Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has distanced himself from direct involvement in President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet selections. “To be clear, while I have offered my opinion on some cabinet candidates, many selections occur without my knowledge and decisions are 100% that of the President,” Musk wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday.
Tesla boss was responding to a New York Post story detailing his relationship with Trump, who recently won re-election. “I really enjoy spending time with President @realDonaldTrump. My direct experience is that he is a great guy with an excellent sense of humour. Haven’t seen him do one bad thing even once,” Musk said in the same post.
Over the past week, Musk was spotted at a UFC championship fight at Madison Square Garden with Trump on Saturday night and accompanied him to SpaceX’s Starship launch in Boca Chica, Texas, on Tuesday. He was also photographed aboard Trump’s private jet with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
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Despite his proximity to the president-elect, Musk denies wielding any major influence over Trump. Notably, reports indicate Musk has participated in Trump’s calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
Trump recently announced that Musk would head the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a new initiative aimed at streamlining government operations. Vivek Ramaswamy will join him in this effort. However, since DOGE is not an official government department, Musk will not hold an official cabinet position.
Still, Musk has endorsed Florida Senator Rick Scott for Senate majority leader, although Republican senators ultimately elected South Dakota Senator John Thune to the position after a secret ballot.
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Musk also publicly supported Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, for Treasury Secretary, arguing that Lutnick “will actually enact change,” unlike hedge fund CEO Scott Bessent, whom he called a “business-as-usual choice.” While Lutnick was not tapped for the Treasury, Trump announced him as his commerce secretary on Tuesday.
