Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday about President Donald Trump’s possible tension with Elon Musk over his opposition to the “big, beautiful bill.”
Musk called the large spending and tax package a “disgusting abomination” in a Tuesday X post and accused every congressman who voted for it of knowing they “did wrong.” When Doocy quoted the post, Leavitt said that Trump already knew where the Tesla CEO stood on the legislation and will continue pushing to get it passed.
“How mad do you think President Trump is gonna be when he finds out that Elon Musk said, ‘I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.’”
“The president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill. It doesn’t change the president’s opinion. This is one big, beautiful bill and he’s sticking to it,” Leavitt said.
The president is encouraging senators to vote for the bill, which includes a $3.8 trillion tax cut, a no tax on tips or overtime policy and allocates around $4.1 billion toward hiring more Border Patrol agents. Leavitt said during a May 22 briefing that Trump supports a primary challenge against Republican Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Warren Davidson of Ohio for voting against the bill in the House.
The House passed the package on May 22, though several Senate Republicans have warned they will not vote in favor of it in its current form due to concerns over the federal deficit. Among these senators are Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Rick Scott of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah, who stated that the bill fails to address excessive government spending.
Paul said that he will likely vote for the bill if a provision on raising the debt ceiling is removed. Trump has given Senate Republicans the go-ahead as of May 26 to make major changes to the bill as congressional Republicans move swiftly to meet the White House’s July 4th deadline to pass the legislation.
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