Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has vowed to continue efforts to downsize the United States government, saying he aims to "thrash" the bureaucracy.



Musk was appointed by US President Donald Trump to head the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE.



The department's rapid-fire moves to downsize the government, such as slashing staff at the US Agency for International Development, has been drawing criticism.



Musk was asked about the backlash in an interview with Fox News, alongside Trump, that aired on Tuesday.



Musk noted that Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris won about 92 percent of the votes in Washington DC in last year's presidential election.



He said, "there's a vast federal bureaucracy that is implacably opposed to the President and the Cabinet."



Musk added, "what we're seeing here is the thrashing of the bureaucracy as we try to restore democracy and the will of the people."



Trump claimed that DOGE has been finding "hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of fraud," and said Musk is "doing an amazing job."