President Donald Trump claims that eventually, Elon Musk, whose so-called Department of Government Efficiency has fired thousands of federal staffers and gutted various agencies in a supposed effort to reduce wasteful public spending, will have to return to his own businesses.

Musk spent a fortune to help reelect Trump and was made a “special government employee” in January, but the designation comes with a 130-day cap set to expire at the end of May, prompting reporters Monday to ask the president if he’d like Musk “to stay longer.”

“I think he’s amazing, but I also think he’s got a big company to run, and so at some point he’s going to be going back,” said Trump in the Oval Office. “He wants to, but I’d keep him as long as I could keep him. He’s a very talented guy. You know, I love very smart people.”

Musk’s tenure as the head of DOGE has been widely criticized by Democrats, as his companies, SpaceX and Tesla, receive billions in federal contracts. The tech billionaire has used DOGE to target regulatory agencies that are investigating said businesses.

In addition to numerous lawsuits against DOGE from affected staffers, Musk has seen his Tesla facilities and charging stations across the U.S. vandalized or destroyed, prompting Trump to publicly float the idea of charging perpetrators with domestic terrorism charges.

When asked Monday if DOGE “will keep operating even without Elon,” Trump responded, “I can say this, that a lot of the people that are working with DOGE are the secretaries, the heads of the various agencies, and they’ve learned a lot and they’re dealing with the DOGE people.”

He added, “I think some of them may try and keep the DOGE people with them.”

Trump went on to say regarding the future of DOGE: “But at a certain point, I think it will end, but they have also gotten a big education, and they’re doing a really good job. There’ll be a point at which the secretaries will be able to do this work and do it very, as we say, with a scalpel. And that’s what we want.”

Musk seemingly launched his farewell tour in a Fox News interview last week, in which he suggested that 130 days is all he needed, stating, “I think we will have accomplished most of the work required to reduce the deficit by a trillion dollars within that time frame.”

The billionaire said in October that DOGE would find $2 trillion in supposedly wasteful spending, but halved the figure in January. Whether he’ll actually leave in May is unclear, as a White House official told Politico last week that Musk is “here to stay.”

A recent Quinnipiac poll showed 54% of voters feel Musk and DOGE are hurting the U.S.