Since Republican candidate Donald Trump won the White House race last week, billionaire Elon Musk has been present almost daily at the Mar-a-Lago resort, occasionally dining and spending time with the former president’s family.
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Caption: Billionaire Elon Musk appears alongside former President Donald Trump at a campaign event in Pennsylvania on October 5, 2024. Photo: The Nation/Getty Images
According to multiple sources, the world’s richest man has wielded significant influence over Trump’s decisions in forming a new cabinet.
Additionally, the Tesla CEO has been present alongside Trump as world leaders called to congratulate the Republican candidate on his victory. Specifically, Musk was with former President Trump during a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. According to a close source, Trump put the call on speaker, and President Zelensky thanked Musk for helping Ukraine maintain communications via Musk’s Starlink internet service.
Not only close to the former president, Musk also has a particularly close relationship with billionaire Howard Lutnick, CEO of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, who is managing personnel for Trump’s transition team.
For his part, Trump has also lavished praise on the head of social media platform X.
“We must protect our geniuses; we don’t have many like them,” said President-elect Trump, referring to Musk during his victory speech early on November 6.
According to another close source, although Musk is not expected to hold an official position in Trump’s future administration, he will likely influence from the outside.
Previously, during the campaign, former President Trump confirmed that he would assign Musk an “influential” role in the government if he won the presidency. However, Trump noted that Musk “doesn’t want to become a secretary of anything” and prefers to focus on finding ways to reduce wasteful government spending.
Observers suggest that Musk may be appointed to a high-level advisory committee, giving him considerable access to government decision-making without being subject to government ethics rules, which would require him to divest or place assets in a trust to avoid conflicts of interest.
According to Federal Election Commission records, as of mid-October, Elon Musk had donated nearly $119 million to a political action committee he created to support President-elect Trump. He frequently appeared with Trump at campaign rallies and hosted an interview with the Republican candidate on the social platform X.
Musk’s bet on Trump’s victory brought almost immediate returns. A day after the election, investors pushed Tesla’s stock up nearly 15%, increasing the value of Musk’s 411 million Tesla shares by over $15 billion, marking a two-year high for Tesla stock overall.
