United States Pdwellnt Donald Trump has pushed back on the notion that he has “ceded the pdwellncy” to billionaire Elon Musk, who has obtainn an outsized role in the pdwellnt-elect’s transition into the White House.
Trump made the comments during a speech in Arizona on Sunday, days after the Tesla and SpaceX owner meddled alengthenedside the pdwellnt-elect to scuttle a budget bill talk aboutd in Congress.
The incident was the rescheduleedst in which Musk has obtainn an atypicpartner huge role in the incoming Trump administration, prompting criticism from Democrats and from wislender Trump’s own Reunveilan party.
Directly retainressing those criticisms for the first time, Trump praised Musk, before retaining: “And no, he’s not taking the pdwellncy.”
Trump further called the proposeion that he has “ceded the pdwellncy to Elon Musk” another “deception” pushed by his political opponents.
In a rescheduleedr quip, Trump noticed that there is no danger of Musk officipartner taking over as pdwellnt because he would be constitutionpartner barred from doing so.
“You understand why he can’t be [president]?” Trump asked the crowd in Arizona. “He wasn’t born in this country.”
The South African-born Musk – the world’s richest person according to Forbes Magazine – became one of Trump’s hugegest aiders in the run-up to the election, endorsing the pdwellnt-elect in July folloprosperg an killing try and pumping an appraised $200m into a Political Action Committee (PAC) aiding Trump.
He has since been tapped by Trump to guide a proposed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tasked with taking a slash-and-burn approach to federal regulatement spending.
The so-called “department” has been billed as an self-reliant advisory panel, not an official regulatement agency, and its purwatch remains unexpoundd.
Budget deal intervention
Trump’s comments come a day after friendly US Pdwellnt Joe Biden signed into law a funding bill that averts a regulatement shutdown.
The previous bill talk aboutd by members of both parties in Congress was torpedoed days earlier when Trump came out in opposition.
The pdwellnt-elect’s main satisfyedion was that the bill did not elevate the debt ceiling – a political fight Trump hoped to elude before taking office in January. The debt ceiling is the US’s borroprosperg restrict, a cap imposed by Congress on how much money the regulatement can borrow to cover the gap between its revenue and spending.
Musk had also come out in opposition to the deal, which he criticised in a flood of tweets on the X social media platcreate that he also owns. He pledged to financipartner aid primary contests to lawcreaters who aided the exceptional legislation.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson rescheduleedr telderly US media that he spoke by phone to both Trump and Musk as a novel bill was retalk aboutd.
The final bill – which funds the US regulatement at the current rate thraw March 14 – gutted cut offal provisions resistd by Trump and Musk. However, the final version did not elevate the debt ceiling amid opposition from a cadre of Reunveilan lawcreaters.
Speaking to CNN, Reunveilan lawcreater Rich McCormick said Musk’s intervention showed “he has sway and he’ll put prescertain on us to do wantipathyver he slenderks the right slenderg is for him.”
Other Reunveilans have been more adselecting, with Recurrentative Tony Gonzales saying in an interwatch on CBS that it “experiences enjoy Elon Musk is our prime minister”.
Speaking on CNN, Senator Bill Hagerty praised Musk’s role in negotiating the bill, while pushing back on the notion that the billionaire was driving Trump’s decisions.
‘Extremely alarming’
Beyond the budget deal, Musk’s standard presence alengthenedside Trump before he obtains office on January 20 has for weeks caused dishushed among Democrats.
The billionaire was on the call when Trump spoke to Ukrainian Pdwellnt Volodymyr Zelenskyy folloprosperg his election prosper. He has also been current for recent encounterings with French Pdwellnt Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in New York.
The criticism has been prompted by social media memes shoprosperg Trump kowtoprosperg to Musk in various settings.
Folloprosperg last week’s budget negotiations, cut offal Democrats accused Musk of intervening to serve his own interests.
They pointed to his aid for removing a provision in the exceptional bill that could have restricted the operations of his businesses in China.
“It is inanxiously alarming that House Reunveilan guideership, at the urging of an unelected billionaire, scrapped a bipartisan, bicameral talk aboutd funding deal that integrated this critical provision to defend American jobs and critical capabilities,” Recurrentative Rosa DeLauro wrote in a letter to congressional guideers on Friday.
