“He will not become president, I can tell you that,” Mr. Trump said at a Republican conference in Arizona’s capital Phoenix, according to AFP.
“Do you know why he can’t? He was not born in this country,” Mr. Trump said about billionaire Musk, owner of two companies Tesla and SpaceX.
US President-elect Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk watched SpaceX’s 6th Starship rocket launch in Texas on November 19
Mr. Musk was born in South Africa. The US Constitution stipulates that a president must be a natural-born citizen of the country.
When talking about whether or not to cede the presidency to Mr. Musk, Mr. Trump also emphasized: “No, that will not happen.” There is currently no information about Mr. Musk’s reaction.
Mr. Trump made the above statement in response to criticism, especially from Democrats, because of the large role that Mr. Musk will play in the upcoming US administration. Mr. Musk was chosen by President-elect Trump to lead the Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE), a new agency in charge of reforming the government’s relations apparatus.
Mr Musk’s influence has become a focus of Democratic attacks, with questions raised about how an unelected citizen can wield so much power.
Democrats have described billionaire Musk as an unstable, paranoid person and hope that calling him “President Musk” will anger Mr. Trump, according to AFP.
Democratic Congressman Jim McGovern said “at least we know who’s responsible.” “He is the president and Mr. Trump is now the vice president,” Mr. McGovern said.
There is even growing anger among Republicans after Mr. Musk criticized a government spending proposal last week, according to AFP.
Along with Mr. Trump, Mr. Musk helped pressure Republican lawmakers to abandon a spending bill that they had spent a lot of effort agreeing with Democratic lawmakers. The bill’s abandonment has put the US government at risk of a partial shutdown just days before Christmas.
Finally, the US Congress reached an agreement on the night of December 20 and early morning of December 21, helping to avoid a mass shutdown of government services.
