Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency on Wednesday sharply cut back the number of federal real estate leases it claimed to have terminated, signaling that the group is losing at least some internal battles to get rid of government office space.For weeks, Mr. Musk’s group said on its website that it had terminated more than 700 leases, and saved more than $460 million in the process.But around 1 a.m. Wednesday, the group eliminated references to 136 of those cancellations. That reduced its savings by $140 million, or almost 30 percent of the total for lease cancellations it had claimed a day earlier.Mr. Musk’s team did not give a reason for the changes. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.The deletions appeared to reflect a new dynamic within the Trump administration: Some federal agencies had taken on DOGE and seemed to have won, preserving office space that Mr. Musk’s group said they had to give up. Last week, the General Services Administration, an agency that oversees the federal real estate portfolio, said it was rescinding more than 100 lease terminations notices.In many cases, the reasons behind the reversals were unclear. G.S.A. officials said they walked back some terminations because of “feedback from customer agencies.” But in some instances, lawmakers and agency officials said they had pushed back on the cuts.Mr. Musk’s group, for instance, declared that it had saved $6.5 million by canceling office space in Chicago used by the Army Corps of Engineers. But agency officials said they had appealed to the General Services Administration to try to reverse the cancellation. The Army Corps plays a critical role in responding to disasters, and the loss of office space could result in longer emergency response times, agency officials said.On Wednesday, Mr. Musk’s group appeared to admit defeat and removed the Chicago lease from its list of terminations.Other agencies received help from Republican members of Congress, who lobbied to keep offices in their districts open. In Oklahoma, Representative Tom Cole, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, had pushed to save office space used by the National Weather Service, the Indian Health Service and the Social Security Administration.Mr. Cole declared victory on social media this month, saying he had worked “closely with DOGE and the Administration” to keep the offices open. On Wednesday, Mr. Musk’s group seemed to concede this battle, too, deleting those cuts and the $4.4 million in savings they would have brought.Mr. Musk’s team also removed mentions of plans to cut dozens of local office spaces across the country for the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration, although more than 30 properties used by both agencies were still listed on the group’s website.Those battles do not appear to be over.This week, The New York Times asked the White House which of the terminations on the Musk team’s list were still accurate. A White House official declined to name any, offering instead a written statement: “G.S.A. is reviewing all options to optimize our footprint and building utilization.”The General Services Administration said last week that it sent out 827 lease termination notices and 117 letters rescinding some of them, but declined to provide a full list of the cancellations. Many agencies also declined to provide more specific details about their lease terminations.“G.S.A. is in constant communications with our customer agencies to ensure they are aware of our actions and have the opportunity to work with us to come to the best possible workplace solutions to support their mission,” Stephanie Joseph, a spokeswoman for the agency, said in a statement.Mr. Musk’s group posted its list of terminated leases on a webpage called “the wall of receipts.”That site also includes lists of canceled federal contracts and grants, which have been plagued by significant errors. Mr. Musk’s group claimed credit, for instance, for terminating contracts that were actually canceled under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and two that ended under President George W. Bush.
