President Donald Trump said he sees no problems with his tech billionaire ally Elon Musk autonomously managing his own potential conflicts in his role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency as he continues to take a wrecking ball to agencies across the federal government – including regulatory bodies that oversee SpaceX, Tesla and X.
Musk has continued to face intense criticism and ethical questions from Democrats on Capitol Hill and government watchdogs who have argued that his various business ventures coupled with his position as a "special government employee" present a conflict of interest. The alarms have grown louder as the ongoing purge of federal personnel and budget cuts throughout the government intensify.
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Fox News host Sean Hannity pressed Trump on potential "conflicts" that could arise with Musk's businesses.
"What about his businesses?" asked Hannity. "What if there is a contract he would otherwise get?"
"We're not going to let him do it," replied Trump. "If he's got a conflict, I mean, look, he's in certain areas."
Trump continued, saying with a chuckle, "I mean, I see this morning — I didn't know, but I said, 'Do the right thing,' where they're cutting way back on the electric vehicle subsidies. They're cutting back. Not only are they cutting back —"
"They hurt you," Hannity said, looking at Musk.
"Correct," said Musk.
"You don't care?" Hannity returned, briefly ignoring Trump who tried to continue speaking, before interjecting, "Well, he's probably not happy with it. That would've been one thing he would've come to me and said, 'Listen, you gotta do me a favor. This is crazy.'"
Trump again suggested Musk could police himself regarding any conflicts of interest, noting Musk didn't fight cuts to electric subsidies, before floating, "Maybe he does better if you cut back on the subsidies. Who knows?"
When Musk insisted he's never asked Trump for "anything, ever," Hannity asked Musk, “And if it comes up how will you handle it?”
Trump jumped in before Musk could reply.
“He won’t be involved,” Trump interjected.
“Yeah, I’ll recuse myself if there’s a conflict,” Musk added.
“If there’s a conflict he won’t be involved. I mean I wouldn’t want that, and he wouldn’t want that," Trump chimed in.
Musk went on to say with a smirk, “And also I’m getting sort of a daily proctology exam here. You know it’s not like I’m going to be getting away with something in the dead of night here.”
Hannity ended the exchange with a well-known political expression on Capitol Hill: “Welcome to D.C., if you want a friend get a dog.”
Watch the clip below or at this link.
Trump explains that he's empowered Elon Musk to police his own conflicts of interest and acknowledges that might work to his financial advantage pic.twitter.com/XocrKuzDUR
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 19, 2025