President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk defended the revamp of federal government spending, led by the Department of Government Efficiency during an interview Tuesday night on Fox News.
In conversation with host Sean Hannity, Trump and Musk praised each other’s accomplishments and cracked a few jokes while defending the work of DOGE.
Here are six highlights from the interview.
‘Like interviewing two brothers’
When Hannity tried to label Musk as Trump’s “tech support,” the tech billionaire agreed with the characterization but Trump pushed back, calling Musk a “leader” who “gets (things) done.”
The president said Musk is steering federal agencies to follow through executive orders signed under the Trump White House. He also credited social media company X’s owner for helping pick Cabinet nominees like Kristi Noem for Homeland Security secretary.
Trump praised Musk’s accomplishments in space exploration and predicted Musk will “go to Mars.”
Musk responded that he will, “at some point.”
“They always ask me, like, ‘Do you want to die on Mars?’ And I say, ‘Well, yes, but not on impact,’” Musk said, earning a laugh from the room."
Hannity admitted the interview was going to be a challenge. “I feel like I’m interviewing two brothers here,” he said.
The $10 million Twitter lawsuit
Hannity started the interview by going down memory lane. In 2021, Trump sued Twitter and Facebook for removing him from the platform and violating his right to free speech.
This legal snafu bled into the present time, when Musk, who now owns Twitter, and changed its name to X, is a crucial part of the Trump administration.
The SpaceX owner paid Trump $10 million to settle the lawsuit.
“I left it up to the lawyers and, you know, the team running Twitter,” said Musk. Trump confessed he was “looking to get much more money than that” but decided to give Musk a “big discount.”
“I don’t think he even knows about it,” Trump added.
DOGE’s goal
During the interview, Musk said that the Department of Government Efficiency’s goal was to reduce the U.S. deficit by a trillion dollars, which Trump had inherited when he stepped into office. In fiscal year 2024, the U.S. federal government’s deficit was $1.83 trillion, a $138 billion increase over 2023.
Trump claimed that DOGE has already identified 1% in waste, fraud, abuse and corruption, adding, “I think he’s going to find a trillion dollars.” Others have said DOGE’s numbers are overstated.
Inflation
Trump acknowledged the state of rising prices but said he wasn’t responsible for it at this point.
“Inflation is back. I’m only here for 2½ weeks,” Trump said before blaming the Biden administration for spending too much. “I had nothing to do with it.”
Earlier this month, a Labor Department report found that inflation in January jumped back to a 3.3% annual rate, the steepest climb in a year and a half.
Economists say tariffs could exacerbate the trend of rising prices. They argue importers may charge more for products to cover the additional costs, and ultimately, leading American consumers to shell out more money.
Conflict of interest
Hannity asked Musk a pointed question only “Because the media is obsessed about it.” The Fox News host asked Musk how he would handle a conflict of interest related to SpaceX, Tesla or X.
Trump said he lets Musk make his own decisions but he won’t be involved in decisions that would affect his companies, like slashing electric vehicle subsidies would negatively impact Tesla sales.
“He’s probably not that happy with it, but that would have been one thing he would have come to me and said, ‘Listen, you got to do me a favor. This is crazy,’” the president joked.
Trump added that Musk believes Tesla vehicles are a good product, and as long as he has access to a level playing field, “he doesn’t care what you do.”
The Tesla owner chimed in, saying he hasn’t asked the president for any favors, and stated that should there be a conflict, he will recuse himself.
DOGE criticism
Democrats bash Musk for being in charge when no one voted for him, the Fox News host said. “I’ll give you a chance to respond to that. ‘What DOGE is doing is illegal. Elon Musk is street vernacular for a male body part. It’s a constitutional crisis,’” Hannity added.
“Why are they reacting like this?” Musk said. “If we’re the target, we’re doing something right,” the Tesla CEO responded. He also speculated that the federal bureaucracy favored and voted for Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President Kamala Harris, and they remain opposed to the Trump White House and Cabinet.