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Donald Trump admits he ‘settled’ on Elon Musk after searching for ‘somebody smarter’

Home> Celebrity> News

Published 12:29 19 Feb 2025 GMT

Donald Trump admits he ‘settled’ on Elon Musk after searching for ‘somebody smarter’

The POTUS shared his thoughts behind hiring Musk as the pair spoke in a new interview

Emily Brown

Emily Brown

Donald Trump explained he was 'searching for somebody smarter' to collaborate with him during his time in the White House before he 'settled' on the world's richest man, Elon Musk.

The POTUS made his admission during an interview with Fox News this week, when he was joined by Musk after it was revealed he had chosen the SpaceX CEO to work on the 'department of government efficiency' - otherwise known as DOGE.

Trump announced at the time that Musk would work from outside the government to offer 'advice and guidance', and 'pave the way for [his] administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies'.

Now, Trump has opened up about how Musk came to land the role - and admitted he was looking for other candidates first.

During their interview with Fox, host Sean Hannity pointed out that Trump 'might not like' the fact that Musk is richer than him.

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Trump quipped back by saying that was 'why [he] became president', before going on to talk about how he came to hire Musk.

Musk was hired amid the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
Musk was hired amid the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

He said: "He's great, you know I wanted to find somebody smarter than him. I searched all over, I just couldn't do it. I couldn't find anyone smarter so we had - for the country. So we settled on this guy."

Accepting Trump's backhanded compliment, Musk responded: "Well thanks for having me. I'm just trying to be useful here."

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Trump's admission comes as a court filing from the White House stated this week that Musk 'has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself'.

In the declaration, filed by Joshua Fisher, the director of the White House’s Office of Administration, Musk's title was listed as 'senior adviser to the president', Politico reports.

Earlier in the interview, Trump explained he wanted somebody 'really smart' to work with 'in terms of the country'.

Trump claimed Musk was the 'smartest' he could find (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Trump claimed Musk was the 'smartest' he could find (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

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"He doesn't talk about it - he's actually a very good businessman," Trump said of Musk, before suggesting that Musk helps ensure Trump's executive orders get carried out.

Trump explained: "This is probably true for all presidents, you write an executive order and you think it's done. You send it out, it doesn't get done, it doesn't get implemented [...] what he does and he takes it, and with his 100 geniuses [...] he gets it done."

After Hannity questioned whether Musk was essentially Trump's 'tech support', Trump then responded: "He's much more than that."

Featured Image Credit: Fox News

Topics: Elon Musk, Donald Trump, Politics, Business, Technology

Emily Brown
Emily Brown

Emily Brown is UNILAD Editorial Lead at LADbible Group. She first began delivering news when she was just 11 years old - with a paper route - before graduating with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University. Emily joined UNILAD in 2018 to cover breaking news, trending stories and longer form features. She went on to become Community Desk Lead, commissioning and writing human interest stories from across the globe, before moving to the role of Editorial Lead. Emily now works alongside the UNILAD Editor to ensure the page delivers accurate, interesting and high quality content.

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