Trump ‘green lit’ Elon Musk’s anti-spending bill posts on X: report

Trump, in a phone call with NBC News, revealed that he had spoken to Musk before the tech billionaire posted to X on Wednesday which sparked heavy backlash against the spending bill. “I told him that if he agrees with me, that he could put out a statement,” Trump said when asked about the posts. “He’s looking at things from a cost standpoint." Trump commented that their views on cost were in line and "very much on track."

In response to a continuing resolution spending package in Congress, Musk posted to X on Wednesday morning, "This bill should not pass." He then followed up, writing in a post with a photograph of the 1,500+ page bill, "Ever seen a bigger piece of pork?" He followed those posts up with multiple other ones criticizing the spending package throughout the day.

In a call on Wednesday, Trump also told GOP lawmakers that they needed to raise the debt ceiling for how much the government can borrow. The debt ceiling, which sets the limit that the government can borrow, has been raised 78 times since 1960, per the Department of the Treasury.

In the phone call with NBC, Trump also called to get rid of it entirely. He told reporters that getting rid of the debt ceiling is the "smartest thing it [Congress] could do," and added, "I would support that entirely."

"The Democrats have said they want to get rid of it. If they want to get rid of it, I would lead the charge,” Trump told the outlet. Progressive Democrats, such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren have taken similar positions about the debt ceiling. In light of Trump's comments, Warren announced that she agreed with the President-elect and wrote, "I agree with President-elect Trump that Congress should terminate the debt limit and never again govern by hostage taking."

“If there’s going to be a shutdown, we’re going to start it with a Democratic president," Trump said when asked about the upcoming budget deadline for the government. He suggested that if there is a shutdown, it will happen before he takes office.

When he was asked about his confidence in House Speaker Mike Johnson, who pushed for the spending deal that tanked on Wednesday after pushback from Elon Musk and ultimately Trump himself, the president-elect told reporters, "We’ll see. [The funding deal] they had yesterday was unacceptable. In many ways it was unacceptable. It's a Democrat trap."