{"id":20920,"date":"2025-02-09T18:15:08","date_gmt":"2025-02-09T18:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=20920"},"modified":"2025-02-09T18:15:08","modified_gmt":"2025-02-09T18:15:08","slug":"trump-insists-he-trusts-musk-in-sit-down-with-bret-baier-while-reaffirming-what-us-depts-he-will-target-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=20920","title":{"rendered":"Trump insists he trusts Musk in sit-down with Bret Baier \u2014 while reaffirming what US depts. he will target next"},"content":{"rendered":"

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President Trump insists he trusts\u00a0Elon Musk<\/a>\u00a0to overhaul the federal government and expressed awe at the tech titan\u2019s work ethic while reaffirming his next targets \u2014 the Education Department and Pentagon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ran on this,\u201d Trump, 78, told Fox News\u2019 Bret Baier in a\u00a0preview clip<\/a>\u00a0of his Super Bowl interview, referring to his administration\u2019s efforts to root out government waste. \u201cI\u2019ve had a great help with Elon Musk, who\u2019s been terrific.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baier pressed the president about whether he trusts Musk, 53, who skeptics have predicted will spectacularly collide with Trump in a clash of egos.<\/p>\n

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President Trump says he is impressed by Elon Musk\u2019s time-management skills.REUTERS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cTrust Elon? Oh, he\u2019s not gaining anything,\u201d Trump replied of his fellow billionaire\u2019s cost-cutting work. \u201cIn fact, how he can devote the time to it? He\u2019s so into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Trump has tapped Musk to helm the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is a temporary government entity. Through DOGE, Musk has deployed a slew of tech whizzes and other talent to essentially audit the federal apparatus.<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, Musk\u2019s DOGE has targeted government agencies such as the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and a smattering of government contracts, to much fanfare from conservatives.<\/p>\n

The president reaffirmed that he has two big assignments for Musk to take on next.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m going to tell him very soon, like maybe in 24 hours, to go check the Department of Education; he\u2019s going to find the same thing,\u201d Trump said, referring to financial waste. \u201cThen I\u2019m going [to tell him] go to the military \u2014 let\u2019s check the military. We\u2019re going to find billions, hundreds of billions, of dollars of waste, fraud and abuse.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople elected me on that,\u201d the president said, referring to the cost-cutting moves.<\/p>\n

Trump previously told reporters Friday that he instructed Musk to look at the Pentagon and the Department of Education.<\/p>\n

Musk has maintained that he\u2019s been following guidance from Trump, including the president\u2019s executive orders, which have targeted programs such as diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives as well as foreign aid.<\/p>\n

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DOGE boss Musk has effusively praised Trump, too.Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cGreatest President ever!\u201d Musk beamed on X last week about Trump.<\/p>\n

But the endeavor to probe trillions of dollars worth of federal spending has been met with fierce pushback from Democrats and other critics, some of whom appear keen on trying to pit Trump and Musk against each other.<\/p>\n

Time Magazine recently published a cover featuring Musk sitting behind the president\u2019s White House desk.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIs Time Magazine still in business?\u201d Trump retorted to reporters last week when asked about the cover. \u201cI didn\u2019t even know that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of Musk\u2019s efforts have faced setbacks in the courts. On Saturday, for example, a New York-based judge temporarily blocked DOGE\u2019s access to the Treasury Department\u2019s payment systems that manage trillions of dollars worth of federal outlays.<\/p>\n

On Friday, a Washington, DC, judge also\u00a0halted<\/a>\u00a0plans to place 2,200 employees at USAID on administrative leave.<\/p>\n

And more related legal challenges are expected on the horizon.<\/p>\n

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Protests have popped up across Washington, DC, against the Trump administration\u2019s efforts to modernize the government \u2014 a task partly helmed by Musk.AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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But National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, speaking about the USAID, told NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press\u201d on Sunday, \u201cThe dollars aren\u2019t being used wisely.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to take a hard look at it. We need to move quickly. And that\u2019s exactly what\u2019s being done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to realign their mission and line it up with the president\u2019s foreign policy vision.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    President Trump insists he trusts\u00a0Elon Musk\u00a0to overhaul the federal government and expressed awe at the tech titan\u2019s work ethic while reaffirming his next targets \u2014 the Education Department … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20920"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20922,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20920\/revisions\/20922"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}