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Trump says talk that he has ceded presidency to Musk is a ‘hoax’
President-elect Donald Trump addresses billionaire ally’s power after his influence was on display in congressional budget wrangling
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Donald Trump said on Sunday that he will be president of the United States - not Elon Musk.
“No, he’s not taking the presidency,” Trump told a conservative audience in Phoenix, Arizona, addressing growing complaints about the outsized role the Tesla boss has already had in his incoming administration.
“You know, they’re on a new kick,” he said. “All the different hoaxes. The new one is that President Trump has ceded the presidency to Elon Musk. No, no, that’s not happening.”
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That Trump would be compelled to address Musk’s power is testimony to the unusual influence that the world’s richest man has displayed in a second Trump presidency that will not begin for another month.
Trump has tapped Musk to head a cost-cutting and deregulation effort he calls the Department of Government Efficiency. It is not an official department, but rather a small group of people working from the Washington offices of Musk’s SpaceX and organised around an account on Musk’s social media platform, X.
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