Watch: Trump jokes he ‘can’t get Elon Musk out of Mar-a-Lago’

President-elect teases world’s richest man after reports he has spent the majority of his time since the election at the Florida resort

Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email
Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email
Donald Trump teased Elon Musk that he can’t get him to leave Mar-a-Lago following reports the Tesla billionaire has spent days hanging out at the president-elect’s Florida resort.
Speaking at a donor event at the Palm Beach estate, Mr Trump quipped: “He likes this place, I can’t get him out of here! I like him here too.”
Mr Trump made a similar jibe at a meeting of House Republicans on Wednesday, saying: “Elon won’t go home. I can’t get rid of him, at least until I don’t like him.”
His comments about Mr Musk came during a summit of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), where he was joined by Argentine president Javier Milei.
It follows reports that the world’s richest man has spent the majority of his time at Mar-a-Lago since November 5, joining the Trump transition team for virtually every meeting and sharing many meals with the president-elect.
“He’s done a fantastic job,” the president-elect said, lauding the billionaire during his first major speech since the election. 
“Really incredible mind and an unbelievable entrepreneur – sort of everything. I asked him ‘what do you do best’, and we were not able to figure it out, but it’s a lot of things.”
Although the Twitter and Space X owner briefly went home to his $35 million mansion in Austin, Texas, the New York Times reported that he returned to Florida on Friday to eat on the Mar-a-Lago patio, roam the gift shop and spend time on the golf course alongside Mr Trump.
Mr Musk also took to the stage shortly after Mr Trump at Thursday night’s America First Policy Institute gala, saying that the president-elect’s second term in office would stoke a “revolution”.
“As president Trump said, what we need is common sense,” Mr Musk told attendees, including Sylvester Stallone and several members of his incoming administration. “This won’t be business as usual. This is going to be a revolution.
“The public has given us a mandate that could not be more clear. The people have spoken, the people want change.”
Trump aides have grown annoyed by the constant presence of Mr Musk, who is said to have been far more hands-on than even some of his allies had thought, according to NBC.
According to some aides, he has played a more significant role in the transition period than Howard Lutnick and Lenda McMahon – the two figures officially appointed to lead the process.
Mr Musk has also sat in with the president-elect during phone calls with a number of world leaders including Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, and Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine.
The Twitter owner was photographed posing with his son, X, alongside the Trump family on election night and out on the golf course in the days afterwards.
Kai Trump, the president-elect’s 17-year-old niece captioned the latter photo: “Elon achieving uncle status.” 
Mr Musk later responded to a comment on social media by saying: “I’m happy to be the first buddy!”
The billionaire was also a vocal supporter of Mr Trump’s election campaign and held a daily cash sweepstake competition for voters in swing states who signed a petition supporting the First and Second Amendments of the US Constitution.
The president-elect announced on Tuesday that Mr Musk, alongside former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, will head up a department of government efficiency tasked with stripping back government spending.
The new agency will operate “outside of government” to trim the federal government’s “massive waste”, cut regulations and reconstruct federal agencies, Mr Trump said.
Announcing the department, the president-elect said Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy “will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies”.
Mr Musk also reportedly met with Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations on Monday, prior to his government appointment.
The meeting was to discuss how to defuse tensions between Tehran and Washington, according to two Iranian officials who spoke to The New York Times.
The two met for more than an hour at a secret location on Monday, in talks that were described as “positive”.
Neither the Trump transition team nor Iran’s mission to the United Nations confirmed the meeting.
Recommended
Copy link
twitter
facebook
whatsapp
email