Elon Musk, DOGE team offer unprecedented peek behind the curtain of Trump's cost-cutting department

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk and seven members of the team shed light on the department's cost-cutting mission in an exclusive sit-down interview with "Special Report" Thursday.

"We want to reduce spending by eliminating waste and fraud and reduce the spending by 15%, which seems really quite achievable," Musk told "Special Report" executive editor Bret Baier.

"The government is not efficient, and there's a lot of waste and fraud. So we feel confident that a 15% reduction can be done without affecting any of the critical government services."

PAM BONDI THREATENS PROSECUTION AMID DOGE'S FINDINGS ABOUT FRAUD: ‘WE’RE COMING AFTER YOU'

Musk, along with DOGE members Steve Davis, Joe Gebbia, Aram Moghaddassi, Brad Smith, Anthony Armstrong, Tom Krause and Tyler Hassen, added a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the department’s work from the Internal Revenue Source to the Interior Department to Social Security. 

"This is a revolution. And I think it might be the biggest revolution in government since the original revolution. But at the end of the day, America's going to be in much better shape," he said. 

"It's going to be a fantastic future."

As of March 27, DOGE claims on its site it has saved Americans $130 billion, or $807.45 per taxpayer.

President Donald Trump tasked the organization with optimizing the federal government, streamlining operations and slashing spending and gave the agency 18 months to do it.

The department has canceled numerous diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives at federal agencies, consulting contracts, leases for underused federal buildings and duplicate agencies and programs.

FIRST ON FOX: REPUBLICAN SENATORS URGED TO ‘GO ON OFFENSE’ ON DOGE GOALS, HIGHLIGHT WORK WITH TRUMP, MUSK

During the "Special Report" exclusive, Musk and the seven DOGE members illustrated key efforts of the department to achieve Trump's goal. Davis brought up federal credit cards, which he labeled a "mundane" but "illustrative" example of DOGE's work.

"There are in the federal government around 4.6 million credit cards for around 2.3 to 2.4 million employees. This doesn't make sense. So one of the things all of the teams have worked on is we've worked for the agencies and said, 'Do you need all of these credit cards? Are they being used? Can you tell us physically where they are?'" Davis explained.

"Clearly there should not be more credit cards than there are people," Musk responded.

The eight-man group also discussed DOGE's work relating to the federal workforce, financial management, government infrastructure, computer systems, Social Security and more.

Musk and DOGE have been a lightning rod for criticism due to the department's commitment to slashing waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government. Critics contend the organization has too much access to federal systems and should not be permitted to cancel federal contracts or make cuts to various agencies.

"They may characterize it as shooting from the hip, but it is anything but that," Musk said, noting the agency's approach to cuts is to "measure twice, if not thrice and cut once."

"Which is not to say that we don't make mistakes. If we were to approach this with the standard of making no mistakes at all, that would be like saying someone in baseball has got to bat a thousand. That's impossible. So when we do make mistakes, we correct them quickly and we move on," he added.

FOX NEWS POLL: VOTERS HAVE CONCERNS ABOUT DOGE, EVEN AS THEY SEE NEED FOR CUTS

The top DOGE official also argued that when critics "attack DOGE, they never attack any of the specifics."

"They'll say what we're doing is somehow unconstitutional or illegal or whatever. We're like, 'well, which line of the cost savings do you disagree with?' And they can't point to any."

Musk explained the department is keeping Congress "informed" but claimed "the law does say that money needs to be spent correctly. It should not be spent fraudulently or wastefully. It's not contrary to Congress to avoid waste and fraud. It is consistent with the law and consistent with Congress."

Many Republican lawmakers have come out as staunch DOGE defenders, while several lawmakers from the other side of the political aisle remain skeptical critics of the department and its leader. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Fox News Digital's Greg Wehner contributed to this report.