President-elect Donald Trump has denied claims that he’s handed over presidential power to billionaire Elon Musk, who has been heavily involved in Trump’s move into the White House.
Trump spoke about this in Arizona on Sunday, shortly after Musk had helped him block a spending bill that Congress was trying to pass.
This was the latest example of Musk taking an unusually big role in Trump’s incoming government, which has worried Democrats and some Republicans alike.
Speaking about these concerns for the first time, Trump praised Musk but made it clear: “And no, he’s not taking the presidency.”
Trump dismissed the idea that he had “ceded the presidency to Elon Musk” as another “hoax” created by his political rivals.
He then joked that Musk couldn’t become president even if he wanted to, because of the law. “You know why he can’t be [president]?” Trump asked the crowd in Arizona. “He wasn’t born in this country.”
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Musk, who was born in South Africa and is currently the world’s richest person according to Forbes Magazine, became one of Trump’s biggest supporters before the election. He publicly backed Trump in July after someone tried to assassinate him, and put about £200 million into a group supporting Trump’s campaign.
Trump has now chosen Musk to lead something called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which aims to make big cuts to government spending.
This “department” isn’t an official government agency – it’s meant to be an independent group giving advice, but no one’s quite sure what it will actually do yet.
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