AP Photo/Evan Vucci
President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team responded forcefully to claims that Elon Musk is running the show on Thursday.
Musk and Trump killed a spending bill put forward by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) to keep the government funded through March 14 ahead of Friday’s deadline. On Wednesday, the billionaire Tesla CEO embarked on a public pressure campaign in which he called for the bill to be killed and declared that any Republican who supports it should be voted out of office.
By the afternoon, Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance released a joint statement agreeing with Musk and demanding lawmakers avoid a shutdown by passing a spending bill that didn’t include “giveaways.”
The sudden death of the bill has led some pundits and Democratic lawmakers to suggest Musk is pulling the strings at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump spox Karoline Leavitt responds to “Elon Musk is the real leader” rhetoric from Dems:
“As soon as President Trump released his official stance on the CR, Republicans on Capitol Hill echoed his point of view. President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. Full stop.”
— bryan metzger (@metzgov) December 19, 2024
Business Insider released a report on Thursday detailing the timeline of the bill’s death that included a statement from Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Trump-Vance transition who is set to serve as White House press secretary in the new administration, responding to allegations that Musk is running the show.
“As soon as President Trump released his official stance on the CR, Republicans on Capitol Hill echoed his point of view,” Leavitt told the outlet. “President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. Full stop.”
