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United States President Donald Trump has rejected the idea that he has “ceded the presidency” to a billionaire Elon Muskwho took a huge role in the transition of the president-elect to the White House.
Trump made the comments during a speech in Arizona on Sunday, days after the Tesla and SpaceX owner spoke alongside the president-elect I'm sinking a budget bill agreed upon in Congress.
The incident was the latest in which Musk has taken an unusually large role in the incoming Trump administration, drawing criticism from Democrats and Trump's GOP.
Addressing those criticisms directly for the first time, Trump praised Musk before adding: “And no, he's not going to take over the presidency.”
Trump also called the suggestion that he had “ceded the presidency to Elon Musk” another “hoax” pushed by his political opponents.
In a later joke, Trump noted that there was no risk of Musk officially assuming the presidency, as he would be constitutionally barred from doing so.
“Do you know why he can't be (president)?” Trump asked the crowd in Arizona. “He was not born in this country.”
The South African-born Musk – the world's richest person according to Forbes magazine – became one of Trump's biggest backers in the run-up to the election, endorsing the president-elect in July after an assassination attempt and pouring about $200 million into a Political actions (PAC) supporting Trump.
He has since been tapped by Trump to lead the proposed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tasked with taking a firm approach to federal government spending.
The so-called “department” is billed as an independent advisory panel, not a formal government agency, and its remit remains undefined.
Interference in the budget deal
Trump's comments come a day after outgoing US President Joe Biden signed a funding bill which prevents a government shutdown.
The previous bill, negotiated by members of both parties in Congress, was torpedoed days earlier when Trump came out in opposition.
The president-elect's main contention was that the bill did not raise the debt ceiling, a political battle Trump had hoped to avoid before taking office in January. The debt ceiling is the U.S. borrowing limit, a limit imposed by Congress on how much money the government can borrow to cover the difference between its revenue and spending.
Musk also spoke out against the deal, which he criticized in a stream of tweets on the social media platform X, which he also owns. He pledged to financially support primary challenges to lawmakers who supported the original legislation.
House Speaker Mike Johnson later told US media that he spoke by phone with both Trump and Musk while a new bill was being renegotiated.
The final bill — which funds the U.S. government at the current interest rate until March 14 — dropped several provisions opposed by Trump and Musk. However, the final version did not raise the debt ceiling amid opposition from a group of Republican lawmakers.
Speaking to CNN, Republican Rep. Rich McCormick said Musk's intervention showed that “he has influence and will put pressure on us to do whatever he thinks is right for him.”
Other Republicans are more receptive, with Rep. Tony Gonzalez saying in an interview with CBS that he “feels like Elon Musk is our prime minister.”
Speaking on CNN, Sen. Bill Haggerty praised Musk's role in negotiating the bill, while rejecting the idea that the billionaire was guiding Trump's decisions.
“Extremely worrying”
Beyond the budget deal, Musk's regular attendance along with Trump before he takes office on Jan. 20, has been causing concern among Democrats for weeks.
The billionaire was on the call when Trump spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after his election victory. He also attended recent meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in New York.
The criticism was sparked by memes on social media showing Trump bowing to Musk in various situations.
After last week's budget negotiations, several Democrats accused Musk of stepping in to serve his own interests.
They pointed to his support for removing a provision in the original bill that could have restricted his business's operations in China.
“It is extremely troubling that House Republican leadership, at the urging of an unelected billionaire, rescinded a bipartisan, bicameral negotiated funding agreement that included this critical provision to protect American jobs and critical capabilities,” Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro wrote in letter to congressional leaders on Friday.
