The Trump administration has increasingly downplayed billionaire Elon Musk’s level of authority in recent days, repeatedly claiming in legal filings he can’t unilaterally make decisions and doesn’t formally run the Department of Government Efficiency he was tapped to lead—even as reports and the billionaire’s own comments indicate Musk has been behind broad cuts throughout the federal government.

The work of the U.S. DOGE Service bears the unmistakable fingerprints of the world’s richest person, even if he’s not formally the administrator.

The White House says billionaire Elon Musk is not the administrator of the Department of Government Efficiency team sweeping through federal agencies, but rather a senior adviser to President Donald T