Elon Musk denies ‘hostile takeover’ of US government

Elon Musk has denied claims that he is leading a “hostile takeover” of the United States government, during an extraordinary joint press conference held with President Trump at the White House.

READ MORE: https://www.thetimes.com/us/am....erican-politics/arti

Musk, the billionaire technology entrepreneur, mounted a defence of his work leading the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), taking questions from the US media for the first time since Trump’s inauguration.

“The people voted for major government reform and that’s what the people are going to get,” he said, wearing a black Make America Great Again cap. “That’s what democracy is all about.”

Musk, who was appointed by Trump to lead the cost-cutting department rather than being elected for the role, described the “unelected” bureaucracy as subverting the “will of the people”.

In the first few weeks of Trump’s presidency, Musk has led an effort to dismantle federal agencies, buying out hundreds of thousands of workers from their jobs. He said he was talking to the president “almost every day” to make sure his team is following his wishes.

Read the best of our journalism: https://www.thetimes.com/
Subscribe to The Times and The Sunday Times YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/subscr....iption_center?add_us
Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/timesandsundaytimes/
Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thetimes
Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetimes/

#trump #elonmusk #doge #whitehouse