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By Monica Sager
Live News Reporter
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What's New
Fox News' Fox & Friends co-host Lawrence Jones said Friday morning that he had spoken with President-elect Donald Trump, saying that the ongoing taunts of "President Elon Musk" from Democratic members of Congress do "not bother the president."
Why It Matters
A number of Democratic lawmakers have condemned Musk's alleged power over Trump and Congress, as the time until a governmental shutdown continues to tick away. Some Democrats have suggested Musk is the actual "president" and that Trump is following his lead in the negotiations.
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"It did not bother the president. As I said yesterday, the Musk tweet was a warning shot from the president," Jones said. "They are in lock-step on this. This is why the president appointed him for this commission, him and Vivek, they are doing what the president wants them to do."
Jones also suggested that Democratic leaders "need to pick a talking point."
"Either Donald Trump is going to be a dictator on Day One and run everything and ruin the infrastructure of the country, or he's ceded his power to Elon Musk," Jones said. "It cannot be both."
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Musk has been an ever-growing presence in U.S. politics, with Kai Trump, the president-elect's granddaughter, even saying he had been promoted to "uncle status" in a family photo after the election.
The CEO of SpaceX and Tesla reportedly joined Trump in a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He also spent Election Day at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida and has reportedly had a near-constant presence at the resort since the Republican's win against Vice President Kamala Harris.
Musk and Ramaswamy were at the U.S. Capitol recently to speak with lawmakers—mostly Republicans, according to the Associated Press. The two will lead Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—though some GOP lawmakers are calling for Musk to become House speaker.
The DOGE heads have discussed budget-slashing proposals and other ways to cut programs and "Save America." Musk has already pledged to make $2 trillion in cuts to the federal budget.
What To Know
Musk came up in the discussion as the Fox hosts were talking about the government funding bill, which without a deal from both parties would send the government into a shutdown over the holidays.
Trump threw his support behind a revised government funding plan from House Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday after coming out against a previous version of the bill on Wednesday. But the revised stopgap legislation failed to pass in Congress on Thursday night.
Along with Trump's opposition to the original bill, Musk was very vocal about his feelings on X, which he owns and was formerly known as Twitter.
Musk urged lawmakers to vote down an original bipartisan spending bill and said any lawmaker who supported it should be voted out of office. Trump later echoed Musk's opposition, calling for a rise in the debt limit to be added, and warning that any Republican who backs the bill should face a primary challenge.
″'Shutting down' the government (which doesn't actually shut down critical functions btw) is infinitely better than passing a horrible bill," Musk wrote in one of many X posts railing against the continuing resolution.
Jones said on Fox & Friends that he spoke with Trump Thursday night around 10 p.m. and asked the President-elect about Johnson because "no one expected this amount of Republicans to vote against it."
Trump told Jones that "I have full confidence in Mike Johnson, it's not Mike Johnson, the Freedom Caucus blew it up."
"He also said 'Why am I handling this negotiation when we have a current president in Joe Biden?'" Jones said. "He said the debt ceiling needs to be raised. Chuck Schumer has every intention of using this the next two years as leverage while he's in office."
What People Are Saying
President-elect Donald Trump on Truth Social: "If there is going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now, under the Biden Administration, not after January 20th, under "TRUMP." This is a Biden problem to solve, but if Republicans can help solve it, they will!"
Democrat Patty Murray, the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told ABC News: "I'm ready to stay here through Christmas because we're not going to let Elon Musk run the government"
Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont said on X: "The US Congress this week came to an agreement to fund our government. Elon Musk, who became $200 BILLION richer since Trump was elected, objected. Are Republicans beholden to the American people? Or President Musk?
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on X: "Elon Musk ordered his puppet President-elect and House Republicans to break the bipartisan agreement reached to keep the government open. House Republicans are abdicating their responsibility to the American people and siding with billionaires and special interests."
What Happens Next
Congress has until midnight on Friday to pass a stop-gap spending bill, or the government will shut down.
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