On a Saturday morning in December 2022, Elon Musk summoned finance executives at Twitter, which he had bought six weeks earlier, to a conference call. Then he drilled into a spreadsheet that contained the social media company’s expenditures.

Musk's newfound influence in the Trump world comes as regulators are grappling with the myriad of cutting-edge technologies his companies are developing.

Last week, Donald Trump announced the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency, which promises to "dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.