1 month ago
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Billionaire Elon Musk’s time as a special government(-gutting) employee may have ended following a swipe at now-former boss Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.”
But don’t expect a public fallout between the president and the former head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman suggested Wednesday.
Musk’s criticism likely isn’t “thrilling Trump,” Haberman, who has reported on the president for years, acknowledged to CNN’s Jake Tapper.
But “I also don’t think it’s entirely surprising to Trump,” she added, noting how Musk “has been sort of trying to cleave some separation with the White House and his own work right now.”
Trump will probably “care a lot,” though, if Musk’s slamming of the bill for increasing the budget deficit has “a real material impact on the bill,” which has been passed by the House but faces opposition in the Senate.
The president on Wednesday swerved a reporter’s question on Musk’s criticism of the proposed legislation. Trump “clearly does not want to be in some kind of a public fight with Musk,” said Haberman.
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“I think they still deal with each other,” she said of the current state of the Trump-Musk relationship.
“Musk is still around. He is still allied with some people in the Trump administration, and he still has a lot of money,” she added. “And so all of that is going to mean, he will be around going forward. Just what quantities remain to be seen.”
English (US) ·