April 22, 2025, 10:04 PM 2:59 Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk attends an opening ceremony for Tesla China-made Model Y program in Shanghai, China Jan. 7, 2020. Aly Song/Reuters Tesla's profits fell 71% over the first three months of this year, a company earnings release on Tuesday showed. The company's performance fell short of analysts' expectations. Total revenue decreased by 9% from one year earlier, to $19.3 billion, while revenue derived from car sales plunged 20% over the first three months of 2025 compared to a year ago, the earnings showed. The new financial details arrive as some shareholders have called on Musk -- whose temporary status as a government employee expires next month -- to step down from his White House role and return full-time to the helm of Tesla. Opening his company's earnings call on Tuesday, Musk defended the work he was doing with the Department of Government Efficiency and commented on the Tesla protests, saying, without evidence, that the protesters were demonstrating because they were “receiving fraudulent money.” He then called the DOGE work necessary but said that "working for the government to get the financial house in order is mostly done." "I think starting probably next month in May, my time allocation to those will drop significantly," he said. He added that he expected to keep working for the government one or two days a week for the remainder of President Donald Trump's presidency to "make sure that the waste and fraud that we stopped does not come roaring back." DOGE has not yet proved the fraud it alleges. Musk added that he would start shifting more time and attention back to Tesla. President Donald Trump talks to the media next to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, with a Tesla car in the background, at the White House in Washington, March 11, 2025. Kevin Lamarque/Reuters Musk also addressed the Trump administration's tariffs on Tuesday, saying, "I've been on the record many times as saying that I believe lower tariffs are generally a good idea." "But this decision is fundamentally up to the elected representative of the people, being the president of United States," he added. "So, you know, I'll continue to advocate for lower tariffs … but that's all I can do.” Earlier, he had said that Tesla was in a relatively good position to weather tariffs because it has localized supply chains. MORE: 'Wild time': Wall Street strategists warn of uncertain outlook amid Trump's tariffs