GuShiio.com Trump and Musk praised each other generously during the hour-long interview.
Authors: Wu Yu, Jin Shi Data
On Tuesday night Eastern Time, Fox News broadcast an exclusive interview with U.S. President Trump and billionaire Musk, who are making major efforts to cut federal spending. Host Sean Hannity praised the two men, and the latter also praised each other.·
The interview comes at a time when Musk’s role and influence in the Trump administration are coming under increasing scrutiny. Here are the key moments in the hour-long interview.
“It’s like interviewing two brothers”
Trump and Musk sat side by side, and Trump praised Musk’s intelligence and business acumen. He claimed that the media was trying to drive us apart and insistedThe relationship between them is very harmonious。
Trump called the world’s richest man actually a very good businessman. He said Musk and his 100 talents ensured the execution of his series of executive orders, but Trump did not say Musk was the think tank behind these executive orders. ldquo; He can get things done, Trump said.
Musk, on the other hand, said he played a technical support role in implementing Trump’s executive orders.
He praised Trump.& ldquo; I love the president. I want to make this clear, Musk said.” ldquo; I think President Trump is a good person.” rdquo;
“It’s outrageous that the president has been attacked so unfairly in the media, he continued. ldquo; I spent a lot of time with the president at this point, and I never once saw him do anything despicable, cruel or wrong. Not once.& rdquo;
The two men ridiculed claims by some critics that Musk had usurped Trump’s authority as president. ‘I felt like I was interviewing two brothers,’ Hannity said. rdquo;
During the 2024 election cycle, Musk spent at least $288 million to help win Trump and other Republican candidates.
Musk said he would have supported Trump in the 2024 election, but the assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania last July accelerated the process. He publicly supported Trump after the incident at the time and shared a video of Trump raising a bloody fist at a rally on his social media platform X.
The U.S. Department of Efficiency’s money-saving plan
Trump says Musk-led U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will cut from the federal budget“hundreds of billions”Dollar fraud and other forms of waste——This figure is well above what most experts believe is reasonable.
Jessica Riddle, a senior fellow at the right-wing think tank Manhattan Institute, said Musk said on X that he had discovered more than $50 billion in so-called waste and fraud, but further investigation of these claims showed the actual figure was closer to $4 billion.
Budget experts are highly suspicious of hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and fraud every year.
The Washington Post reported last week that DOGE’s social security database released on social media showed only $6 billion in total annual waste. $4 billion of that comes from a proposed cap on research overheads paid by the National Institutes of Health to universities, medical centers and other grant recipients that has been suspended by a judge.
Musk will avoid conflicts of interest
Trump told Hannity that if Musk’s work advising the federal government conflicts of interest with any of his business activities, he will not be involved.
“I never asked the president for anything, Musk said, addingIf there was any conflict of interest, he would recuse himself.
Trump made similar comments to reporters on Tuesday when asked about the role of the Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder. Musk likened his current situation to having a rectal exam every day.
As the Washington Post reported, Musk actively worked in the White House without abandoning his business role, a highly unusual arrangement that raised questions.
Promise not to cut social protection, Medicare and Medicaid
In the interview, Trump promised he would not touch on social protection, Medicare and Medicaid benefits as Republicans seek to cut federal spending and enact a tax bill worth about $5 trillion. He reiterated the campaign promise, which will make it more difficult for congressional Republicans to push for an extension of the 2017 tax cuts.
These three social protection programs account for the largest proportion of federal spending each year. Without cutting benefits on these programs, it is almost impossible for Republicans to achieve their twin goals of deep tax cuts and spending cuts.
Trump told Hannity: Except in cases such as fraud, social protection will not be touched. Instead, it will be strengthened, not cut. Medical insurance and Medicaid will not be affected in any way.& rdquo;
Reiterating USAID corruption
During the interview, Hannity showed a chart on the screen that claimed to show suspicious expenditures by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), including some expenditure claims that had been falsified.
“All of this went abroad. Money is not spent here in the United States, not on improving schools or maintaining law and order, Hannity commented.
The Washington Post investigated several so-called USAID expenditures mentioned in a recent press release from the Trump administration. Fox News’s chart mentions foreign aid allegedly used to fund Ireland’s Diversity, Fairness and Inclusion (DEI) musicals, Colombia’s transgender operas and Peru’s transgender comic books, all of which are inaccurate.
The chart also mentions funds used to promote Diversity, Fairness and Inclusion (DEI) in the Serbian workplace. This statement is largely accurate.
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