The man who stood shoulder to shoulder with Mr. Trump in the "chess game" of cabinet selection
Báo Dân trí•11/11/2024
(Dan Tri) - Billionaire Elon Musk is said to have a great influence on President-elect Donald Trump's selection of personnel for the new administration.
President-elect Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk (Photo: AFP).
Over the past few days, Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort has been hosting a steady stream of guests, divided into two groups: those seeking positions in the president-elect’s new administration and those trying to influence Trump’s selection of senior staff. CNN, citing multiple sources, reported that the most prominent and influential figure in the selection of staff for President-elect Donald Trump’s new administration is Elon Musk. The tech billionaire has been at the resort in Palm Beach, Florida, almost every day since Trump won the election last week, dining with the president-elect on the patio some evenings and hanging out with the Trump family at the golf course. Musk has also been in the room with Trump when many world leaders called the president-elect. He has also reviewed Trump’s staffing decisions, and the SpaceX and Tesla boss has even made his preferences clear for certain positions. Musk was with Trump at Mar-a-Lago when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called to congratulate the president-elect after the election, a source said. Trump put the call on speakerphone and Zelensky thanked Musk for helping provide communications to Ukraine through the billionaire's Starlink system. Musk is not only close to Trump but also to billionaire Howard Lutnick, CEO of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, who is in charge of Trump's transition staff. Sources have described Trump as being very close to Musk. "We have to protect our talent, we don't have that many," Trump said in his victory speech. A source said Musk may not take a position in the Trump administration. However, the billionaire still has a lot of influence and can influence from the outside. Both Trump and Musk have publicly suggested the billionaire lead an efficiency commission to cut federal spending. But one source said he doesn’t even want a full-time position in Trump’s new administration. Instead, a more likely scenario is that Musk would be appointed to a high-level committee, where he would still have enormous access but wouldn’t have to abide by government ethics rules that would require him to divest or put assets in a trust to avoid conflicts of interest. As of mid-October, Musk had donated nearly $119 million to a political action committee he formed to support Trump, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Musk has also appeared with Trump at rallies and participated in an interview with Trump on X, his social media platform.
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