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.
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During their interview with Fox, host Sean Hannity pointed out that Trump 'might not like' the fact that Musk is richer than him.
Trump quipped back by saying that was 'why [he] became president', before going on to talk about how he came to hire Musk.
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."
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Accepting Trump's backhanded compliment, Musk responded: "Well thanks for having me. I'm just trying to be useful here."
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'.
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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."
Topics: Elon Musk, Donald Trump, Politics, Business, Technology
Emily Brown