Elon Musk listens as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump addresses a House Republicans Conference meeting at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill on November 13, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Andrew Harnik | Getty Images
Elon Musk on Wednesday joined President-elect Donald Trump for his first post-election meeting with the House Republican conference in Washington, D.C., an adviser to Trump told NBC News. Trump and Musk flew to the nation’s capital together from Florida aboard Trump’s plane.
The development is the latest example of how Musk, the world’s richest man and one of the top backers of Trump’s winning campaign, has grown his presence and influence in the future president’s orbit.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has spent the last week in Palm Beach, where Trump, from his resort home Mar-a-Lago, has been assembling his second administration. Musk has been alongside Trump in nearly every meeting, The New York Times reported.
On Tuesday evening, Trump announced that “the Great Elon Musk” and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy would lead an outside commission called the “Department of Government Efficiency,” which aims to “dismantle Government Bureaucracy” and cut regulations.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump arrives prior to meeting with President Joe Biden and members of Congress in Washington, at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, U.S., November 13, 2024.
Brian Snyder | Reuters
The announcement included a quote from Musk: “This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people!”
Wednesday’s meeting comes as the Republican Party is slated to take power of not only the White House but also the Senate, after a national shift to the right in the Nov. 5 elections powered GOP candidates to flip several Democrat-held held seats.
While NBC has not made an official call on which party will control the House in the next Congress, Republicans appear more likely to keep their majority.
House Republicans are scheduled to hold leadership elections behind closed doors on Wednesday. They are expected to nominate Mike Johnson, R-La., to continue as Speaker of the House in the 119th Congress.
Trump on Wednesday is also slated to meet with President Joe Biden at the White House.
The meeting, a gesture that bolsters the tradition of a peaceful transfer of power, did not occur when Biden beat then-President Trump in the 2020 election. Instead, Trump refused to concede the race and sought to overturn his Electoral College loss.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee in the 2024 race, conceded on the day after the election.
Trump’s entourage for Wednesday’s trip will not include former first lady Melania Trump. An official X account representing her office confirmed her absence, but wrote that “Her husband’s return to the Oval Office to commence the transition process is encouraging, and she wishes him great success.”
The post, without adding specific details, added, “In this instance, several unnamed sources in the media continue to provide false, misleading, and inaccurate information. Be discerning with your source of news.”
