• 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 6.

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 $355 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 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.

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.

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.

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.

• 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.

• President-elect Donald Trump and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg might be cooling their long-simmering feud.
• Zuckerberg and Trump dined at Mar-a-Lago and Meta donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund.
• Here's a look at the timeline of Trump and Zuckerberg's rivalry.

Donald Trump and Mark Zuckerberg breaking bread together may have marked the beginning of a new chapter in their relationship.

Last month, Trump and Zuckerberg shared a Thanksgiving eve meal at the president-elect's Mar-a-Lago resort. Trump previously threatened to jail the Meta CEO if he won the 2024 election, illustrating just how important their tête-à-tête might be.

Now, Meta has donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund.

Trump and his conservative allies have long criticized Zuckerberg, putting the head of one of the nation's largest companies under a microscope at a critical time.

"It's an important time for the future of American Innovation. Mark was grateful for the invitation to join President Trump for dinner and the opportunity to meet with members of his team about the incoming Administration," a spokesperson for Meta previously said in a statement to Business Insider, confirming the dinner.

Meta is facing an antitrust trial next year. There's bipartisan support for a major rewrite of Section 230, a law that shields Big Tech companies from liability. Zuckerberg has previously supported changing Section 230, but his company could be dramatically affected by how the law is changed.

Like many in Silicon Valley, Zuckerberg quickly expressed concern for Trump after he survived a July assassination attempt. Trump reciprocated by falsely claiming Zuckerberg endorsed him. However, it was a major departure from threatening to jail the tech executive if he tried to influence the 2024 campaign.

Here's a look at how their relationship evolved over the years.

Trump and Zuckerberg have met on multiple occasions.

‪Nice meeting with Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook in the Oval Office today.

Posted by Donald J. Trump on Thursday, September 19, 2019

They had a previously unannounced meeting at the White House in September 2019.

"Mark is in Washington, D.C., meeting with policymakers to hear their concerns and talk about future internet regulation. He also had a good, constructive meeting with President Trump at the White House today," a Meta spokesperson said at the time.

"‪Nice meeting with Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook in the Oval Office today," Trump said of their meeting.

Trump and Zuckerberg met again the following month.

Trump, Zuckerberg, and Peter Thiel had a secret dinner in October 2019.

Thiel, who cofounded PayPal and Palantir, was the first outside investor in Facebook; he was a vocal supporter of Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

"We talked about a number of things that were on his mind, and some of the topics that you read about in the news around our work," Zuckerberg said of the dinner in an interview with "CBS This Morning."

Zuckerberg was in DC to testify before Congress about Facebook's cryptocurrency, Libra.

Trump has said he would've banned Facebook while president, but Zuckerberg "kept calling" him.

In 2021, Trump praised Nigeria for banning Twitter.

"More COUNTRIES should ban Twitter and Facebook for not allowing free and open speech — all voices should be heard," Trump said in a statement at the time.

"Perhaps I should have done it while I was President," he added. "But Zuckerberg kept calling me and coming to the White House for dinner telling me how great I was."

Nigeria lifted its ban on Twitter after seven months.

Trump has lambasted Zuckerberg for indefinitely suspending his Facebook account after his remarks contributing to the January 6 Capitol insurrection.

In 2021, Meta "indefinitely" suspended Trump's accounts following the January 6 Capitol riots, citing "use of our platform to incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government."

"His decision to use his platform to condone rather than condemn the actions of his supporters at the Capitol building has rightly disturbed people in the US and around the world," Zuckerberg wrote in a post at the time. "We removed these statements yesterday because we judged that their effect -- and likely their intent -- would be to provoke further violence."

Meta in 2023 reinstated Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts.

In the time since the suspension, Facebook's Oversight Board examined the decision.

Eventually, Meta decided to reinstate Trump's account.

It did so while putting "new guardrails in place to deter repeat offenses," including bigger penalties for any violations of Meta's rules.

As of July 2024, the company has lifted its final restrictions on Trump's account in the run-up to the November presidential election.

In July, Meta removed the additional guardrails that remained in place on Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts following their reinstatement.

"In assessing our responsibility to allow political expression, we believe that the American people should be able to hear from the nominees for President on the same basis," Meta said in a statement at the time. "As a result, former President Trump, as the nominee of the Republican Party, will no longer be subject to the heightened suspension penalties."

Meta added that it would "review accounts subject to this protocol on a periodic basis to determine whether heightened suspension penalties for Community Standards violations remain appropriate."

Trump has expressed interest in suing Facebook.

"We should be suing Google and Facebook and all that," he said in a June 2019 interview with Fox Business. "Which, perhaps we will."

Trump made the remarks in the context of fines the European Union has levied against big tech firms like Google for breaching the bloc's antitrust rules.

In 2021, Trump did just that.

Trump filed suit against Facebook, Google, Twitter, and the companies' respective CEOs in July 2021, alleging they unlawfully censor him and other conservatives.

In May 2022, Trump's lawsuit against Twitter was dismissed.

So far in 2024, Zuckerberg has said Trump's reaction to being shot at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, was "badass."

Zuckerberg expressed awe over Trump's response to getting shot.

"Seeing Donald Trump get up after getting shot in the face and pump his fist in the air with the American flag is one of the most badass things I've ever seen in my life," Zuckerberg told Bloomberg of the attempted Trump assassination. "On some level as an American, it's like hard to not get kind of emotional about that spirit and that fight, and I think that that's why a lot of people like the guy."

But the Meta CEO said he wasn't planning to endorse any candidate for president this election cycle.

Trump says Zuckerberg called him to apologize after Meta's AI chatbot denied the assassination attempt happened.

When asked about the shooting, Meta AI, in some widely-circulated instances, claimed Trump wasn't shot.

"He actually apologized; he said they'd made a mistake," Trump said on "Mornings with Maria" on Fox Business. "He actually announced he's not going to support a Democrat because he can't because he respected me for what I did that day."

A spokesperson for Meta declined to comment but didn't dispute that the two had talked. The spokesperson also referred BI to Zuckerberg's statement last month that he wouldn't be endorsing any presidential candidate in 2024.

As for the Meta AI posts about the shooting, Meta said in a July blog post: "In both cases, our systems were working to protect the importance and gravity of this event. And while neither was the result of bias, it was unfortunate and we understand why it could leave people with that impression. That is why we are constantly working to make our products better and will continue to quickly address any issues as they arise."

Trump had threatened to imprison Zuckerberg.

In July, Trump said he'd pursue "Election Fraudsters" if re-elected and that they'd "be sent to prison for long periods of time."

"We already know who you are. DON'T DO IT! ZUCKERBUCKS, be careful!" Trump wrote on Truth Social at the time.

Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, donated roughly $400 million to nonprofits in 2020 to help state and local governments conduct a presidential election during an unprecedented pandemic. Republicans have remained furious over the donations. Meta has repeatedly tried to repair relationships, but many in the GOP remain incensed even though there's no evidence that the funds favored Democrats.

Amid continued criticism of his donations, Zuckerberg announced he would not make a similar contribution ahead of the 2024 election.

Trump mentioned Zuckerberg in his book, "Save America," and didn't mince words.

Politico reported that Trump included a picture of himself with the Meta CEO, with the caption, "He would bring his very nice wife to dinners, be as nice as anyone could be, while always plotting to install shameful Lock Boxes in a true PLOT AGAINST THE PRESIDENT."

It's unclear when Trump wrote the caption, though he appears to be referring to a $420 million contribution Zuckerberg and his wife made to fund election infrastructure in 2020.

Trump changed his mind on a TikTok ban, seemingly because of how it would likely benefit Meta.

While in office, Trump signed an executive order to ban TikTok, which President Biden revoked upon taking office after Trump.

Trump now views a TikTok ban differently.

"Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm for TikTok because you need competition," Trump told Bloomberg Businessweek in July. "If you don't have TikTok, you have Facebook and Instagram, and that's, you know, that's Zuckerberg."

In March, he made similar comments in an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box" and referred to Facebook as "an enemy of the people."

"There's a lot of good and there's a lot of bad with TikTok," he said. "But the thing I don't like is that without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger. And I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people."

Zuckerberg quickly congratulated Trump on his 2024 win.

Like other major CEOs, Zuckerberg quickly praised Trump after it became apparent that the former president had won the 2024 election.

"Congratulations to President Trump on a decisive victory. We have great opportunities ahead of us as a country," Zuckerberg wrote on Threads on November 6. "Looking forward to working with you and your administration."

They shared a pre-holiday meal, and Meta donated $1 million to his inauguration.

Zuckerberg was invited to dine with Trump on Thanksgiving eve, a Meta spokesperson said.

The Meta CEO traveled to Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Palm Beach club nicknamed "The Winter White House." Trump has been holding meetings there with potential cabinet picks and other top staffers as he prepares to retake the White House in January.

The New York Times reported that Zuckerberg "initiated" the meeting.

Some in Trump's orbit are taking notice of Zuckerberg's efforts.

"Mark Zuckerberg has been very clear about his desire to be a supporter of this and a participant in this change that we're seeing all around America, all around the world with this reform movement that Donald Trump is leading," longtime Trump advisor Stephen Miller, who will also return to the White House, told Fox News.

Miller cautioned "we'll see what comes" of Zuckerberg's rapprochement but made clear that the Meta CEO "understands" the change Trump is seeking.

On December 11, The Wall Street Journal reported that Meta had donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund, telling his campaign of the plan ahead of the dinner between the billionaires.

• Elon Musk's politics may seem to be all over the place, but he's demonstrated a consistent pattern.
• He once split his political donations, but now he's one of the largest GOP megadonors.
• Musk is set to have major influence in President-elect Donald Trump's second administration.

Elon Musk has completed his political evolution. Now, he's hoping to leverage his newfound power to disrupt the federal government. 

Musk is now virtually inseparable from President-elect Donald Trump, though he hasn't always been the typical right-wing billionaire.

The Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI CEO's rightward lean is actually the culmination of an evolution that's been playing out over decades.

As the richest man in the world, Musk's stances carry great weight. His power has been on full display since he endorsed Trump shortly after the former president survived his first assassination attempt in July. Musk, unlike some of the uber-wealthy men before him, became one of the biggest megadonors of the 2024 cycle. The Tesla CEO shelled out roughly $119 million to boost Trump, mainly through America PAC, an allied super PAC. Musk even held a series of rallies in Pennsylvania, the biggest swing state of the 2024 race.

Before encouraging others to "take the red pill," Musk cut checks for Democrats ranging from Eric Garcetti (then just a Los Angeles City councilor) to John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee. Like others in business, Musk curried favor by balancing his support between both parties, as his donation history shows on Open Secrets, a nonprofit organization that tracks money in politics. 

Musk would occasionally weigh into politics when it could affect his businesses. But ever since Trump left the White House, the billionaire has increasingly inserted himself into debates over hot-button topics, waged a largely one-way feud with President Joe Biden, and cozied up to Trump in time to help the former president complete his political comeback.

Here's how Musk got here.

The early years: From apartheid-era South Africa to Tesla takeover

Musk, 53, has said very little publicly about apartheid, the system of racial segregation that became the defining issue of his childhood in the Republic of South Africa.

His father, Errol — who inherited wealth from half of an emerald mine he used to own — was elected to Pretoria City Council in 1972, running under the anti-apartheid Progressive Party. The apartheid system was a major motivation behind the younger Musk's decision to leave South Africa for Canada in 1989, according to Ashlee Vance's 2015 biography of the billionaire. 

Growing up in the primarily white suburbs outside of Johannesburg, Musk was also surrounded by censorship and disinformation about the government's treatment of Black people, The New York Times previously reported. His mandatory government service was what first exposed him to the reality of the situation, according to the Times, which spoke to a high school classmate of Musk's about the insulated experience.

"People, at some point, realize that they've been fed a whole lot of crap," Andrew Panzera, who was in Musk's German class, told the Times. "At some point you go, 'Jeepers, we really were indoctrinated to a large extent.'"

Musk's political coming of age during the pre-social media era remains much of a mystery. But then his profile rose with the sale of his company X.com, a competitor to PayPal co-founded by Musk, and his subsequent takeover of Tesla as owner after joining founders Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning with a $6.5 million investment in 2004.

Musk's politics pre-Trump

Musk has long argued for small government and advocated for laissez-faire economic policy, calling the US government the "ultimate corporation" at a CEO summit in December 2020. In terms of donations, he's been in a relative holding pattern from his early years in Silicon Valley up to the present, donating moderate sums of money to politicians from both parties. 

"I get involved in politics as little as possible," Musk said at a 2015 Vanity Fair event, adding that, "There's some amount I have to get involved in," due to his business interests. 

He donated $2,000 each to former President George W. Bush and his 2004 Democratic challenger, former Secretary of State John Kerry. Musk also donated to California Democrats up and down the ballot, but still gave the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) $25,000 ahead of the 2006 midterms.

Another example of Musk hedging his donations came in the buildup to the 2008 presidential primaries, where he contributed to both Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in their contentious race.

Musk didn't donate to either Clinton or Trump during the 2016 cycle.

The billionaire also started out as a heavy Trump skeptic, saying in October 2015 that it would be "embarrassing" if Trump won the GOP nomination, much less the presidency.

"I don't really have strong feelings except that hopefully Trump doesn't get the nomination of the Republican party, because I think that's, yeah … that wouldn't be good," Musk said at the Vanity Fair event. "I think at most he would get the Republican nomination, but I think that would still be a bit embarrassing."

But more recently, Musk has taken a different approach to the Trump-dominated GOP. His latest donations have all been to Republican candidates and causes, with Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware being the last Democrat to receive any Musk donations back in 2020.

Musk's politics during Trump's term

Starting in 2017, Musk's donations began to skew Republican, with the billionaire spending nearly seven times more on GOP campaigns than Democratic ones. He also accepted positions on two of Trump's White House councils and tweeted his support of Rex Tillerson's ultimately successful nomination as Secretary of State.

While Musk previously said he supported Hillary Clinton's campaign promises on the environment and climate change, he defended his decision to attend Trump's business council meetings so he could raise the issue along with the January 2017 travel ban affecting Muslim-majority countries. He then stepped down from the councils in June 2017, citing Trump's decision to leave the Paris Climate Accord.

"Climate change is real," Musk tweeted. "Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world."

Musk largely stopped mentioning Trump from that point until much later in his presidency, when Trump attended a SpaceX launch for NASA in May 2020.

Musk during Biden's presidency

In the last few years, Musk's flirtations with the Trump-led GOP have been ramping up.

In mid-2022, Musk said he voted for a Republican candidate for the first time in a Texas special election, adding that he expected to see a "massive red wave" in the year's midterms. Musk's Texas voter registration did not show party affiliation, but he's argued on X that the Democratic Party has drifted further from the center than the GOP.

Musk tweeted in June 2022 that he was leaning toward supporting Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president. DeSantis joked that he welcomed support from "African Americans," referencing Musk being South African.

Musk also said in July 2022 that Trump shouldn't run for president again and instead just "sail into the sunset."

But the billionaire has since changed his tune. 

After taking control of Twitter, now X, at the end of 2022, Musk reinstated Trump's account on the platform. Musk called Trump's expulsion from the platform following the January 6 riots a "morally bad decision" and "foolish to the extreme."

Musk repeatedly criticized Biden, calling the president a "damp sock puppet" last year and hosting an "anti-Biden brain trust" meeting with Republican billionaires this April. 

And, after Trump's felony conviction in May, Musk went to bat for the MAGA leader. 

"Indeed, great damage was done today to the public's faith in the American legal system," Musk wrote in a post on X.

"If a former President can be criminally convicted over such a trivial matter — motivated by politics, rather than justice — then anyone is at risk of a similar fate," Musk added, echoing Trump's own narrative that the conviction was an act of political persecution.

Even before Musk offered his formal endorsement, Trump had talked about including Musk in his administration. 

While Musk has been more bullish lately about support for the GOP, his history of donations and past comments show that he has tended to position himself wherever he thinks power and influence are heading.

Musk endorsed Trump after the former president survived an assassination attempt 

Musk offered his "full endorsement" of Trump after the former president was shot during a July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. He and other big names in tech connected with the defiant image of a wounded Trump thrusting his fist in the air while Secret Service officers rushed him off stage.

Before the endorsement, Musk had been more cagey about his plans. He hadn't said much about the 2024 election after DeSantis' primary campaign flopped. In March, Musk had said he wasn't donating money to either major presidential candidate. At the time, it looked like Biden and Trump were headed to an all but certain rematch.

Musk's ambivalence didn't last long. According to The Wall Street Journal, in April, the billionaire began working with Texas real estate mogul Richard Weekley on setting up a pro-Trump super PAC.  The Tesla CEO's support did not become public until July.

"It's not meant to be sort of a hyperpartisan PAC," Musk recently told the controversial Canadian professor Jordan Peterson. "The intent is to promote the principles that made America great in the first place."

 Musk gave roughly $119 million to America PAC. In total, he donated more than $132 million to Republican causes ahead of the election, making him one of the biggest megadonors of the cycle.

Musk rallied for Trump across Pennsylvania 

On October 5, Trump returned to Butler for a rally at the scene where he was nearly assassinated in July. The guest list included family members of other victims of the shooting, along with Musk, who wore a black MAGA hat.

"As you can see, I'm not just MAGA," Musk said. "I'm dark MAGA."

He lauded Trump's strength after surviving the assassination attempt. He said President Joe Biden "couldn't climb a flight of stairs" while Trump "was fist pumping after getting shot." Trump sustained an injury to his ear in the July shooting.

"So who do you want representing America?" Musk asked an enthusiastic crowd.

Musk later held a series of town hall-style events across Pennsylvania, the biggest swing state in the race. His super PAC helped Trump's campaign in the state, which he ultimately won.

Trump has named Musk to a major new advisory organization

Trump wasted little time finding a new role for Musk. On November 12, the president-elect named Musk and conservative entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to the "Department of Government Efficiency" or DOGE. Only Congress can create departments, and by design, DOGE will operate mostly outside the federal government.

Musk has ambitious targets for the panel, which is tasked with cutting federal spending by $2 trillion.

Republicans in Congress are lining up to help. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa are leading their respective chambers' coordination with DOGE. 

Musk and Ramaswamy wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that their outside panel would wrap up its work by July 4, 2026.

• Jack Smith wants to end his major criminal case against Donald Trump.
• Trump was facing prosecution over his actions to try to overturn the 2020 election results.
• Smith said Trump's 2024 victory necessitates ending the prosecution before he is sworn in.

In back-to-back filings on Monday, special counsel Jack Smith sought permission from federal judges to abandon both of his cases against President-elect Donald Trump.

Smith said the long-standing Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president necessitated ending his DC-based 2020 election-interference case and the Florida-based case alleging Trump improperly retained classified documents from his first administration.

Smith's move to dismiss both cases likely spells their end, though theoretically either case could be revived in four years.

"The Department's position is that the Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated," Smith wrote in relation to the election-interference case.

"And although the Constitution requires dismissal in this context, consistent with the temporary nature of the immunity afforded a sitting President, it does not require dismissal with prejudice," Smith wrote in the filing.

United States District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan granted Smith's motion Monday afternoon, reiterating the special counsel's statement that the case may not be gone forever.

Trump greeted the news with a parting shot at the "political weaponization" that he said allowed the cases to be filed to begin with.

"The American People re-elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate to Make America Great Again," Steven Cheung wrote in a press statement.

"Today's decision by the DOJ ends the unconstitutional federal cases against President Trump, and is a major victory for the rule of law. The American People and President Trump want an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and we look forward to uniting our country."

Smith said Trump's attorneys agree with his move to dismiss.

• Several of Donald Trump's top picks have recently been lobbyists.
• Susan Wiles, Trump's incoming chief of staff, maintained ties to a lobbying firm until this month.
• Sean Duffy, Trump's pick for Transportation secretary, has lobbied for a group of major airlines.

President-elect Donald Trump is set to rely on a trio of former lobbyists to help implement his agenda to shake up Washington.

Incoming White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, attorney general nominee Pam Bondi, and Transportation secretary nominee Sean Duffy have all been registered lobbyists. According to disclosure filings, Bondi and Wiles did lobbying work as recently as this year, with Duffy working as a lobbyist into 2023.

Their combined clients range from blue chip companies — including Amazon, GM, and Uber — to insurance giants like MetLife and Fidelity National Financial. Wiles and Bondi were also separately registered to lobby for foreign interests, which included one of Nigeria's largest political parties and the Qatarian embassy.

Wiles and Bondi have both once worked for Ballard Partners, once a regional firm in Florida that exploded in popularity due to its ties to Trump world. Earlier this summer, the firm opened an office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

"Part of why you hired Ballard Partners over the last few years is knowing that if Trump is president, the people you are working with stand at having a pretty good chance at having influence in a Trump administration," Jeff Hauser, executive director of the Revolving Door Project, a public interest group, told Business Insider.

Brian Ballard, a major Republican fundraiser and founder of the firm, did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Wiles continued to have K-Street ties as she helped run Trump's campaign.

Wiles, according to The New York Times, did not cut ties to her most recent firm until Trump announced his intention to have her lead his second White House.

Her past work included an effort to get the Trump administration to approve a cooper and gold mine in a sensitive area of Alaska. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, widely viewed as a key vote in the narrowly divided US Senate, and other top state officials have long opposed the Pebble Partnership. The EPA, under Obama, Trump, and Biden's administrations, have repeatedly opposed efforts to mine in the bay, home to one of the world's largest salmon fisheries.

Duffy, who if confirmed would oversee the Federal Aviation Administration, lobbied in 2020 for an airline group that includes American, Delta, and United among its members.

Starting not long after he left Congress in 2019, Duffy lobbied for Polaris, a US auto manufacturer known its off-road and recreational vehicles. Former lawmakers are only restricted from lobbying Congress for a year, though they can immediately lobby the rest of the federal government. According to his disclosures, Duffy's work at times included advising the company on how to navigate EV incentives and tariffs.

ProPublica previously reported that Duffy lobbied White House trade adviser Peter Navarro as Polaris sought to win exemptions to tariffs on the parts it was importing. ProPublica found that Polaris' efforts, including use of Duffy, ultimately led the company to get most of what it wanted.

Bondi's work for Amazon was related to trade and tariff policy, according to disclosures. She also lobbied for General Motors, Uber, Fidelity National, Carnival North America, and even Major League Baseball.

Trump didn't start the revolving door, but the swamp could get larger.

Wiles, Bondi, and Duffy's respective work all fits within the larger revolving door narrative that dominates Washington, even as Trump portrays himself as ready to shake up the status quo.

Ron Klain, President Biden's first chief of staff and longtime adviser, was a lobbyist for Fannie Mae in the early 2000s. Steve Ricchetti, another longtime Biden fixture, spent so much time lobbying that top Obama administration officials tried to prevent then-Vice President Biden from hiring him after the 2008 election. His brother Jeff Ricchetti, who remains a registered lobbyist, saw his business boom after Biden won the 2020 election.

President Barack Obama initially received high praise for his limits on hiring lobbyists who had recently lobbied the federal agency they sought to join, though he granted some limited waivers including to a former top lobbyist to Raytheon. Ultimately, Obama was unable to stop the revolving door, as Politico reported in 2015.

Hauser said what stands out about the Trump team so far is their unorthodox approach to the transition, including refusing to sign formal agreements with the current administration which would include ethics guidelines.

While Trump, like Obama and Biden, issued an ethics-related executive order after taking office in 2017, Hauser isn't convinced it will happen again.

"Given the aversion of his transition to the ethics process of the transition, I think it's an open question whether or not he is going to make his appointees sign additional ethics pledges in office this time," Hauser said.

• President-elect Donald Trump is still weighing who should be his next Treasury secretary.
• Trump named one of the early frontrunners, Howard Lutnick, to another cabinet post.
• With Lutnick out of contention, Trump appears to be nearing a final decision.

President-elect Donald Trump has narrowed the field for his Treasury secretary pick.

Two Wall Street stalwarts, Scott Bessent and Howard Lutnick, were widely seen as the frontrunners. On Tuesday, Trump announced that Lutnick would lead the Commerce Department instead. It likely means that the president-elect is narrowing down his list for his last major cabinet pick.

Two weeks after securing his return to the White House, Trump already has nominees in place for the other major cabinet positions. He is tapping Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida to lead the State Department, former Fox News host Pete Hegseth to command the Pentagon, and Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida to be the next attorney general. Trump's blistering pace of nominations has slowed when selecting his top economic official.

Before Lutnick was taken out of the running, The New York Times reported that Trump had grown irritated with the billionaire's jockeying to get the nomination.

Amid the mostly private knife fighting, the Times reported that Trump has widened the search to include two new prospects: Kevin Warsh and Marc Rowan.

In response to questions about president-elect's process, Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Trump-Vance Transition, said decisions about the next Trump administration will be "announced by him when they are made."

Here are the top picks Trump is reportedly now considering for Treasury secretary.

Kevin Warsh

Warsh, 54, is a former Morgan Stanley banker and one of the newer contenders.

He was an economic advisor to President George W. Bush from 2002 to 2006 and a governor of the Federal Reserve Board from 2006 to 2011. During the latter period, Warsh was a central figure in shaping the nation's response to the 2007-2008 financial crisis, working to rescue major ailing banks.

More recently, he's been working on Trump's transition team, helping with economic policy and personnel, according to The Journal.

Warsh appears to have been in the president-elect's good graces for several years. Axios reported that Trump praised Warsh as a "really handsome guy" when the two met in 2017 at the White House.

Trump had been floating Warsh that year as a frontrunner for Fed chair. He eventually picked Jerome Powell for the role.

Warsh is often seen as a financial hawk, saying in October that he believed the Fed "doesn't seem to have a serious theory of inflation" and writing in July that it moved too slowly to curb surging prices.

In his July commentary, he blamed inflation on "irresponsible government spending and excessive money printing." Warsh has also been critical of America's burgeoning debt.

Marc Rowan

Rowan, 62, is a billionaire investor who leads Apollo Global Management, which he cofounded in the 1990s. It now has nearly $700 billion in assets under management. Apollo recently announced that it plans to double its assets under management to $1.5 trillion by 2029.

The Journal and the Times reported that Rowan, like Warsh, is one of Trump's new candidates.

The Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that while the billionaire's aides are in touch with Trump, Rowan isn't actively trying to secure the Treasury Secretary role and hasn't spoken to Trump personally about such a position.

But the Times also wrote that Trump has been telling his staff that he's impressed with Rowan, who Bloomberg estimates to be worth $10.9 billion.

Rowan has said that US economic concerns must be fixed by what he called "wholesale change," which he said Trump and his new administration would bring.

That's broadly in line with how Trump has framed his Cabinet picks, as key movers who will upset the status quo and push fresh reform.

Rowan has kept a relatively low profile on his views about government policy, though he recently voiced concerns that the Fed could overstimulate the economy with interest rate cuts.

Scott Bessent

Bessent, 62, was one of the original frontrunners for Trump's Treasury Secretary.

His involvement emerged early last week when Reuters reported that the founder of macro investment firm Key Square Capital Management had been meeting with Trump at the Mar-a-Lago resort.

Bessent worked for the liberal philanthropist George Soros from 1991 to 2015, making a name for himself by betting big against the British pound, which collapsed in 1992, and then against the Japanese yen as it weakened in 2013.

He left Soros' firm in 2015 to start Key Square, and The Journal reported that he hasn't spoken to the billionaire in years.

Bessent has been vocal in his support for Trump, telling Breitbart in August that Vice President Kamala Harris would have crashed the economy if she was president.

He wrote an opinion column just after the election, praising Trump for a stock market rally after his win and knocking 23 Nobel Prize-winning economists for predicting that the president-elect's agenda would be "counterproductive."

The investor laid out his ideas for the economy in his written piece, calling for the Trump administration to reduce government borrowing and to reform President Joe Biden's policies for investment in a "quixotic energy transition."

Bessent has advocated for an economy that's more reliant on tariffs and weaned off income tax, saying the move would restore America's position on the world stage and help curb China's growth.

However, The Journal reported that some conservatives in Trump's circle were concerned about Bessent's past experience working for Soros, who has attracted the ire of the MAGA base for his support of left-leaning causes.

Howard Lutnick — out of the running

The 63-year-old Cantor Fitzgerald CEO is Trump's pick to lead the Commerce Department.

In announcing Lutnick's nomination, the president-elect praised the financial services executive's work on shaping his transition. Lutnick has been serving as Trump's transition cochair with Linda McMahon, of WWE fame. He's been a friend of the president-elect for decades, repeatedly holding fundraisers for Trump.

"Howard has created the most sophisticated process and system to assist us in creating the greatest Administration America has ever seen," Trump said in a statement released by his transition team.

Lutnick has aligned himself closely with Trump's rhetoric. In late October, he expressed a vision for the US economy, describing America in the year 1900 to a crowd at Madison Square Garden, saying it was a time when the "economy was rocking."

"We had no income tax, and all we had was tariffs," he said to a cheering stadium.

As Commerce Secretary, Lutnick will play a big role in shaping Trump's tariff policies.

Update: November 19, 2024 — This story has been updated with Trump's choice of Howard Lutnick for Commerce Secretary.

• Trump has nominated Howard Lutnick for commerce secretary.
• It's a pivotal pick given that economic concerns helped fuel Trump's win.
• Lutnick had been viewed as a frontrunner for the position of treasury secretary.

President-elect Donald Trump has nominated billionaire finance executive Howard Lutnick as his next commerce secretary.

"He will lead our Tariff and Trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative," Trump said in a statement first posted on Truth Social and later released by his transition team.

"Howard has created the most sophisticated process and system to assist us in creating the greatest Administration America has ever seen," Trump said.

Lutnick, who is Trump's transition team cochair alongside the WWE chief Linda McMahon, had been seen as a frontrunner for the treasury secretary position.

Lutnick even garnered the support of Elon Musk for the role. Despite some powerful backing, Lutnick's private jockeying for the role wore on those around Trump, according to multiple reports.

Now, with Lutnick out of the picture, Trump is likely nearing his final decision for his last major Cabinet appointment.

Commerce secretary will be a pivotal role in the Trump administration, given economic concerns played a key role in fueling Trump's victory.

As the chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, Lutnick is a New York financial powerhouse. He's known Trump for decades and has hosted fundraisers for the president-elect and appeared on TV as a surrogate.

He spoke onstage at Trump's Madison Square Garden rally, touting the tariffs of yesteryear and Musk's forthcoming DOGE initiative alongside the Tesla billionaire.

Lutnick is known for steering Cantor Fitzgerald through the September 11, 2002, terrorist attacks.

The firm's offices were located at the top of one of the World Trade Center towers, and roughly two-thirds of its workforce was killed that day. It lost more workers on 9/11 than any other company.

Lutnick's brother was killed in the attack, but Lutnick survived because he happened to be taking his son to school that morning.