• Republicans nearly unanimously reelected Mike Johnson as speaker of the House.
• It avoids what could've been an early embarrassment for Trump and the GOP.
• After winning, Johnson pledged to "drastically cut back the size and scope of government."

In a stunning turn of events on Friday, Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana was reelected as speaker of the House on the first ballot, avoiding what could have been an early embarrassment for Republicans ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration.

It didn't come without some trouble.

Three House Republicans — Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, and Keith Self of Texas — initially voted for candidates other than Johnson to serve as speaker, denying him the 218-vote majority necessary to win. Several other Republicans withheld their votes until the end of the roll call, though they ultimately voted for Johnson.

Republicans held the vote open as Johnson met with Norman and Self, and after 45 minutes, both men switched their votes — allowing him to clinch the speakership on the first ballot.

"Is the preference to have it sail through? Yes," Norman told BI in a brief interview before voting began on Friday. "We'll see how it goes."

It wasn't immediately clear as of publication how Johnson had regained the two lawmakers' support. Massie, an idiosyncratic libertarian, was the sole Republican who did not switch his vote to Johnson.

Before the vote, Johnson wrote a lengthy post on X in which he pledged to create a "working group comprised of independent experts" to work with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy's "Department of Government Efficiency," or DOGE, to implement spending cuts. He also requested committees undertake "aggressive" reviews of government spending.

Republicans avoided an early embarrassment

Johnson's problem wasn't Trump — the president-elect endorsed him earlier this week. The speaker-to-be also had the support of Musk, who caused trouble for Johnson last month by helping to tank a government funding bill.

Instead, it was a group of hardline Republicans, many of whom are part of the House Freedom Caucus. Ahead of the vote, several of them had signaled their dissatisfaction with Johnson, particularly his frequent reliance on Democrats to pass major government funding bills and his decision in April of last year to allow more than $60 billion in Ukraine aid to pass the House.

With all but a handful of Republicans pledging to support the incoming speaker, it appeared that long-festering wounds within the conference — some of which were ripped open when Kevin McCarthy was deposed as speaker last year — might be reopened.

"I have a feeling some folks wake up in the morning to see what confusion and chaos they can cause every day," Republican Rep. Greg Murphy of North Carolina told BI.

Trump and his allies argued that GOP unity was crucial for enacting the party's agenda, which includes passing major bills to address border security, immigration, and energy policy, raising the debt ceiling, extending the Trump tax cuts, funding the government, and eventually pursuing sweeping cuts to federal spending at the recommendation of DOGE.

"We're going to protect our industries from one-sided trade deals, and we're going to bring overseas investments back to American shores," Johnson said in a speech after claiming the gavel. "We'll defeat the harmful effects of inflation, and we'll make life affordable again for America's hard-working people."

Johnson also made a nod toward DOGE, saying that Congress would "drastically cut back the size and scope of government."

"In coordination with President Trump and his administration, we are going to create a leaner, faster, and more efficient federal workforce," Johnson said. "We need to do that."

'It's their responsibility to govern'

Despite avoiding a complete mess on Friday, Republicans will face plenty of challenges enacting the legislative pieces of Trump's 100-day agenda.

For one, Republicans will have a one-vote majority until at least April, when special elections will be held to fill vacancies caused by Trump's appointments and former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida's decision to leave the House.

The GOP is expected to try to ram through at least one party-line bill, using the special procedural power known as budget reconciliation, which allows them to pass bills through the Senate without the usual 60-vote requirement.

Republicans aren't entirely in agreement on how they'll use it. Senate Majority Leader John Thune wants to move two separate bills, one devoted to border security and defense spending and another later in the year that would extend Trump's tax cuts. Meanwhile, some House Republicans, particularly Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Smith, want the party to move only one massive bill.

To further complicate matters, reconciliation bills should only deal with fiscal matters, and it remains to be seen what immigration-related policies would be allowed.

Beyond their ambitious policy goals, Republicans will also have to raise or suspend the debt ceiling or risk default likely sometime later this summer. Many conservatives have ideological reservations about raising the debt ceiling and have historically voted against doing so. Last month, Trump unsuccessfully sought to pressure Republicans to raise the debt ceiling before he took office.

There's also the question of how Republicans will carry out more basic tasks, including funding the government. Over the last two years, Johnson has frequently relied on Democratic votes to pass major funding bills.

"They're in the majority, and it's their responsibility to govern," Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts told BI. "It's not my responsibility to bail them out every time they have a problem."

Despite all of these challenges, Norman — one of the original Johnson holdouts — told BI he wasn't worried about his party's agenda, pointing to the fact that his party would soon control both chambers of Congress and the presidency.

"We've got so many things to be thankful for, and to be happy about, and I am," Norman said.

• Donald Trump will have a chance to leave a big imprint on the alcohol industry.
• On Friday, the Biden administration moved to expand the warning on alcoholic drinks to list cancer risks.
• Only Congress could force such a change, but how Trump will react remains to be seen.

Donald Trump once said that not drinking was "one of my only good traits." President Joe Biden, a fellow teetotaler, and his administration have left the president-elect an opportunity to leave a lasting imprint on the billion-dollar beverage industry.

US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on Friday released a bombshell report warning that alcohol consumption can increase cancer risk. Murthy also called for an expanded warning label on all alcoholic beverages that would include cancer risk, similar to the warning label on cigarettes.

Trump's aversion to alcohol is well documented. He was once observed toasting his fellow world leaders with Diet Coke during his presidency. Trump has said that his brother Fred's struggle with addiction led him to avoid drinking and smoking entirely. Fred Trump Jr. died in 1981 at the age of 42, the result of a heart attack attributed to alcoholism.

"I had a brother, Fred. Great guy, best-looking guy, best personality, much better than mine," Trump said during a 2018 news conference. "But he had a problem. He had a problem with alcohol, and he would tell me, 'Don't drink. Don't drink.' He was substantially older, and I listened to him and I respected (him)."

It remains to be seen how Trump will move forward. A spokesperson for the Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

The president-elect has generally opposed more stringent regulations. Trump's first administration also rejected an advisory committee's advice to urge men to cut back on alcohol consumption. Adding warning labels to alcoholic beverages would require congressional action, though Trump's support of such a measure would likely influence a more obedient GOP.

Alcohol played a major role in one of the biggest stories from Trump's first administration: the contested confirmation of now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Kavanaugh said during his Senate hearing that he "liked beer," but bristled when Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota asked if he had a drinking problem.

"I watched him. I was surprised at how vocal he was about the fact that he likes beer," Trump said at the time. "This is not a man that said that he was perfect with respect to alcohol."

Trump was "extremely put off" by Kavanaugh's comments about drinking, Mark Meadows, a former White House chief of staff, said in his book "The Chief's Chief."

The former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, Trump's pick to lead the Pentagon, is also expected to face questions about his drinking during his confirmation hearings. Like Kavanaugh, Hegseth has faced allegations that his drinking habits fueled sexual misconduct. (Both men have strongly denied any wrongdoing.)

Trump has a personal stake in the discussion. His hotels and golf clubs all sell alcohol, and the Trump Organization owns a winery in Charlottesville, Virginia. And while Trump doesn't drink, that didn't stop him from once hawking his own vodka brand.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom Trump has nominated to lead the Health and Human Services Department, also doesn't drink. Kennedy has been sober for years after a highly publicized history with drugs, including a 1983 arrest for heroin possession.

There is a growing push among public-health groups for lawmakers to take a tougher approach to regulating alcohol. The industry routinely spends millions of dollars lobbying Congress.

Trump previously defended Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest beer company, when some of his closest allies and supporters urged a boycott of the company in response to its brief partnership with the transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

"Anheuser-Busch is a Great American Brand that perhaps deserves a Second Chance? What do you think?" Trump wrote on Truth Social in 2023.

At the time, Trump was preparing to attend a major GOP fundraiser hosted by a top Republican lobbyist for the beverage giant.

• The driver suspected of exploding a Tesla Cybertruck left a note saying that his act "was a wake up call."
• Authorities identified the driver as Matthew Livelsberger, 37, of Colorado Springs.
• Livelsberger had been an active-duty Army service member for nearly two decades, the US Army told BI.

The driver of the Tesla Cybertruck loaded with explosives behind Wednesday's Las Vegas blast was an active-duty US Army soldier who, a coroner said, committed suicide.

In a press release on Thursday, the Clark County coroner identified the driver as Matthew Livelsberger, a 37-year-old man from Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The coroner's report said the cause of death was the result of an intraoral gunshot wound by suicide.

Livelsberger was a master sergeant who served as a special-operations soldier, a US Army spokesperson said in a statement provided to Business Insider.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) Sheriff Kevin McMahill told reporters on Thursday that the driver appeared to have died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound before the material in his truck exploded.

McMahill said authorities found a military ID and credit cards with Livelsberger's name on them inside the Cybertruck. They have also confirmed that he rented the Tesla vehicle in Denver on December 28, driving through parts of New Mexico and Arizona before reaching Las Vegas.

Spencer Evans, Special Agent in charge of the Las Vegas FBI Field Office, said the bureau has no information about any other suspects. There is no current evidence connecting Livelsberger to any terrorist organization around the world.

There is also no evidence that the Las Vegas explosion is connected with a deadly attack in New Orleans, McMahill said.

Authorities on Thursday said both Livelsberger and Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who is suspected of driving a rented truck into a crowd of people in Louisana, both served in the military and spent time together at what was then known as Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Bragg, now known as Fort Liberty, is one of the nation's largest military bases. There is no evidence that Livelsberger and Jabbar were in the same unit.

The LVMPD said in a press release on Friday that two phones were also discovered inside the Cybertruck. After detectives gained access to one of the phones, they are said to have found two "letters" that "include grievances regarding political, social, cultural, personal, and other issues."

In one of the letters, authorities said Livelsberger wrote: "This was not a terrorist attack, it was a wake up call."

He added that the US was "terminally ill and headed toward collapse" and that he had acted in order to "cleanse" his mind of the "brothers I've lost" and to relieve himself of "the burden of the lives I took."

"There may be a lot more information that we recover that explains either more or shows a change in mindset at different times," LVMPD Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren said at a press conference on Friday.

A military background

Livelsberger served in active duty from January 2006 to March 2011, the Army spokesperson said. After a stint in the National Guard and service in the Army Reserve, Livelsberger returned to active duty in December 2012.

"US Army Special Operations Command can confirm Livelsberger was assigned to the command and on approved leave at the time of his death," the Army spokesperson said. "USASOC is in full cooperation with federal and state law enforcement agencies, but as a matter of policy, will not comment on ongoing investigations."

Livelsberger served in the Army for more than 19 years. A military official told BI he was an operations sergeant assigned to the 10th Special Forces Group in Germany but was recently on leave at home in Colorado.

The official added that Livelsberger had a clean record, "by all accounts was great," and that this would have been "out of character" for him.

The FBI said it was searching a home in Colorado Springs in connected with the incident.

"FBI Denver personnel and specialized teams will be on-site for several hours," the bureau said in a statement to BI. "This activity is related to the explosion in Las Vegas on Wednesday; due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, no further information will be provided out of Denver."

The Cybertruck had been filled with firework-style mortars and canisters of camping fuel, authorities said Wednesday. The driver was the only person killed. Seven other people were injured.

The vehicle explosion occurred hours after an attacker drove a rented pickup truck through crowds on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. That attack left 15 people dead, including the attacker, and injured dozens more.

Both vehicles were rented using the Turo app. Authorities in Louisana on Thursday also said the New Orleans attack appeared to be unrelated to the Cybertruck explosion.

On X, Tesla CEO Elon Musk praised the Cybertruck for limiting the destruction from the blast. McMahill said Musk has dispatched a team of Tesla officials to assist with the Las Vegas investigation.

Update: The first paragraph of this article has been updated to reflect that the driver of the vehicle containing explosives involved in the Las Vegas blast committed suicide, a coroner said.

Additional reporting by Ryan Pickrell and Kevin Tan.

• Donald Trump has more billionaires in his orbit than any other modern president.
• It's not just Elon Musk who faces potential conflicts of interest with newfound power.
• Even some of Trump's lower-level picks are uber-wealthy.

President-elect Donald Trump is stocking his administration and broader orbit with billionaires and titans of industry.

Their résumés and portfolios also come with a bevy of potential conflicts of interest that could overshadow their actual jobs.

Elon Musk may receive the lion's share of the attention, but he's far from the only billionaire in Trump's orbit who has benefited from government contracts.

"This Trump administration is just chocked full of billionaires, millionaires, and lobbyists," Craig Holman, a lobbyist for government watchdog Public Citizen, recently told Business Insider.

Trump tapped private equity billionaire Stephen Feinberg to become his second-highest-ranking official at the Pentagon. Feinberg's firm, Cerberus Capital Management, has significant interests in military defense contractors, which, as deputy director of defense, could pose a conflict given that the Pentagon's No. 2 is typically responsible for the Defense Department's massive budget.

Earlier this year, Cerberus acquired a controlling interest in M1 Support Services, an aircraft maintenance contractor. In fiscal year 2024 alone, M1 has been awarded over $630.7 million in federal contracts, according to USASpending.gov contract data. Cerberus also has a large stake in Navistar Defense, a specialized military vehicle manufacturer. In 2021, Navistar paid a $50 million fine to resolve a complaint that accused the company of inflating the prices of mine-resistant vehicles it sold to the US Marine Corps from 2007 to 2012, before Feinberg's firm bought a 70% stake in 2018.

Musk has an even wider portfolio of responsibilities. Unlike Feinberg, the Tesla CEO is set to remain outside the Trump administration — meaning the world's richest man would not be subject to the potential divestment full-time administration officials may be asked to do.

"He definitely has a vision for humanity and he views himself as a world historic figure, and he knows his wealth is necessary to fulfilling his vision," Jeff Hauser, executive director of the Revolving Door Project, a public interest group, told Business Insider earlier this month. "So I am frightened by what government by people like that looks like."

All of Trump's appointees who enter the government will have to comply with the criminal conflict of interest law. Congress did not apply that law to the president or vice president, in part due to constitutional concerns.

Congressional Democrats have raised concern about Musk's ties to China. He called for the expulsion of Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, after she and other liberal lawmakers questioned whether Musk helped kill a sweeping government funding bill due to its inclusion of restrictions on certain US investments in China.

Trump told Time Magazine that he's seen Musk put the country ahead of his financial interests.

"I think he's one of the very few people that would have the credibility to do it, but he puts the country before, and I've seen it, before he puts his company," Trump said.

In response to questions about potential conflicts of interest, Brian Hughes, a Trump-Vance Transition spokesperson, said in a statement to Business Insider "All nominees and appointees will comply with the ethical obligations of their respective agencies and offices."

Divestment can be difficult to navigate. In 2017, Florida Panthers owner Vincent Viola, a billionaire, withdrew from consideration to become Trump's first Army secretary. According to The New York Times, Viola had too much difficulty untangling his financial interests.

Others have been able to broker deals allowing them to cash out early. Former Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson had to work out a special $180 million retirement package with the oil giant because some of his holdings included restricted shares that hadn't been fully vested. Goldman Sachs accelerated its payout to Gary Cohn, who left the firm to become Trump's chief economic advisor, leaving him with a roughly $285 million exit package. In order to entice talent out of the private sector, the government also allows officials to defer some tax liabilities when they are directed to sell shares or other assets. Tillerson and Cohn both used this perk. So too has current Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

Government watchdogs have long expressed unease about top officials entering the government with private-sector ties.

Biden advisors' ties to BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, were the subject of significant attention during the 2020 transition. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo was once interim chief of staff to Larry Fink. Brian Deese, who was Biden's top economic aide, led BlackRock's sustainable investing before joining the Biden administration. Adeyemo agreed to recuse himself from any potential BlackRock-related business until he sold off his interests. As a political appointee, Deese's ethics agreement is not public information, though ethics-focused groups previously asked the White House to disclose it. (The White House did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment about Deese's agreement. He left the administration last year.)

It remains to be seen whether the president-elect will impose additional ethics requirements as he did shortly after taking office in 2017. Trump's first cabinet was the wealthiest in modern history. His incoming team is likely to be even richer.

The influx of billionaires extends from the cabinet down through US ambassadors. So far, Trump's tapped at least two additional billionaires to represent the US abroad, Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta and investment banker Warren Stephens, to be US ambassadors. And that list doesn't even include the likes of Musk, who has Trump's attention without the hassle of selling off his vast interests.

"He is going to have the ear of President Trump anyway, even though he's serving in an advisory capacity," Holman said of Musk.

• Donald Trump wants the next GOP senate leader to give him greater power to staff vacancies.
• Trump wants to use the president's recess appointment power in a major way.
• Not every conservative is convinced this is a wise move, though Elon Musk is on board.

President-elect Donald Trump isn't backing down from his threat to ram through cabinet nominees over the potential objections of his fellow Republicans.

In a recent interview with Time Magazine, Trump did not rule out using recess appointments to get his picks into powerful posts, particularly if former Fox News host Pete Hegseth or Robert F. Kennedy Jr. see their confirmation chances further imperiled.

"I really don't care how they get them approved, as long as they get them approved," Trump said when asked if he would use recess appointments.

Trump and Elon Musk want Republicans to help him use the special procedure called recess appointments, which would allow him to install Cabinet appointees and even a Supreme Court justice without a single vote. In theory, Trump's push for broad recess appointment power could allow him to disregard the process entirely — meaning that more than 1,200 positions requiring Senate confirmation could be filled without even a confirmation hearing.

Some Republicans, including Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, signaled their opposition to Trump's suggestion. But as the president-elect approaches his inauguration, he's repeatedly refused to take the possibility of a major showdown off the table.

"It's just been made so explicit and used as a strategy in and of itself that even though former presidents made recess appointments, they didn't say this part, and there wasn't widespread fear about what it means and why they are using it now," Casey Burgat, the director of the Legislative Affairs Program at George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management told Business Insider.

Like Trump, Musk is a big believer in flexing the recess appointment power.

The world's richest man wrote on X just after the election that without them, it would be "impossible to enact the change demanded by the American people, which is utterly unacceptable."

The fight over Trump's picks is different now.

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida pulled out of contention to be the next Attorney General after it became clear that his fellow Republicans would likely oppose his nomination. Since Gaetz's withdrawal, Trump's allies have made it clear they will tolerate little other dissent.

Trump supporters swarmed Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa after she expressed concerns about Hegseth. Ernst, a veteran and a sexual assault survivor, expressed concerns about Hegseth as he faced allegations of sexual assault. Hegseth has denied any wrongdoing and also pushed back on reports that he drank excessively.

Besides Hegseth, Kennedy has also faced some concerns. Sen. Mitch McConnell, who led the Senate GOP for decades, said that Trump's nominees should "steer clear" of efforts to undermine proven cures. While McConnell's statement did not name Kennedy specifically, it came after a report that one of his advisors had previously tried to get approval polio vaccine withdrawn. McConnell, who had polio as a child, said in the statement that "the real miracle" of modern medicine was not the treatments that allowed him to survive but the development of a vaccine that has spared others from his fate.

Many of Trump's other picks, including former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who replaced Gaetz, look to be on the path to easy confirmation.

If that holds, Trump may not be forced to find other ways to get his nominees into their respective positions.

Why Trump wants this power.

Trump could get his choices confirmed with just 50 votes, thanks to Vice President-elect JD Vance's tie-breaking power. Since Republicans will hold 53 seats, Democrats can't stop a nomination on their own. However, they can force Republicans to grind it out.

In his push for recess appointment power, Trump has argued it was about ensuring he could staff up in a timely manner.

According to the Center for Presidential Transition, it took Trump twice as long on average to get his nominees approved during his first three years in office (115 days) than it did in Ronald Reagan's presidency (56.4) days. Through late November 2023, it took President Joe Biden roughly 109.6 days on average. The center also found that while the Senate filibuster is part of the reason for delays, even complete control of Congress hasn't sped things up.

Not everyone is convinced that time is Trump's sole motivation, particularly when many of his early selections illustrate how much he will elevate controversial choices like Gaetz and Kennedy.

"From the president's perspective, I suppose he would see this as a shortcut to take his favorite list of appointees and put them in for temporary appointments," Sarah Binder, a senior fellow at Brookings, told Business Insider.

Trump can't flex this power by himself.

The Senate would need to vote to adjourn. As incoming-Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said, it's difficult to foresee a scenario where GOP senators vote down a nominee only to vote in favor of a recess.

The Constitution also requires the House to approve the Senate breaking for over three days. A 2014 Supreme Court decision held that the Senate would need to recess for at least 10 days.

There's even a way for Trump to avoid the House's need to sign off on a lengthy break. Under Article II of the Constitution, Trump has the power to force an adjournment if the House and Senate are divided on what to do.

Time is the only true limit on recess appointments.

Officials installed via recess appointment can only serve until Congress' next session. If Trump uses this power immediately upon taking office, officials or judges could only stay through the next Senate session, in January 2027.

Otherwise, there is virtually nothing Senate Democrats could do to stop the process. Adjournment votes can't be meaningfully filibustered.

Some Republicans senators have made clear they wouldn't like recess appointments for high-level nominees. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina told reporters that President Obama pushed the enevelope on recess appointments, but even he didn't go that far.

"Not for a cabinet-level position," Tillis said to reporters in late November. "That should absolutely be off the table and, quite honestly, any serious candidate for a cabinet-level position I would really have to wonder if they would really want it or be willing to accept it under recess appointments."

Recess appointments were created for a bygone era.

Before World War II, presidents needed recess appointment power because the US Senate was out of session more often than lawmakers were in the nation's capital. Presidents sometimes used their power to game the system, rushing nominees through who might have failed to get confirmed. In 2005, President George W. Bush bypassed the senate to appoint John Bolton as Ambassador to the United Nations over criticism from Senate Democrats.

In recent years, senators, including Republicans, have tried to thwart presidents from using their recess appointment power by holding "pro-forma" sessions where even just one senator can briefly convene and conclude business within minutes.

Not everyone is convinced this power grab is wise.

Trump has some defenders, including former White House counsel Don McGhan. McGhan wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that Trump needs the power because the Senate is too slow.

"Returning to the long-standing tradition of recess appointments would ensure that every elected president is able to staff the government with senior officials who share his policy vision," McGahn wrote.

Trump may only be in power for four years, but the reality of Washington is that if he follows Musk's encouragement, he will set a standard Republicans will one day regret.

"The Senate works on precedent, and so whatever happened last is going to be the default for how it should happen going forward," Burgat said, "and so if we know anything about politics and power grabs they are really hard to claw back and the next guy is gonna use it."

• Donald Trump offered his full support for House Speaker Mike Johnson.
• Johnson is hoping to be reelected as House speaker on Friday.
• Trump's endorsement may quell a growing frustration about Johnson's leadership.

President-elect Donald Trump has set up another quasi-loyalty test for House Republicans before he formally reenters the White House.

On Monday, Trump endorsed Speaker Mike Johnson to remain as speaker when the House votes on its next leader on Friday.

"Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement. MAGA!!!"

If any Republicans still want to challenge Johnson, they would have to defy Trump. While Trump's failure to get the GOP to back his debt ceiling plan shows such defiance is possible, electing a speaker is an entirely different matter.

Republicans hold an extremely narrow majority, meaning Johnson may be able to afford only a single defection.

Without a speaker, congressional lawmakers could not formally certify Trump's 2024 election win, raising personal stakes for the president-elect to soothe current tensions.

At least one potential challenger, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, quickly lined up behind Johnson after Trump's show of support.

"Agreed, @realDonaldTrump!" Jordan wrote on X. "Time to do what we said we would do."

Elon Musk also offered his support.

"I feel the same way! You have my full support," the world's richest man wrote on X in a reply to Johnson's post thanking Trump for his backing.

A handful of House conservatives have previously expressed displeasure with Johnson, particularly his role in crafting legislation that extended government funding through March 14. Musk and Trump teamed up to kill Johnson's initial bipartisan deal, which was loaded with unrelated provisions to garner support from House Democrats.

Not everyone appears to be convinced by Trump's backing. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a libertarian, who initially supported Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the GOP presidential primary, reiterated his frustration with Johnson's leadership.

"I respect and support President Trump, but his endorsement of Mike Johnson is going to work out about as well as his endorsement of Speaker Paul Ryan," Massie wrote on X. "We've seen Johnson partner with the democrats to send money to Ukraine, authorize spying on Americans, and blow the budget."

Why some conservatives aren't happy with Mike Johnson

Johnson also failed to deliver on Trump's last-minute demand to add a debt-ceiling extension to the must-pass funding bill. Trump has advocated for Congress to permanently ax the debt ceiling, a view shared by liberal lawmakers like Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

Trump's debt ceiling failure illustrated that despite his popularity among the GOP base, the president-elect doesn't always get what he wants. Last year, Trump unsuccessfully tried to topple Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Unlike the Senate, the House speaker vote is public. The House is also filled with Trump loyalists, even more so than when he took office in 2017. While Trump failed to get Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, a close ally, elected speaker last year, the then-former president effectively killed another Republican hopeful's chances during the chaos after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy's ouster.

Trump is also more powerful than last year. He returns to Washington with the promise of a GOP trifecta.

As the incoming president, he has a greater perch to reward loyalists and attack dissenters than he did during the 2023 speaker's race.

• Elon Musk is the world's first $400 billion person.
• It's not just his wealth that increased in 2024.
• Thanks to Donald Trump, Musk will enter 2025 with unprecedented power.

Elon Musk is more than just the world's richest person.

He's also the self-proclaimed "First Buddy" of President-elect Donald Trump, who will soon return to his position as leader of the free world. Trump has named Musk as co-leader of "The Department of Government Efficiency," giving the tech titan major sway over federal spending.

Like many moments in Musk's life, it's a remarkable turnaround story.

2024 began with Musk briefly relinquishing his wealthiest title, first to French luxury titan Bernard Arnault and then to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Musk's rival in space travel.

Musk had also backed the wrong candidate. In early 2024, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who Musk had aligned himself with, abruptly ended his campaign after Trump blew him out in the Iowa Republican caucuses. By March, Trump, trying to orchestrate his own comeback, privately met with Musk to ask for his financial support. In response, Musk said his checkbook was closed.

He changed his mind, spending over $277 million backing Trump and the GOP. Musk even campaigned for Trump in Pennsylvania, the biggest swing state.

Musk's wealth surged after the 2024 election election. His big bet is still paying off.

January: Musk visited Auschwitz amid an uproar

Musk ended 2023 under siege. In what he later called his "dumbest" tweet ever, the billionaire promoted an antisemitic post. Media Matters, a liberal nonprofit, accused X of placing ads next to pro-Nazi content, allegations that sent advertisers fleeing the platform.

He apologized for the post but lashed out at advertisers, including Disney CEO Bob Iger, telling them "to go fuck" themselves.

In late January, Musk accepted an invitation to visit the site of the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. Afterward, he said he had been "naive" about the Holocaust.

February: Musk returned to the Super Bowl

Musk had a prime seat to watch the Kansas City Chiefs win their second-straight Super Bowl.

This was Musk's first big game since reports surfaced that he spent the 2023 Super Bowl frustrated that President Joe Biden's tweet received more engagement than his own. According to Platformer, Musk pressured Twitter engineers to begin working on ensuring that his future posts would get much larger exposure.

March: X abruptly ended a deal with Don Lemon after a testy interview

X is a platform that champions free speech, and we’re proud to provide an open environment for diverse voices and perspectives. The Don Lemon Show is welcome to publish its content on X, without censorship, as we believe in providing a platform for creators to scale their work…

— Business (@XBusiness) March 13, 2024

Musk's X has become a new home for many commentators, including conservative commentator Tucker Carlson.

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon inked a deal with the platform for similar support, but those plans were scrapped after Lemon's interview with Musk.

Lemon, who later sued Musk, questioned the CEO's commitment to welcoming "diverse voices" on X in the wake of the abrupt cancellation.

"His commitment to a global town square where all questions can be asked and all ideas can be shared seems not to include questions of him from people like me," Lemon wrote in a since-deleted post.

April: Musk made a surprise visit to China

Musk sent Tesla shares higher in April amid a previously unannounced visit to China. According to Reuters, the Tesla CEO was there to soothe tensions over the automaker's Full Self-Driving (FSD) software, which has long been hoped to launch in its second-biggest market.

The entry of Tesla's technology into China continues to be delayed.

Musk's ties to China are receiving renewed attention given the powerful post he will occupy outside the Trump administration. Multiple House Democrats accused Musk of helping kill an initial bipartisan year-end spending bill due to including a provision that would regulate US investments in China. Congress eventually averted a government shutdown, but the final legislation did not include the investment restrictions.

"This awful creature needs to be expelled from Congress! Ugh …," Musk wrote on X, in response to Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat, calling him out for tanking the deal.

May: Musk welcomed Indonesia to SpaceX's Starlink

SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service exploded in popularity over the year.

In May, Musk headed to the resort island of Bali to welcome Indonesia to Starlink, making it the third Southeast Asian country to receive the service.

Even bigger announcements came later in the year. In September, United Airlines announced it would launch Starlink service early next year. Several major cruise ship companies now offer Starlink as well.

Global internet traffic from Starlink more than tripled in 2024, as Business Insider previously reported.

July: Musk 'fully' endorsed Trump

I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery pic.twitter.com/ZdxkF63EqF

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 13, 2024

Musk came off the sidelines in a major way by endorsing Trump after the former president survived an assassination attempt. Like others in Silicon Valley, the billionaire later said admired Trump's courage.

With blood across his face, Trump held up his fist and yelled "Fight" as Secret Service agents ushered him off the stage to safety.

It wasn't fully clear at the time, but Musk had already been working to support Trump. Just a day before shots rang out, Bloomberg News reported that the Tesla CEO had donated to a pro-Trump super PAC.

October: Musk joined Trump on the campaign trail

Musk soon became one of the biggest megadonors of the entire 2024 cycle. He wasn't done trying to influence the presidential race.

In October, Musk joined Trump as the former president returned to Butler, Pennsylvania, at the exact location of the July assassination attempt.

"As you can see, I am not just MAGA, I'm dark MAGA," Musk said while wearing an all-black Make American Great Again hat.

Trump's campaign seized on Musk's attire and used it to fuel further fundraising.

SpaceX showed it can catch a rocket in midair

It wasn't all politics. In mid-October, Musk's SpaceX conducted its fifth test flight of its Starship rocket.

The company made history and pulled off an engineering marvel when it demonstrated its ability to catch a 233-foot-tall Super Heavy booster as it descended back toward the launchpad.

The spectacle moved Musk's vision for reusable rockets and, thus, cheaper space travel one step closer to reality.

Musk started $1 million giveaways to voters

Musk didn't stop at donating hundreds of millions to help Trump. He hit the campaign trail, focusing on Pennsylvania, widely viewed as the 2024 election's most important state.

The billionaire went even further in a controversial step, giving away $1 million to voters in swing states. The Trump ally's attorneys later admitted that the checks weren't the result of a true lottery.

Philadelphia's district attorney, Larry Krasner, filed a lawsuit in October attempting to stop the effort. Just before Election Day, a Pennsylvania judge ruled that the checks could go on.

November: The Trump-Musk bromance simmered at Mar-a-Lago

The whole squad pic.twitter.com/5yQVkFiney

— Kai Trump (@kaitrump) November 6, 2024

Late on November 5, it became clear that Trump's political comeback would be successful. Musk was at Trump's private Mar-a-Lago club to watch the results unfold.

Trump thanked Musk by name in his victory speech early the next morning.

"We have a new star, a star is born," Trump told boisterous supporters in West Palm Beach, Florida, a few hours before the election was called in his favor. "Elon. He is an amazing guy."

Kai Trump, one of the president-elect's granddaughters, went even further, declaring Musk part of the family's "squad" in a photo that showed over a dozen Trumps next to Musk holding his son, X Æ A-12.

Musk, Trump, and some cabinet picks enjoyed a night out

Musk and Trump remained virtually inseparable after the election. The billionaire maintained a constant presence at Mar-a-Lago.

When the president-elect left his club, Musk would often join him. On November 16, Musk joined Trump's sprawling entourage to watch UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's pick to lead the Health and Human Services Department, and former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who Trump nominated to be director of national intelligence, were among those who sat nearby.

December: DOGE took over Capitol Hill

Musk wasted little time working on DOGE, the outside advisory panel that Musk and Ramaswamy have said will cut $2 trillion from the federal budget.

In December, Musk and Ramaswamy visited Capitol Hill to discuss their plans with GOP lawmakers. Musk even brought his son along.

Musk sent GOP lawmakers into chaos

Ever seen a bigger piece of pork? pic.twitter.com/ZesFCNSNKp

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2024

Musk wasn't done disrupting Washington.

In mid-December, House lawmakers finally reached a deal to avoid a government shutdown just before the Christmas holiday. As was often the case, lawmakers loaded the legislation full of unrelated provisions, stretching the bill to over 1,500 pages long.

Trump's "First Buddy" soon joined a handful of conservative activists in fomenting an effort to kill the bill. Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican who helped break the deal with House Democrats, had to scrap it.

There was brief concern that Musk's actions might lead to a government shutdown, an occurrence he and Trump encouraged if the final deal didn't give them what they wanted.

Ultimately, Trump didn't get his wish for lawmakers to increase the debt ceiling. Musk declared he was satisfied with the final product, which trimmed the deal down which funded the federal government through March 14, included $100 billion in disaster relief, and extended farm policies for a year.

Trump said Musk can't be president

Democrats pounced on the opportunity to blame Musk for the funding bill's death. Some even called him President Musk.

Musk responded by lashing out at Democrats. He said on X the statements were a ploy designed to drive a wedge between him and Trump.

Trump addressed the fracas just before Christmas, joking to a conservative conference that he wasn't worried about the Tesla CEO who can't be president.

"No, he's not gonna be president, that I can tell you," Trump said. "And I'm safe, you know why? He can't be, he wasn't born in this country."

• House lawmakers voted to avoid a federal government shutdown on Friday.
• The Senate passed the stopgap funding bill minutes after the midnight deadline passed.
• The vote caps a week full of drama on Capitol Hill.

President Joe Biden signed a stopgap funding bill on Saturday that prevents a government shutdown. Senate lawmakers passed the bill minutes after the Saturday midnight deadline passed.

Earlier on Friday, House lawmakers voted 366 to 34 for the bill, with one Democratic lawmaker voting present. House Democrats provided significant cover for House Speaker Mike Johnson, who lost 34 Republicans on the measure.

The White House Office of Management and Budget said in a statement on Friday that it had ceased shutdown preparations.

Trump downplayed the stakes of a shutdown, but it likely would have affected the transition of power and some planning for his inauguration.

Now that the bill has been signed into law, government funding will run through March 14, giving President-elect Donald Trump a little breathing room once he retakes office next month.

Republicans denied Trump's request to suspend or even eliminate the debt ceiling, which would have resolved a thorny political issue in advance of a likely GOP effort to extend Trump's 2017 tax law. According to Punchbowl News, Johnson said Republicans have agreed to address the nation's borrowing limit next year when the GOP will retake entire control over Washington.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his fellow Democrats ultimately backed a deal stripped of many of the incentives initially included to garner more support among his party.

Elon Musk and other conservative activists opposed the initial bipartisan bill earlier this week, effectively killing it. Trump then urged Republicans to pass a pared-down funding bill and an extension of the debt ceiling. On Thursday night, 38 House Republicans and nearly every House Democrat voted against that plan, raising the stakes as a shutdown approached.

"The last 72 hours highlighted the positive impact that DOGE can have, but it also laid bare the massive lift ahead next year," Vivek Ramaswamy, who will co-lead Trump's "Department of Government Efficiency" with Musk wrote on X, "We're Ready for It."

Musk also announced his support of the legislation before its passage. Johnson told reporters he had a brief conversation with him.

"The Speaker did a good job here, given the circumstances," Musk wrote on X. "It went from a bill that weighed pounds to a bill that weighed ounces. Ball should now be in the Dem court."

The episode illustrated that significant divisions remain among Republican lawmakers that even Trump can struggle to paper over. Trump has ambitious plans for his second term, including the potential of using a special procedural power known as reconciliation to ram through tax extensions and border security measures. He'll only be successful if the GOP can remain almost entirely united.

• Elon Musk has demonstrated his ability to upend Washington.
• Trump allies' and Musk's posts have once again shown the power of X.
• Recently, they nuked a government funding bill and possibly saved a cabinet nomination.

Washington better turn on its Twitter, er, X alerts again.

Elon Musk and a loose band of MAGA influencers have shown that even if Twitter wasn't real life, X just might be.

In recent days, Musk's platform has been at the center of efforts to save Pete Hegseth's embattled nomination to lead the Pentagon and to torpedo the type of 1,000-page, year-end spending bills that have joined the National Christmas Tree as a marker of the holiday season.

Democrats are saying that the world's richest man is akin to a shadow president. Some Republicans, like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, are floating Musk to become the next speaker of the House.

Musk was already set to wield significant power through Trump's "Department of Government Efficiency," an advisory panel the Tesla CEO will co-lead with former GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy.

Trump had said relatively little about how Republicans should finish their final business before he returns to the White House. Musk upended that silence on Wednesday when he began a full-on assault on X against Speaker Mike Johnson's continuing resolution, which would have extended government funding until March 14.

"The voice of the people was heard," Musk wrote on X, quoting a Republican lawmaker's comments that cited his influence in helping kill the funding bill. "This was a good day for America."

Republicans have long complained about how party leaders fund the government with sweeping proposals, via either continuing resolution or omnibus. The conservative opposition then forces Republicans to cater more to Democrats, as leaders have to find the votes somewhere. Case in point, the year-end 2024 continuing resolution included everything from a congressional pay raise to opening the door to Washington's NFL team returning to the city proper to entice Democrats to support it. There was also $100 billion in disaster relief and a one-year extension to the law that prevents the US from reverting to decades-old farm policies. The total bill was 1,547 pages long.

Musk is also using X to urge Republicans to shut down the federal government if they don't get what they want, potentially affecting everything from pay for US service members to the status of US National Parks.

This isn't the first time Trump and his allies have wielded X. His supporters have been highly alert over the president-elect's Cabinet picks since former Rep. Matt Gaetz pulled out of contention to be the next Attorney General. Hegseth, a former Fox News host, looked to be in jeopardy amid a series of reports about his drinking habits and his treatment of women, including allegations of sexual assault.

Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, a combat veteran, expressed concern about Hegseth. In response, a wave of conservative influencers called her out by name on X, and some threatened her with a primary challenge.

"People in Iowa have a well-funded primary challenger ready against her," Charlie Kirk wrote on X. "Her political career is in serious jeopardy."

Ernst, amid the pressure campaign and after additional meetings with Hegseth, later signaled a change in tone on Hegseth's nomination. Without naming her directly, one of Ernst's incoming colleagues said one senator felt "like the entire world coming after her" for not supporting one of Trump's nominees.

"She's being plummeted with threats, with all sorts of things that don't belong in political arena, and her staff is. And so you talk about pressure, right?" Sen.-elect John Curtis of Utah said at a recent event, per Politico. "And speaking with her, she has to worry about things like, 'Well, if I vote against this nominee, what happens to my state when I need something from this administration?'"

Musk alone didn't make X powerful. He is remaking the platform, though, as evidenced by the exodus to Blue Sky and other competitors. He aims to create a free-speech oasis where it is "the best source for truth."

The X CEO has changed policies on the platform based on polls, including when he reinstated Trump's prized account after a simple survey. Musk's posts, including the ones he used to take down the government funding bill, aren't always truthful, such as when he falsely claimed Congress would receive a 40% pay raise (it was 3.5% at most).

It seems like Musk often just wants to dominate the conversation. And while his lofty goals are still in progress, Congress and the rest of the nation's capitol can't afford to ignore him.

They should also turn on Truth Social notifications for good measure.

• Marjorie Taylor Greene and Rand Paul floated naming Elon Musk as speaker of the House.
• Musk could become speaker, given there are few requirements for the job.
• Republicans backed Mike Johnson to retain the gavel in November, but that vote isn't binding.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia joined a growing effort on Thursday by saying she would consider supporting Elon Musk being the next speaker of the House.

"I'd be open to supporting @elonmusk for Speaker of the House," Greene wrote on X. "DOGE can only truly be accomplished by reigning in Congress to enact real government efficiency."

Greene, who has repeatedly tussled with Speaker Mike Johnson, said electing the Tesla CEO as speaker "could be the way" to send a major message to those who want to continue business as usual.

"The establishment needs to be shattered just like it was yesterday," said wrote.

House Republicans voted unanimously last month for Johnson to be their candidate for speaker. But that closed-door result is not binding, as evident by then-Rep. Kevin McCarthy's struggles in early 2023. The entire House will vote in January on the next speaker.

Johnson is facing major unrest among his colleagues after Musk, President-elect Donald Trump, and others effectively blew up a bipartisan deal to avoid a government shutdown that included a number of unrelated provisions to entice Democrats to support it.

Greene tried to oust Johnson in May. But according to Politico reporter Olivia Beavers, she was planning to support Johnson in January.

"Not too long ago, Rep. MTG was telling me she was planning to back Speaker Johnson," Beavers wrote on X.

The US Constitution outlines few requirements for to become speaker of the House. Musk or anyone else would not need to be an elected member of Congress to serve as speaker.

Greene quoted a separate post from Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, which kicked off the effort to make Musk for one of the most powerful jobs in Washington.

"Nothing would disrupt the swamp more than electing Elon Musk . . . think about it . . . nothing's impossible (not to mention the joy at seeing the collective establishment, aka 'uniparty,' lose their ever-lovin' minds)," Paul, a Republican, wrote on X.

Paul's comment is reminiscent of previous efforts to push now-President-elect Donald Trump as speaker. Then-Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican, voted for Trump during the initial days-long stand off that ended up with Johnson as speaker.

As the world's wealthiest person, Musk would have unprecedented power in the unlikely event he were to become speaker — posing a multitude of conflicts of interest. The speaker of the House is also part of the so-called "Gang of 8," a group of top congressional leaders regularly briefed on highly classified US intelligence. While Musk is known for his tendency to plow himself into his work, the day-to-day duties as speaker of the House are considerable.

Musk would also have to give up one powerful aspect of the speakership: the ability to become president. Musk was born in South African to non-US citizens, making him unable to satisfy the US Constitution's requirement that only "natural-born" citizens can become president.

In this event, the House Speaker would not be second in line of succession after the vice president. Instead, the president pro tempore of the US Senate would move up. The president pro tempore is often the senior most member of the majority party, meaning it will likely be Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who is 91.

• Rahm Emanuel reignited one of the longest-running debates about Obama's legacy.
• Emanuel said more Wall Street bankers should have faced justice.
• Now Biden's US ambassador to Japan, Emanuel is considering a possible run to lead the Democratic Party.

Former Obama White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said on Tuesday that it was a mistake that more top Wall Street executives didn't pay a price for their role in the 2008 financial crisis.

"Not only was no one held accountable, but the same bankers who engineered the crisis were aggrieved at the suggestion of diminished bonuses and government intervention," Emanuel wrote in a Washington Post op-ed. "It was a mistake not to apply Old Testament justice to the bankers during the Obama administration, as some had called for at the time."

Emanuel, Biden's US ambassador to Japan, is eyeing the potential of returning to politics by running to become the next chair of the Democratic National Committee. In his column, Emanuel said the Democratic Party has been "blind to the rising sea of disillusionment."

"When Donald Trump declared, 'I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution,' he was channeling a nation's fury," Emanuel wrote. "The online cheerleading for the killer of a health-care insurance CEO in New York City is just more evidence of this seething, populist anger."

In a subtle rebuke of Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign, Emanuel said the nation is not looking for rosy optimism in a time of great instability.

"Campaigns of joy in an era of rage don't win elections," he wrote.

Emanuel's comments reignite one of the longest-running debates of the Obama era: why more top-level executives were not prosecuted in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Kareem Serageldin, a former top official at Credit Suisse, was the only top banker to receive a sentence connected with The Great Recession. Progressives, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, have said the lack of prosecutions is a "clear indictment of our broken criminal justice system."

Former Attorney General Eric Holder has said that the DOJ didn't have the needed evidence.

"I think you have to understand, if we could have made those cases, we certainly would have," Holder told NBC late-night host Seth Meyers in 2016. "These are the kind of things that are career-defining. People come to the Justice Department to make these kind of cases. But given the statutes we had to work with and the burdens of proof we had to meet, we were simply unable to do that."

A former mayor of Chicago, Emanuel is a polarizing figure for some in the Democratic Party. He ditched a 2018 reelection campaign for a third term amid signs that his unblemished electoral streak might be squelched. Obama's choice of Emanuel as his first chief of staff surprised some observers who saw the Illinois native as an embodiment of political insiders for a president who ran to shake up the nation's capital. He is widely regarded as a key force behind the passage of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, Obama's singular domestic achievement.

Emanuel's younger brother, Ari, is a Hollywood titan and CEO of Endeavor, which owns World Wrestling Entertainment and the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

The race to lead the Democratic Party during Trump's second administration is particularly crowded. Until Emanuel formally enters the field, the three major candidates are former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, Wisconsin Democratic Party chair Ben Wikler, and Ken Martin, chair of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party, are also in the running.

The next Democratic leader will have a high-profile role, given that Republicans will have complete control over Congress.

• Donald Trump addressed the scores of CEOs who have jockeyed to get private meetings.
• "Everybody wants to be my friend," Trump told reporters.
• Tim Cook, Sundar Pichai, and other top execs have met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday that major tech CEOs want to meet with him ahead of his second term, showcasing how an industry that once spurned him is now supportive.

"One of the big differences between the first term, in the first term, everybody was fighting me," Trump told reporters during a news conference. "In this term, everybody wants to be my friend."

Big Tech executives like Apple CEO Tim Cook, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai have or are expected to visit Mar-a-Lago to meet with the president-elect. "I had dinner with, sort of, almost all of them, and the rest are coming," Trump said on Monday.

"I don't know, my personality changed or something," the president-elect added.

The series of meetings follows an election season that saw some major names in Silicon Valley embrace Trump, including, most notably, Elon Musk.

Trump has reciprocated the love, naming Musk to co-lead the newly created "Department of Government Efficiency" and tapping former PayPal executive David Sacks as his crypto and AI czar.

Some in the tech community have also announced their intentions to make $1 million donations to Trump's inaugural committee either by themselves or through their corporation.

Many in the business community, including tech, were skeptical of Trump's first term.

Some, including Musk, broke with Trump over his decision to stick by his campaign promise to withdraw the US from the Paris climate accord. Others, including CEOs from Intel, Merck, and Under Armour, resigned from White House advisory councils in the wake of Trump's response to white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. Trump, however, continued to court CEOs. In 2019, his White House launched a new business-focused council that included the likes of Cook, along with top leaders from IBM and Walmart.

• Big Tech companies and CEOs are already lining up six-figure donations to Donald Trump's inauguration.
• Amazon, Sam Altman, and Meta are each prepared to donate $1 million.
• There are virtually no limits on inaugural donations, meaning Big Tech companies can cut massive checks.

Big Tech companies and the moguls behind them are preparing to make six-figure donations to President-elect Donald Trump's inaugural committee.

Jeff Bezos' Amazon, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Mark Zuckerberg's Meta have all been reported to have made or will make $1 million to the outfit tasked with planning and organizing Trump's triumphant return to power.

"The financing of inaugurations is really a cesspool when it comes to campaign financing," Craig Holman, a lobbyist for government watchdog Public Citizen, told Business Insider.

Holman said there are few, if any, limits to inaugural donations, and what makes them particularly appealing is that megadonors and CEOs don't have to worry about picking the loser.

"Unlike financing a campaign, when you don't know for sure who is going to win, here in the inauguration, you've got the winner," he said. "So corporations and other special interests just throw money at them at the feet of the president with the hope of currying favor."

Jeff Hauser, executive director of the Revolving Door Project, a public interest group, said donations to the inaugural committee are less likely to irk the opposition.

"They are frequently a mechanism for entities that sit out elections to get good with the incoming administration," he said.

Trump's 2017 inaugural set a record, raking in roughly $107 million. Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson donated $5 million, the largest single donation. AT&T gave just over $2 million. For many in Washington, it was a time to make nice with an incoming president that few thought would win the 2016 race.

This time, Trump's inaugural offers one final major opportunity for CEOs to curry influence with the president-elect at his peak.

Since he'll be term-limited, the next major fundraising opportunity likely won't come until Trump begins preparations for a presidential library (should that even occur). At that point, companies will have missed their window to make a final impression before mergers and acquisitions.

2017 Trump inaugural donors benefited greatly

Playing ball can have major benefits. OpenSecrets found in 2018 that "of the 63 federal contractors that donated to the inauguration, more than half won multimillion-dollar bids" from the federal government later on.

Foreign donors can't contribute to a president-elect's inaugural committee, and the committee must publicly disclose details about donations over $200 within 90 days of Inauguration Day. Otherwise, there are few limits on what individuals or corporations can give, and inaugural committees are not required to explain how they spend the money.

Some presidents, especially Obama in 2009, have imposed voluntary restrictions on donations. Obama refused to accept corporate donations or individual contributions over $50,000 for his historic first inauguration, though he later lifted those limits for his reelection celebration.

Hauser said donations will allow corporations to prepare for an especially transactional period.

"I think that corporations with an agenda in Trump's Washington, be it offense, like getting new contracts, or defense, like avoiding negative federal scrutiny, are going to spend millions of dollars in Washington to either make or protect billions in the real economy," Hauser said.

Tech companies are under the microscope.

Amazon, Google, and Meta have all faced antitrust concerns. Republican lawmakers have frequently grilled Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg over Facebook's decision to limit sharing the New York Post's initial report on Hunter Biden's laptop ahead of the 2020 election. Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, donated to help election officials during the COVID-19 pandemic, enraging some on the right, while Trump repeatedly lit into Amazon founder Jeff Bezos for The Washington Post's coverage of his first administration. Amazon sued the Trump administration after Microsoft was awarded a $10 billion cloud computing contract over them, alleging that Trump's animus for Bezos sunk their chances.

Bezos and Zuckerberg have since taken steps to repair their relationships with the Trump world. Zuckerberg has expressed regret over Facebook's decision to censor some posts about COVID-19. He also pledged not to donate to help election officials. Bezos intervened when The Post's editorial board was ready to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris.

Bezos also recently said Trump seemed "calmer than he was the first time and more settled."

"You've probably grown in the last eight years," Bezos said at The New York Times DealBook Summit in December. "He has, too."

Altman has been entangled in a legal battle with his OpenAI cofounder Elon Musk, who is set to be an influential figure in the Trump administration.

In a statement about his donation, Altman said, "President Trump will lead our country into the age of AI, and I am eager to support his efforts to ensure America stays ahead."

Representatives for Amazon, Meta, and Trump's inaugural did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

To get a taste of what may be in store, one only needs to look at what happened at President Joe Biden's inauguration.

A leaked fundraising memo showed that large donations netted individuals and organizations various perks, including opportunities to meet Biden, receive private briefings from top campaign officials, and "preferred viewing" for the virtual inauguration.

All of those benefits came amid pandemic precautions. Trump's party will have no such limits.

• Trump has promised to do a variety of different things on "Day One" of his second term.
• Much of his agenda will take time to implement, but there are things he could start immediately.
• Among the first items could be pardons for January 6-related offenses.

President-elect Donald Trump has outlined clear plans on how he plans to spend his first day back in the White House.

He plans to spend his first few hours signing executive orders rolling back some of President Biden's policies, considering pardons for a number of people convicted of January 6-related offenses, and launch his mass deportation program.

Some of the early items on Trump's list are already crossed off. Trump no longer has to fire special counsel Jack Smith, who has moved to dismiss his criminal cases against Trump. Speculation that the president-elect might fire FBI Director Christopher Wray is also moot. Wray announced he would resign before Trump is sworn in.

Other aspects of Trump's agenda, particularly his promises to eliminate taxes on tips, overtime, and Social Security benefits, will require Congress to act.

Trump has also conceded that some of his pledges, like "ending inflation," may be difficult to fulfill. Fellow Republicans are also pressuring the president-elect to expand his agenda to include items like nixing the IRS' free direct tax-filing tool.

Tariffs: Trade wars are likely to return

The president-elect made clear just before Thanksgiving that he intends to use tariffs much like he did during his first term.

In a series of posts, Trump pledged to levy a 25% tariff on all products coming into the US from Mexico and Canada. Chinese imports would get an additional 10%.

He said the tariffs would be among his first actions after being sworn in — meaning he'll likely return to his reliance on a law that allows a president wide discretion to impose tariffs in the event of a national emergency.

Trump said the tariffs are needed to take migration and fentanyl more seriously. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum quickly retorted that her nation may be forced to impose its own retaliatory tariffs.

During his first term, Trump repeatedly threatened to use tariffs as a cudgel, though he did not always follow through.

Executive orders: Immigration and likely legal challenges

Some of Trump's most readily achievable promises are related to immigration, an area where the White House and Executive Branch have a significant say. In the closing days of the campaign, Trump underlined his commitment to getting to work right away on building "the largest deportation force" in the nation's history. The American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations have said they would challenge Trump's actions in court, meaning that anything begun on Day One will only be the beginning of a potentially long legal fight.

Trump also repeatedly promised to curtail parole, which allows immigrants to temporarily live in the US, often for humanitarian reasons. He also pushed debunked claims about secret "migrant flights," which he also promised to ban on day one.

Trump has promised to issue several executive orders when he takes office, though some of them are likely to be challenged in court.

For example, Trump has pledged to sign an executive order revoking birthright citizenship, which is enshrined in the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution.

During the Republican primary, he pledged to take executive action "banning schools from promoting critical race theory or transgender insanity."

It's likely that such an action could mirror an executive order President Joe Biden revoked after taking office, which at the time prohibited the federal government and federal contractors from conducting workplace trainings on "divisive concepts." A federal judge later blocked prohibitions on certain trainings.

Pardons and personnel decisions: January 6 rioters could get immediate pardons

Trump said he could take action on January 6-related pardons "within the first nine minutes."

He has long maintained that some people arrested or convicted of offenses related to the Capitol riot were overcharged. Trump is likely to avoid any personal legal consequences at the federal level for his efforts to overturn the election. Smith's 2020-charges against Trump were dismissed in a way that would allow them to be refiled once the president-elect leaves office in 2029.

In an interview with Time Magazine, Trump said his focus is on non-violent offenders and that he will weigh potential pardons on a "case-by-case" basis.

"We're going to look at each individual case, and we're going to do it very quickly, and it's going to start in the first hour that I get into office," Trump said to the publication during a wide ranging interview. "And a vast majority of them should not be in jail. A vast majority should not be in jail, and they've suffered gravely."

Some of Trump's promises are more simple and involve firing government officials he does not like.

At a Bitcoin conference in July, Trump also pledged to fire Gary Gensler, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, on "day one" and appoint a replacement. Gensler has angered many in the cryptocurrency community, which Trump and his campaigned courted ahead of the 2024 election. Gensler, too, has headed off a potential showdown by announcing he will resign before Trump's inauguration

Trump has also pledged to pardon January 6 rioters "if they're innocent," which he would be able to do as soon as his first day in office.

"Day One" promises that Trump may not be able to fulfill

Some "day one" commitments are simply not possible.

At times during the campaign, Trump pledged to "end inflation" just hours after taking office. No one, including the president, can single-handedly lower broad price levels set across the entire US economy.

Prices reached record highs earlier in the Biden administration, but since then inflation has continued to cool. Many economists are concerned that Trump's protectionist trade policies could exacerbate inflation. He has repeatedly rejected this view, but conceded lowering grocery prices will be difficult.

"Look, they got them up," Trump said to Time. "I'd like to bring them down. It's hard to bring things down once they're up. You know, it's very hard. But I think that they will. I think that energy is going to bring them down. I think a better supply chain is going to bring them down."

• Donald Trump said Elon Musk won't try to use his new power to benefit his companies.
• He said Musk is one of "very few people" who would have the credibility to do such work.
• Musk's work with DOGE will likely give him some power over agencies that regulate his companies.

In a new interview with Time Magazine, President-elect Donald Trump brushed back concerns that Elon Musk's companies could create a conflict of interest for his work on DOGE.

"I think that Elon puts the country long before his company," Trump said in the interview.

Trump, who Time named its 2024 Person of the Year, said that he trusts Musk, whose companies hold billions in federal contracts.

"He considers this to be his most important project, and he wanted to do it," Trump told Time. "And, you know, I think, I think he's one of the very few people that would have the credibility to do it, but he puts the country before, and I've seen it, before he puts his company."

Musk and conservative entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy have said they will remain outside the government as they oversee "The Department of Government Efficiency" or DOGE.

By staying outside of the government, Musk will avoid some ethical requirements that could have required him to divest some of his fortune. He also won't have to file a financial disclosure, which would have given a snapshot of his considerable holdings.

DOGE could have some influence over government agencies that have investigated Musk's businesses. Musk has repeatedly fought with the FAA, which has jurisdiction over his company SpaceX. The billionaire tussled with the Securities Exchange Commission, which led to Musk being forced to step down as chairman of Tesla Inc. The SEC is looking into Musk's takeover of Twitter. The Department of Justice has also investigated Musk's companies, including whether Telsa misled investors about self-driving capabilities.

Some details about DOGE are still up in the air, including whether the panel will comply with the legal requirements of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. Legal experts and those familiar with the law have said Musk's "department" clearly falls under the 1972 law's parameters. The law would require DOGE to conduct some of its work publicly and to balance its membership.

Musk has embraced his aura of being Trump's "first buddy" and has been virtually inseparable from the president-elect since Election Day.

In the wide-ranging Time interview, Trump said it will be "hard" to bring down grocery prices. A number of economists have warned that Trump's protectionist trade policies could exacerbate inflation. A spokesperson for Trump's transition did not immediately respond to. Business Insider's request for comment.

• Donald Trump successfully used podcasts to expand his reach during the 2024 presidential campaign.
• On Election day, Trump ended up boosting his support among men overall compared to 2020.
• A variety of podcast hosts are set to have a substantial level of influence in Trump's second term.

President-elect Donald Trump's love for the media is well-known — just look at how much Trump's early picks resemble a Fox News greenroom.

The president-elect made significant efforts during his campaign to get his message in front of podcasters and influencers. Now that he's set to return to power, these commentators will play a major role in setting and pushing his agenda. Or they'll just stream from the White House.

If Donald Trump Jr., who hosts his own podcast, gets his wish they might even be seated somewhere in the White House briefing room.

'The Joe Rogan Experience'

The UFC commentator and comedian Joe Rogan has become one of the biggest names in the podcast world. Rogan's persona and massive following (14.5 million followers on Spotify and nearly 19 million subscribers on YouTube) have given him the sort of platform that continues to attract a range of high-profile guests.

Trump's appearance on Rogan's podcast in October allowed him to reach a critical audience — which heavily skews male — ahead of an election where the president-elect boosted his performance with men compared to 2020. Rogan's reach is so substantial that Trump took a few hours off the campaign trail to travel to Austin, Texas, to sit in the studio with the podcast host.

Rogan, shortly before the election, endorsed Trump's candidacy, calling him "the biggest there is."

Many Democrats pushed for Vice President Kamala Harris to appear on the program before the election, but scheduling during the frenetic last weeks of the race precluded her from traveling to Austin to do so, according to a campaign statement at the time.

"My sincere wish is to just have a nice conversation and get to know her as a human being," Rogan said in October.

'Bannon's War Room'

One of the more seasoned podcasters in Trump's orbit, former White House strategist Steve Bannon, started his program during Trump's first impeachment. Trump has said he listens to "Bannon's War Room."

Bannon used the program to foment backlash to then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California. And Kash Patel, Trump's pick to lead the FBI, has made countless appearances on the show.

Former White House Trade Council director Peter Navarro, set to return to Trump's second administration, was among a handful of commentators who kept Bannon's show going while he was in prison. Like Navarro, Bannon was sentenced for his defiance of a subpoena from the House January 6 committee.

'Triggered with Don Jr.'

Donald Trump Jr., the president-elect's eldest son, has confirmed he won't be in the incoming administration. But he remains a key voice in his father's ear.

Trump Jr. pushes his message in multiple forms, including on his podcast, "Triggered With Don Jr.," which he has hosted for almost a year. He's frequently hosted some of Trump's congressional allies, along with top aides like Stephen Miller, who will return to the White House.

In a recent episode, Trump Jr. teased how the president-elect's transition team is eyeing ways to bring conservative podcasters into the White House briefing room.

'This Past Weekend with Theo Von'

In August, the comedian Theo Von hosted Trump on his podcast, "This Past Weekend with Theo Von." On the program, Von spoke openly with Trump about his recovery from drug addiction. It may not have been seen as a typical stop for a presidential candidate, but the conversation was heard by many Americans, providing Trump with another connection to a bloc of male voters who don't consume much mainstream media.

Von received a shout out from UFC president Dana White during Trump's election night victory speech in Florida.

'The Charlie Kirk Show'

Charlie Kirk, a cofounder of the conservative nonprofit Turning Point USA, has spent over a decade advocating for limited government and free markets among students on high school and college campuses.

Ahead of the 2024 general election, Kirk used Turning Point Action, the political advocacy arm of Turning Point USA, to boost Trump's bid for a second term and amplify his conservative message. Kirk appeared alongside Trump at campaign events in key swing states like Georgia and Nevada, which the president-elect went on to flip in November.

Kirk hosts "The Charlie Kirk Show" podcast, which serves as an influential vehicle for reaching the sort of young voters who were a key part of Trump's electoral gains.

'Full Send Podcast'

Few shows personify "the manosphere" that Trump spent the summer tapping into more than "Full Send," a podcast started by a group of influencers called the Nelk Boys. Trump has made multiple appearances on Full Send, even stumping with one of its members in Las Vegas. Unlike Bannon and some others on this list, the Nelk Boys are not explicitly political, which made their audience ripe for Trump's 2024 appeals but also means they're unlikely to engage in the day-to-day news cycle.

Adin Ross

Adin Ross, an internet personality and popular streamer, sat down with Trump this past August and in a departure from many interviews — gifted the Republican a gold Rolex watch and a customized Tesla Cybertruck.

Ross became a big name through his livestreams of video games, and Trump's interview with the streamer was one more way that he was able to connect with a male-skewing audience.

'The Dan Bongino Show'

Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent, is so firmly entrenched in the conservative space that he was selected to replace the late Rush Limbaugh in his coveted time slot. Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio and other influential leaders on the right have pushed Trump to name Bongino to run the agency tasked with protecting the president. In the meantime, Bongino has been a vocal proponent of Trump's other nominees and helped lead a pressure campaign to push Sen. Joni Ernst, an Iowa Republican, to back Trump's pick to lead the Pentagon.

'Verdict with Ted Cruz'

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas has repeatedly offered his full-throated support to Trump, a stark contrast to the bitter end to his 2016 GOP primary run. Like Bannon, Cruz launched his podcast amid Trump's first impeachment battle. He has since used his platform to shed light on Congress and to discuss the news of the day.

With a 53-47 Republican Senate majority beginning in January, Trump can't afford many defections if he wants to get his agenda through the upper chamber. Cruz is well-positioned to serve as a narrator for a far more supportive group than the one that repeatedly vexed Trump in his first term.

'The Megyn Kelly Show'

Many in Trump's orbit once detested former Fox News journalist Megyn Kelly after she asked him during a 2015 GOP presidential debate about past inflammatory comments directed toward women.

"You've called women you don't like fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals," she asked at the time. "Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president?"

Trump repeatedly blasted Kelly after the interview.

But in the intervening years, Kelly left Fox and was hired by NBC News before a tumultuous departure. She's since become a major conservative voice in the podcast world and interviewed Trump on her show in September 2023.

Ahead of the 2024 election, she appeared alongside Trump at a Pennsylvania rally, voicing her support for his campaign and calling him a "protector of women."

'All-In Podcast'

Key venture capitalists embraced Trump ahead of the 2024 election, including former PayPal executive David Sacks. Sacks and fellow venture capitalists, Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, and David Friedberg, hold court on their podcast, "All-In," which was launched during the pandemic.

It remains to be seen how involved Sacks will be going forward on the podcast now that Trump has named him his AI and crypto czar. Trump made an appearance during a June episode.

• Legal experts say it is obvious that Elon Musk's DOGE falls under a federal transparency law.
• The Federal Advisory Committee Act was created to bring order to outside forces weighing in on policy.
• The law would require DOGE to hold public meetings and balance its membership.

Disrupting the federal government might be harder than Elon Musk thought.

President-elect Donald Trump appointed Musk and former 2024 challenger Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the sweeping "Department of Government Efficiency," which aims to cut $2 trillion out of the federal budget.

According to legal experts, Musk and Ramaswamy's work may be complicated by a decades-old government transparency law — the exact type of bureaucracy the world's richest man has chafed against when his companies have tangled with the Securities and Exchange Commission or the FAA.

Congress wrote the Federal Advisory Committee Act in 1972 to rein in the larger number of outside advisors who weighed in on policy matters either at the president's or a specific Cabinet agency's behest. It is designed for panels like DOGE, which are led by people outside the federal government. Musk and Ramaswamy wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that they would not officially join the Trump administration.

"Though not much information has come out yet about DOGE, it certainly looks like it is not going to be a department or government agency, it will be an advisory commission, and for that reason, it will fall under FACA's purview," Jason Arnold, an associate professor of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University, told Business Insider.

Musk wrote on X last month that DOGE would post its "all actions" publicly online, but it's unclear if that means the billionaires will fully comply with the law.

The law says Musk and Ramaswamy need to appoint a Democrat.

The advisory act would affect DOGE's operations almost immediately. The law requires that panels that fall under its definition be comprised of a balanced membership in terms of "the points of view represented."

If Trump formally authorizes DOGE after he is sworn in next month, his initial order would need to take this into account. For example, when President Obama created the Bowles-Simpson commission in 2010, his executive order required the 18-member panel to include Republicans and Democrats. The commission, tasked with getting the nation's finances in order, was also co-chaired by a Democrat, former White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles, and a Republican, former Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming.

So far, Trump has named William Joseph McGinley, a long-time attorney for Republican causes, to be DOGE's general counsel. Musk has already said that DOGE is looking for staffers willing to work 80-plus hours a week for no money.

"Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lots of enemies & compensation is zero. What a great deal!" Musk wrote on X.

Posting DOGE's activities online might not be enough.

If DOGE complies with the act, it would also have to try to hold public meetings.

Obama's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, Bowles-Simpson's actual name, held six public hearings and culminated its work with a final report that caused a political uproar over its recommendations to raise the Social Security retirement age, increase the federal gas tax, and cut Pentagon spending. The act requires at least 15 days of formal notice before a meeting and for explanations to be provided if the panel moves to conduct a private session.

It's not hard to see how the public disclosure requirements could become a political headache for Trump's White House, especially if DOGE considers changes to Social Security and Medicare. Unlike most traditional Republicans, Trump has shied away from embracing major reforms to the popular programs. Ramaswamy told Axios that DOGE would look elsewhere for cuts.

Trump and his two advisors have already sparked the ire of some Republicans on Capitol Hill by promising they may try to unilaterally cancel spending, a process known as impoundment that Congress made mostly illegal in 1974.

Musk and Trump could still try to ignore the law.

Just because DOGE looks to fit the definition of the advisory act, doesn't mean the law's application is a simple business. In describing the law, the Congressional Research Service, lawmakers' nonpartisan research arm, concluded that it may ultimately fall to the courts to determine if FACA applies.

Arnold said if Trump and Musk go this route, it may take years to resolve the dispute. This, along with some of the act's vagueness in areas like what constitutes balanced membership, leaves some loopholes.

"There are a lot of flaws with the law, one of them is that there are no penalties for violations," said Arnold, who researched FACA for his book "Secrecy in the Sunshine Era." "It's almost up to the goodwill or the legal concerns of the administration to follow through."

The Trump transition team and McGinley did not respond to Business Insider's requests for comment. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for Ramaswamy, told USA Today everyone around DOGE "is committed to making sure all DOGE activities are conducted properly and in full compliance with ethical and legal requirements."

Past White Houses have tried to argue they could do business behind closed doors. President Clinton fought off attempts to argue that then-first lady Hillary Clinton's participation in closed-door discussions over the administration's healthcare plan ran afoul of the act. President George W. Bush's White House engaged in a years-long legal fight over whether it needed to disclose details from his energy task force which Vice President Dick Cheney chaired. It was later revealed that then-Enron CEO Ken Lay was among a host of fossil fuel executives who met with the secretive panel.

When Obama formed the Bowles-Simpson commission, then-House Minority Leader John Boehner called on the White House to make sure the panel didn't try to do its work behind closed doors.

"If it is your intent to have all proceedings of the Commission adhere to FACA, will the Commission notice all meetings in the Federal Register 15 days in advance, open all meetings to the public, and make all meeting minutes available for public inspection?" Boehner wrote to Simpson and Bowles in 2010.

Musk is already getting to work on DOGE. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa are expected to lead their respective chambers' work with the panel. Musk was on Capitol Hill this week to discuss what his department will do — those talks were behind closed doors.

"There won't be a lot of detail for the press today, and that's by design," House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters. "This is a brainstorming session."

• Elon Musk and Donald Trump have had a tumultuous relationship over the years.
• While the two traded barbs during Trump's first presidency, they're now political allies.

• Trump officially added Musk to join his administration to help lead his DOGE effort, and Musk calls himself "first buddy."

Elon Musk and Donald Trump are now spending lots of time together, marking a new era of their working relationship.

The world's richest person and president-elect have become close political allies, with Musk calling himself "first buddy" following Trump's most recent victory and donating more than $200 million toward pro-Trump super PACs.

Trump tasked Elon Musk with recommending cost cuts in the federal government, appointing the Tesla CEO to the new Department of Government Efficiency council.

It wasn't always this cozy between the two billionaires, however.

Here's how they reached this point.

November 2016: Musk says Trump is 'not the right guy' for the job

Just before the 2016 presidential election, Musk told CNBC he didn't think Trump should be president. 

"I feel a bit stronger that he is not the right guy. He doesn't seem to have the sort of character that reflects well on the United States," Musk said. 

The billionaire added that Hillary Clinton's economic and environmental policies were the "right ones."

December 2016: Musk appointed to Trump's advisory councils

After he won the presidency, Trump appointed Musk to two economic advisory councils, along with other business leaders like Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. 

Musk got flack for working with the controversial president, but defended his choice by saying he was using the position to lobby for better environmental and immigration policies. 

June 2017: Musk cut ties with the White House in protest of Trump's environmental policies

On June 1, 2017, after Trump announced the US would pull out of the Paris Agreement on climate change, Musk resigned from his roles on presidential advisory boards. 

"Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world," Musk said in a tweet announcing his departure.

Musk's goal for Tesla is to curb dependence on fossil fuels through electric vehicles, solar power, and stationary energy storage. 

January 2020: 'One of our great geniuses'

During a January 2020 interview with CNBC, Trump praised Musk's accomplishments and intelligence. 

"You have to give him credit," the former president said, referring to Tesla becoming more valuable than Ford and General Motors. "He's also doing the rockets. He likes rockets. And he's doing good at rockets too, by the way." 

Trump went on to call Musk "one of our great geniuses" and likened him to Thomas Edison. 

May 2020: Trump backs up Musk in feud with California covid rules

As the pandemic gripped the US in early 2020, Musk clashed with California public-health officials who forced Tesla to temporarily shut down its factory there. Trump voiced his support for Musk. 

"California should let Tesla & @elonmusk open the plant, NOW," Trump tweeted in May 2020. "It can be done Fast & Safely!"

"Thank you!," Musk replied. 

May 2022: Musk said he would reinstate Trump's Twitter account

In May, Musk said he would unban Trump as the Twitter's new owner. 

Musk called the ban a "morally bad decision" and "foolish to the extreme" in an interview with the Financial Times. Twitter kicked Trump off of its platform following the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol. 

The Tesla billionaire has called himself a "free speech absolutist," and one of his key goals for taking Twitter private was to loosen content moderation. 

July 2022: Trump calls Musk a 'bullshit artist'

In July, Trump took aim at Musk, claiming the businessman voted for him but later denied it. 

"You know [Musk] said the other day 'Oh, I've never voted for a Republican,'" Trump said during a Saturday rally in Anchorage, Alaska. "I said 'I didn't know that.' He told me he voted for me. So he's another bullshit artist."

On Monday, Musk tweeted that Trump's claim was "not true."

July 2022: Musk says Trump shouldn't run again

Musk stopped short of attacking Trump personally, but said he shouldn't run for president again. 

"I don't hate the man, but it's time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset. Dems should also call off the attack – don't make it so that Trump's only way to survive is to regain the Presidency," he tweeted. 

He continued: "Do we really want a bull in a china shop situation every single day!? Also, I think the legal maximum age for start of Presidential term should be 69." Trump is 76 years old. 

July 2022: Trump lashes out

Trump then went on the offensive, posting a lengthy attack on Musk on Truth Social, the social media company he founded. 

"When Elon Musk came to the White House asking me for help on all of his many subsidized projects, whether it's electric cars that don't drive long enough, driverless cars that crash, or rocketships to nowhere, without which subsidies he'd be worthless, and telling me how he was a big Trump fan and Republican, I could have said, 'drop to your knees and beg,' and he would have done it," Trump said in a post that criticized two of Musk's ventures, Tesla and the rocket company SpaceX. 

"Lmaooo," Musk responded on Twitter.

October 2022: Trump cheers Musk's Twitter deal, but says he won't return

Following Musk's official buyout of Twitter on Thursday, Trump posted to Truth Social cheering the deal. 

"I am very happy that Twitter is now in sane hands, and will no longer be run by Radical Left Lunatics and Maniacs that truly hate our country," he said. He added that he likes Truth Social better than other platforms, echoing comments from earlier this year in which he ruled out a return to Twitter. 

On Monday, Musk joked about the potential of welcoming the former president back to his newly acquired platform.

"If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me if Trump is coming back on this platform, Twitter would be minting money!," the Tesla CEO tweeted. 

May 2023: Musks hosts Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' glitchy debut

Musk and other right-leaning voices in Silicon Valley initially supported Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. DeSantis ended 2022 as Trump's best-positioned primary challenger. In November 2022, as DeSantis was skyrocketing to acclaim, Musk said he would endorse him. In March 2023, after enduring Trump's attacks for months, DeSantis prepared to make history by formally announcing his campaign in an interview on Twitter.

The initial few minutes were a glitchy disaster. Trump and his allies ruthlessly mocked DeSantis' "Space" with Musk and venture capitalist David Sachs. DeSantis' interview later proceeded, but his campaign was dogged for days with negative headlines.

September 2023: A Trump-style border wall is needed, Musk says

Musk live-streamed a visit to the US-Mexico border on Twitter, which he had rebranded as "X." Musk said that one of Trump's signature policies was necessary during his visit to Eagle Pass, Texas, to get a first-person look at what local officials called a crisis at the border.

"We actually do need a wall and we need to require people to have some shred of evidence to claim asylum to enter, as everyone is doing that," Musk wrote on X. "It's a hack that you can literally Google to know exactly what to say! Will find out more when I visit Eagle Pass maybe as soon as tomorrow."

Like Trump and others on the right, Musk had criticized the broader consensus in Washington for focusing too much on Russia's unprovoked war against Ukraine in comparison to domestic issues like migration. 

March 2024: Trump tries to woo Musk, but the billionaire says he won't give him money.

Trump tried to woo Musk during a meeting at the former president's Mar-a-Lago resort. According to The New York Times, Trump met with Musk and a few other GOP megadonors when the former president's campaign was particularly cash-strapped. After The Times published its report, Musk said he would not be "donating money to either candidate for US President." 

It wasn't clear who Musk meant in terms of the second candidate. He had repeatedly criticized President Joe Biden, who looked poised to be headed toward a rematch with Trump.

July 2024: Musk endorses Trump after the former president is shot

Musk said he "fully endorsed" Trump after the former president was shot during a political rally ahead of the Republican National Convention. The billionaire's endorsement marked a major turning point in his yearslong political evolution from an Obama voter. Days later, it would come to light that Musk pressed Trump to select Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate.

Trump announced Vance as his vice presidential pick at the Republican National Convention.

The ticket, Musk wrote on X, "resounds with victory."

It wasn't just his public support that Musk was offering. In July, the Wall Street Journal reported Musk had pledged roughly $45 million to support a pro-Trump super PAC. Musk later said he would donate far less, but his rebranding into a loyal member of the MAGA right was complete.

August 2024: Trump joins Musk for a highly anticipated interview

Trump, who ended the Republican National Convention primed for victory, stumbled after Biden abruptly dropped out of the 2024 race. The former president and his allies have struggled to attack Vice President Kamala Harris, now the Democratic presidential nominee.

Amid Harris' early media blitz, Trump joined Musk on a two-hour livestream on X that garnered an audience of over 1 million listeners. The conversation covered topics ranging from a retelling of Trump's assassination attempt to illegal immigration to Musk's potential role with a government efficiency commission.

In August, Trump began floating the idea that he "certainly would" consider adding Musk to his Cabinet or an advisory role. The Tesla CEO responded by tweeting an AI-generated photo of himself on a podium emblazoned with the acronym "D.O.G.E"—Department of Government Efficiency.

"I am willing to serve," he wrote above the image.

September 2024: Musk says he's ready to serve if Trump gives him an advisory role

In September, Trump softened the suggestion of Musk joining his Cabinet due to his time constraints with running his various business ventures, the Washington Post reported. However, he also said that Musk could "consult with the country" and help give "some very good ideas."

Musk then replied to a tweet about the Washington Post article expressing his enthusiasm.

"I can't wait. There is a lot of waste and needless regulation in government that needs to go," he wrote.

He later said on X that he "looked forward to serving" the country and would be willing to do with without any pay, title, or recognition.

October 2024: Musk speaks at Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania

Musk joined Trump onstage during the former president's rally, hosted on October 5 in the same location where Trump survived an assassination attempt in July. Musk sported an all-black "Make America Great Again" cap and briefly addressed the crowd, saying that voter turnout for Trump this year was essential or "this will be the last election." 

"President Trump must win to preserve the Constitution," Musk said. "He must win to preserve democracy in America."

The next day, Musk's America PAC announced that it would be offering $47 to each person who refers registered voters residing in swing states to sign a petition "in support for the First and Second Amendments."

By October, the PAC had reportedly already spent over $80 million on the election, with over $8.2 million spread across 18 competitive House races for the GOP. 

The Tesla CEO later told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that he might face "vengeance" if Trump loses the election.

November 2024: Trump wins the presidency and names Musk his administration

Musk was by Trump's side on election night at Mar-a-Lago, helping celebrate his victory.

Nearly a week after his 2024 presidential election win, Trump announced that Musk and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy were chosen to lead a newly minted Department of Government Efficiency (or DOGE, as Musk likes to call it, in reference to the meme-inspired cryptocurrency Dogecoin).

"Together, these two wonderful Americans will pay the way for my Administration to dismantle the Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies," Trump said in a statement. 

It's unclear whether the department will formally exist within the government, though Trump said the office would "provide advice and guidance from outside of Government" and work directly with the White House and Office of Management & Budget.

Musk responded in a post on X that the Department of Government Efficiency will be post all their actions online "for maximum transparency." 

"Anytime the public thinks we are cutting something important or not cutting something wasteful, just let us know!" Musk wrote. "We will also have a leaderboard for most insanely dumb spending of your dollars. This will be both extremely tragic and extremely entertaining."

Outside of administrative duties, Musk has also joined "almost every meeting and many meals that Mr. Trump has had," The New York Times reported, acting as a partial advisor and confidant. The Tesla CEO also reportedly joined Trump's calls with both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan while both men were at the president-elect's Mar-a-Lago club, where Musk seems to have settled in.

"Elon won't go home," Trump told NBC News jokingly. "I can't get rid of him." 

The two's close relationship has extended to a more personal friendship. Musk was seen attending Trump's Thanksgiving dinner and on the golf course with Trump and his grandchildren, where Kai Trump said he achieved "uncle status."

Trump reaffirms he will be the next President — not Musk

While Musk and Trump are both big personalities, the President-elect has made it clear that he'll be the one running the country. President-elect Donald Trump dismissed the notion that he has "ceded the presidency" to Musk and said that even if the billionaire wanted to be president, he couldn't because he was born in South Africa.

"No, he's not going to be president, that I can tell you," Trump said at Turning Point USA's annual "AmericaFest" on Sunday. "And I'm safe. You know why? He can't be? He wasn't born in this country."

Trump's comments came after Musk flexed his influence to help shut down a bipartisan emergency spending bill last week. Some Republicans questioned why Trump hadn't been more active in derailing the bill, and Democrats baited the President-elect on social media with posts about Musk "calling the shots" and taking on the role of a "shadow president.

Prior to Trump addressing the subject, Trump's team also looked to shut down the idea that Musk is leading the Republican Party.

"As soon as President Trump released his official stance on the CR, Republicans on Capitol Hill echoed his point of view," Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for the Trump-Vance transition, told BI. "President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. Full stop."

• Donald Trump has surrounded himself with fellow billionaires as he nears a second term as president.
• His cabinet nominees and advisors hail from various industries —and include the world's richest man.
• Here are the billionaires Trump is working with as he readies for the White House.

President-elect Donald Trump has long been associated with wealth. Trump, as his supporters like to say, was famously a businessman before he became president — or the host of a reality TV show. Even a young Barack Obama mentioned him as the epitome of success that Americans craved.

While some have questioned how successfully he ran his real-estate empire there is no arguing that he is now very rich. The net worth of the president-elect sits at $6.1 billion, according to Forbes' estimates as of December 23.

As Trump prepares for a second term as president, it looks as if like attracts like: He counts several billionaires among his advisors and cabinet nominees.

Trump's first-term cabinet was the wealthiest in modern times and included several multimillionaires among its ranks, including centimillionaires Wilbur Ross and Steve Mnuchin. Betsy DeVos, his former Secretary of Education, and her family were worth $2 billion when she held office, Forbes reported. More billionaires, including Diane Hendricks and Isaac Perlmutter, were among his early advisors.

There will be more clarity about the net worths of Trump's current cabinet picks and his remaining nominees when they file public financial disclosures due soon after their nominations become official.

These disclosures will also bring to light any conflicts of interest, which often result in large divestments. For example, in 2017, Steven Mnuchin, then the Treasury secretary nominee, agreed to divest from 43 companies and investments to comply with those standards.

Virginia Canter, the chief ethics counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said in some cases, nominees from the private equity or venture capital worlds may find it difficult to divest their assets in time.

Vincent Viola, a Florida billionaire and Trump's pick to be Army secretary in 2017, withdrew his name from consideration after it became clear how difficult it would be to disentangle his financial holdings.

"You have to be prepared to divest of any asset," Canter told Business Insider. "The president needs to be able to call on any member of their cabinet and all of their senior officials, right? And not have to worry about whether by calling them and asking for their advice on a particular matter" they would create a criminal conflict of interest.

Here are the billionaires advising President-elect Trump and how rich they are. The net worths are based on Forbes estimates as of December 6 unless otherwise stated.

Elon Musk

Elon Musk is by far the richest person to sign up to work for Trump, with a net worth of $435.5 billion.

Musk, the cohead of Trump's government efficiency commission, will work with conservative entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy outside the federal government on the "Department of Government Efficiency." The duo has said they want to cut more than $2 trillion from the federal budget.

For now, Musk, the world's richest man, is not subject to divestment requirements as he's outside the Trump administration. Ethics experts say it remains to be seen if DOGE will meet the definition of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. This 1970s-era law sought to bring order to the external and sometimes secretive panels that advised the federal government. If DOGE does, Musk and Ramaswamy may be required to file financial disclosure forms. Most critically, DOGE may also have to hold open meetings and make its records available to the public.

Musk's approach to the federal government may mirror the one he takes at his companies, including Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI, which has made him very rich. His stakes in EV company Tesla — he owns about 13% of the trillion-dollar company — and rocket manufacturer SpaceX make up the bulk of his fortune. Musk illustrated his power when he played a leading role in killing an initial spending deal to avert a government shutdown. Congress later passed a pared down package, which billionaire said he approved.

Musk is known for his "hardcore" management style and has shown no problem conducting extensive layoffs, requiring his teams to work "long hours at a high intensity," and relentlessly cutting corporate perks.

He spent about $119 million boosting Trump's campaign — and his bet on the president-elect paid off. Since the election, Musk's fortune has grown by about $90 billion. The success of his companies, particularly SpaceX, has been tied to the government before. The New York Times reported that Tesla and SpaceX signed nearly $3 billion of government contracts last year.

Tilman Fertitta

Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta is Trump's pick to be US ambassador to Italy.

Fertitta, worth an estimated $10.4 billion, previously starred in CNBC's "Billionaire Buyer," which chronicled his travels around the nation to find new potential products for his restaurants and casinos.

He is president and CEO of Landry's, a privately-owned restaurant and entertainment company. Among its properties are Bubba Gump Shrimp Co, Rainforest Cafe, and Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouses. Fertitta also owns Golden Nugget Casinos.

Fertitta is a major GOP donor.

Stephen Feinberg

Stephen Feinberg is the secretive co-founder of Cerberus Capital Management, a major private equity firm.

Cerberus has a number investments in the defense industry, including through its majority stake in Navistar Defense, a specialized military automaker. As one of the top Pentagon officials, Feinberg will likely face major potential conflicts of interest given that if he is confirmed by the US Senate his post would give him sway over the Defense department's budget.

Feinberg, Trump's pick to be deputy defense secretary, is worth an estimated $5 billion. During the first Trump administration, the billionaire investor led the president's Intelligence Advisory Board.

The investor's love of privacy is well known. In 2007, The New York Times reported that Feinberg was said to have jokingly threatened anyone who had his photo during Cerberus' annual meeting.

"If anyone at Cerberus has his picture in the paper and a picture of his apartment, we will do more than fire that person," Feinberg said, per the Times. "We will kill him."

Feinberg's firm took a major hit when its gamble on Chrysler Financial looked to not have paid off when the automaker filed for bankruptcy. In 2010, Cerberus sold its stake to Toronto Dominion bank for $6.3 billion, recouping most of its money, Forbes reported.

Warren Stephens

Investor banker Warren Stephens is Trump's nominee to be the next US ambassador to Britain.

Stephens, who is worth $3.4 billion, operates the Little Rock, Arkansas-based investment bank, Stephens Inc., which has been tied to his family since the 1930s. The firm was a major player in Walmart's 1970 IPO and later helped finance the construction of the Superdome, home to the NFL's New Orleans Saints.

The ambassador to the Court of St. James, as the post is formally known, is considered one of the poshest assignments in the foreign service. Presidents often name major donors to the role. Trump's first ambassador to the UK was Woody Johnson, co-owner of the NFL's New York Jets.

Stephens donated $3.5 million to pro-Trump causes, including $2 million to Make America Great Again Inc., the main super PAC for the former president.

Stephens hasn't always been supportive of Trump. In 2016, he donated $2 million to a group trying to block him, The New York Times reported. Before Trump locked up the nomination, Stephens supported Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley.

"Over the last 38 years, while serving as the President, Chairman, and CEO of his company, Stephens Inc., Warren has built a wonderful financial services firm, while selflessly giving back to his community as a philanthropist," Trump wrote in his statement announcing Stephens' nomination.

Jared Isaacman

Trump has chosen Jared Isaacman, who is worth $1.8 billion, to head up NASA.

A high school dropout, Isaacman made his money through two companies: payment processing firm Shift4, which is publicly traded, and aviation venture Draken International, which he sold to Blackstone.

Isaacman would bring real space experience to his role as NASA administrator.

He's been to space twice on SpaceX's civilian flights that he funded and he conducted the first-ever commercial spacewalk in September.

Isaacman said that leading NASA would be "the honor of a lifetime."

Howard Lutnick

Trump's pick for Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, is worth more than $1.5 billion thanks to his decades on Wall Street. He's been CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial services firm, since 1991 and of its spinoff brokerage firm, BGC Partners, since its formation. Cantor Fitzgerald's deals include Johnson & Johnson's $1.9 billion acquisition of Ambrx.

In addition to his work at Cantor Fitzgerald, Lutnick is chairman of the Newmark Group, a roughly $2.6 billion commercial real estate giant.

Trump said that Lutnick would be his point person on trade, even though the US Trade representative, a Cabinet-level post, typically fills that role. If confirmed, Lutnick would oversee 13 agencies, including the Census Bureau and the Patent and Trademark Office. During Trump's first term, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, another former banker, was central to the White House's trade war with China.

Vivek Ramaswamy

Musk will co-lead the DOGE with fellow billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy.

Ramaswamy, who made his fortune in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry, is worth $1.1 billion.

He founded Roivant Sciences, a drug company that went public in 2021. The company has a market cap of nearly $9 billion, and Ramaswamy, who was the company's CEO before stepping down in 2021 to focus on politics, owns about 10% of its outstanding shares.

In 2022, Ramaswamy cofounded Strive Asset Management, an investment company that takes a non-ESG approach to money management. The company counts Vice President-elect JD Vance, who attended law school with Ramaswamy, as an investor.

Like Vance and Trump, Ramaswamy built his political reputation on the foundation of his business experience. Ramaswamy was harshly critical of corporate ESG and DEI initiatives, which he railed against in his 2021 best-selling book "Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam."

During the 2024 Republican presidential primaries, Ramaswamy stood out from the rest of the field by just how much he embraced Trump — a sign of loyalty that he quickly noticed. Despite his lack of political experience, Ramaswamy repeatedly qualified for debates while other more conventional picks struggled to meet the polling and donor thresholds. He dropped out of the field after finishing fourth in the Iowa Republican caucuses and quickly endorsed Trump.

During the summer, Ramaswamy bought a stake in BuzzFeed to remodel the online publication in his conservative image.

Linda McMahon

Linda McMahon, Trump's nominee for Secretary of Education_, is the cochair of his transition team and led the Small Business Administration during the president-elect's first term.

According to multiple reports, McMahon hoped to be named Commerce Secretary, but that post fell to Lutnick after failing to get the Treasury Department role.

She doesn't have much experience in education policy, but she has spent the past few years leading the America First Policy Institute, a think tank that many in Trump's orbit flocked to after he lost the 2020 election.

When he announced her role, Trump pledged that McMahon would champion school choice, a long-sought-after conservative goal to allow public funds to cover the costs of sending children to private and charter schools. Some in the Republican Party have even argued for the dissolution of the Education Department entirely and ceding the policymaking power to state and local governments.

While not a billionaire in her own right, McMahon donated $15 million to Trump's campaign and is married to Vincent McMahon, the former executive chairman of WWE-owner TKO Group Holdings, worth $3 billion.

The McMahons cofounded and ran WWE, and Linda served as CEO for over a decade. Vincent resigned from TKO's board of directors earlier this year after a former employee filed a lawsuit accusing him of sexual misconduct.

Kelly Loeffler

Former US Sen. Kelly Loeffler is Trump's pick to lead the Small Business Administration.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp appointed Loeffler to serve out former Sen. Johnny Isakson's term which he resigned from early due to health concerns. Loeffler went on to lose the 2020 Georgia Senate runoff to Sen. Raphael Warnock, part of a pair of Peach State defeats that handed Democrats control of the US Senate.

She led cryptocurrency company, Bakkt, which is connected to the Intercontinental Exchange. Loeffler's husband, Jeffery Sprecher, is CEO of the Intercontinental Exchange and chairman of the New York Stock Exchange. Sprecher is worth an estimated $1.1 billion.

According to The New York Post, Trump Media and Technology Group, Truth Social's parent company, is nearing a deal to buy Bakkt.

Loeffler is among a handful of failed US Senate candidates whom Trump is set to tap to new roles in his second administration.

Steven Witkoff

Steven Witkoff will serve as Trump's special Middle East envoy, as well as the cochair of his inaugural committee.

A real estate developer, Witkoff is worth at least $1 billion thanks to his stake in the development company the Witkoff Group, which is responsible for luxury condos, hotels, and office space across the country, and his personal portfolio of homes in New York City, the Hamptons, and Florida. He's also partnered with Trump on the cryptocurrency project World Liberty Financial.

Witkoff, like many on this list and in the broader Trump cabinet, has no formal experience in his role. During Trump's first term, the president-elect relied on Jared Kushner, his wealthy son-in-law, to play a similar role, which later resulted in the Abraham Accords, a series of deals to normalize relations between Israel and four Arab states.

Scott Bessent

Hedge fund manager Scott Bessent, Trump's nominee for Treasury secretary, is likely a billionaire — though Forbes has not yet crowned him one.

A Wall Street veteran, Bessent has worked for George Soros twice and was behind two of the financier's most lucrative bets, the shorting of the British pound and Japanese yen. In 2017, he launched his own firm, Key Square Capital, which has struggled to produce consistent returns.

While he has supported Democrats in the past, Bessent is now fully aligned with Trump. This election cycle, he donated $3 million to Trump-aligned PACs and Republican committees.

Bessent prevailed amid intense private jockeying to lead the Treasury Department, securing the role without Musk's blessing, who had backed Lutnick instead. Markets reacted positively to Bessent's appointment, but Trump soon clarified that this more conventional pick would not limit his tariff commitment.

• President Joe Biden said that he hopes Donald Trump "rethinks" imposing tariffs on Mexico and Canada.
• Trump has said he may impose a 25% tariff on the two allies' imports after he retakes office.
• The president-elect has long had protectionist trade views.

President Joe Biden on Thursday expressed hope that President-elect Donald Trump would back down on his plan to impose tariffs on two of the US' closest allies.

"I hope he rethinks it, I think it is a counterproductive thing to do," Biden told reporters on Thanksgiving.

Days before the holiday, Trump pledged to enact a 25% tariff on all Mexican and Canadian imports until the two countries do more to address illegal drugs and immigration. He said the tariffs would be among his first actions upon taking office, reopening the door to a national security law that lets the president impose tariffs with few limitations.

Trump's vow threatens to roil relations between the US and its two neighbors and may call into question the USMCA, a rewriting of the North American Free Trade Agreement that stands as one of his biggest first-term achievements.

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris teed off on Trump and his tariff threats throughout the 2024 campaign. Trump never retreated from more protectionist policy, a break from traditional GOP policy.

The US, Biden said, can't afford to alienate its two North American neighbors.

"The last thing we need to do is screw up those relationships," the president said.

It remains to be seen what Trump will do. His first administration imposed various tariffs on US allies' imports, including on Mexican and Canadian steel and aluminum.

In May 2019, Trump threatened to impose a 5% tariff on all Mexican imports with the chance for additional escalation if the nation failed to do more to stop illegal immigration. His threat briefly roiled financial markets, but such tariffs never came to fruition.

Mexico is mostly moving to de-escalate.

Trump spoke with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum not long after he made the new tariff threat.

Both sides seem happy with the conversation.

"Just had a wonderful conversation with the new President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo," Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday. "She has agreed to stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border."

Sheinbaum later said in a statement on X that she had not agreed to effectively close the border. She told reporters on Thursday that she was confident a trade war could be avoided.

"There will be no potential tariff war," Sheinbaum said, according to The Associated Press.