOGE for additional comment.
