Donald Trump admitted that potential conflicts of interest prevented him from showing Elon Musk the plans of the Pentagon for a hypothetical war with China.
The president Disputed claims of the 'fake news' that Musk got a glimpse of plans for a hypothetical struggle for the 'first buddy' invited to the Pentagon on Friday.
The head of the Department of Government Efficiency even suggested that he would hunt the 'Leakers' who suggested that he had a look at the top secret plans.
Trump held a press conference with Minister of Defense Pete Hegseeth on Friday, where he was asked why Musk would not only be shown such information.
“Certainly, you would not show it to a businessman who helps us, pay a big price to help us save costs … but Elon has companies in China and he would be sensitive to that.”
He finally said that Musk's visit had to do with finding potential 'waste, fraud and abuse' at the Penatgon.
Trump also suggested that he wants as few people as possible to see plans for a war that he never wants to happen.
'I don't want to show it to anyone, you are talking about a possible war with China. I always deal with these people. I don't want anyone to see a potential war with China. '
Donald Trump admitted that potential conflicts of interest prevented him from showing Elon Musk the plans of the Pentagon for a hypothetical war with China
The president disputed claims of the 'fake news' that Musk received a look at plans for a hypothetical struggle for the 'first buddy' invited to the Pentagon on Friday
Hegseeth suggested that the story only existed to 'undermine the relationship we have with Elon Musk'.
Both Trump and Hegseeth referred to Musk and a 'Patriot' and someone who made large sacrifices for the country.
Access to the densely guarded military plan would mark a sharp extension of the role of Musk as a Trump adviser who has a spearhead to lower US government spending.
It would also raise questions about conflicts of interest for Musk, who, as head of both Tesla and SpaceX, has business interests in China and with the Pentagon.
The White House has said earlier that Musk will take itself back if conflicts of interest arises between his business transactions and his role in reducing the expenditure of the federal government.
Washington and Beijing have had tense relationships for years about differences, ranging from access to technology, trading rates and cyber security to TIKTOK, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Human Rights and the origin of COVID-19.
Musk, on the other hand, often bent over to be nice with China and the authoritarian regime, because it is a huge and growing car market.
About 22.5 percent of the Tesla income comes from sales in China, which is being tipped to be the largest buyers of electric cars soon.
Trump led a choir of administration voices in refusing the 'fake news' of 'The Failing New York Times' report in a post to truth social
Musk routinely meets the requirements of the Chinese Communist Party, also to make a change of Tesla cars in 2021.
He also closed his factory for four days in 2022 during a Covid outbreak when he was told, despite calling the fascists of California to give the same order in 2020.
Rates on China are also not in the interest of Musk and he set himself up against President Joe Biden in 2024.
Neither Tesla nor I asked for these rates. Things that hinder the freedom of exchange or distort the market are not good, “he said at a technical conference in Paris.
'Tesla competes quite well in the market in China without rates and no respectful support. I'm no rates. '
Musk has had to deal with intense recoil from some legislators and voters for his chainsaw-swinging approach to take employees and cut programs, although Trump's supporters have praised it.
A high defense officer told reporters on Tuesday that approximately 50,000 to 60,000 civilian jobs will be reduced in the Ministry of Defense.
Musk's Doge has already reduced the staff at various federal agencies, has reduced the federal expenses and in an unprecedented move e -mailed federal employees with an e -mail with 'what they did last week'.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, on the left, shakes his hand with Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang while he arrives for a meeting at the Zhongnanhai Leadership Compound in Beijing in 2019
Trump and Musk have argued that the government is wasting and blown up. DOGE claims that it has saved $ 105 billion in cuts, but it has only publicly documented a fraction of those savings and their accounting has been plagued by errors.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has led the indictment to lower the federal workforce under the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) of the Trump administration, but her chief spokesperson seems to be full off-message.
In recent weeks, Doge has had to deal with intensive control because of the chaotic handling of dismissals, in particular the dismissing of important federal employees to try to rent them again later.
Among the affected were employees who were responsible for maintaining nuclear weapons sites in the US, a movement that has expressed serious concern about national security and Musk and his allies are now the increasing pressure on the face to reassess their approach.
Some endings are part of the 'last mission' of the Education Department, referring to Trump's vow to eliminate the department, which supervises $ 1.6 trillion at university loans, maintains civil rights in schools and offers federal financing for needy districts.
The dismissals would leave the department with 2,183 employees, a decrease of 4,133 when Trump took office in January.
Trump has officially signed an executive order to greatly reduce the Ministry of Education on Thursday.
Similar closures served as a precursor to the conclusion of the headquarters of the US Agency for International Development, the Humanitarian Aid Agency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans against unscrupulous lender people.
Musk speaks during the groundbreaking ceremony for Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory in Shanghai
Until now, DOGE has reduced more than 100,000 jobs in the federal civil bureaucracy of 2.3 million members, frozen most foreign aid and thousands of programs and contracts, despite dozens of lawsuits that dispute the legislative of those movements.
The blunt approach of Doge has frustrated various officials of the White House and the Republican legislators, some of whom have confronted angry voters in the town halls.
Trump told the department heads last week that they, not Musk, have the last word about the staff, his first remarkable public relocation to control the CEO of Tesla.
All US government agencies are on the disposal of the assignment to come up with large -scale dismissal plans on Thursday, so that the next phase of Trump's cost -saving campaign was set up.
Various agencies have offered employee payments to retire early to fulfill Trump's question.
Employees of the affected educational department will be placed on 21 March with administrative leave, the department said.
Other agencies have offered flat -rate payments of up to $ 25,000 before tax to taxes to employees who agree to leave their jobs.
Among these are the Office of Personnel Management, the Social Security Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services, including its Food and Drug Administration.
