Image credit: US government
US presidential candidate Donald Trump said he would appoint Elon Musk to head a government efficiency commission if he is elected to office in November.
“At the suggestion of Elon Musk, who has given me his complete and total endorsement… I will create a government efficiency commission tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and making recommendations for drastic reforms,” Trump told the Economic Club of New York.
He said Musk had “agreed to head the task force”, which would save “trillions of dollars”.
Trump’s advisers have discussed such a commission for months and Musk expressed interest in it during an interview with Trump that he conducted on his social media platform X last month.
“This commission will develop an action plan to totally eliminate fraud and improper payments within six months,” Trump said.
At the same event Trump reiterated an earlier pledge to make the US “the world capital for crypto and Bitcoin”.
Following Trump’s remarks, Musk wrote on X: “I look forward to serving America if the opportunity arises. No pay, no title, no recognition is needed.”
During the X interview Musk pitched himself for a role in the prospective efficiency commission.
“I think it would be great to just have a government efficiency commission that takes a look at these things and just ensures that the taxpayer money, the taxpayers hard-earned money is spent in a good way. I’d be happy to help out on such a commission,” he said.
Musk has spent heavily to support Trump and has supported him on X as well since endorsing the former president after an assassination attempt in July.
In 2020 he supported Trump rival Joe Biden, and shortly before the 2016 election he told CNBC that he felt Trump was “not the right guy” as he “doesn’t seem to have the sort of character that reflects well on the United States”.
Musk has criticised various regulators, including the SEC, which he sued over a settlement that restricted what he was allowed to say in online posts.
He lost that case and the US Supreme Court said in April it would not hear an appeal.
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