WASHINGTON — SpaceX founder and President Donald Trump’s chief government efficiency liaison Elon Musk met with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday at the Pentagon, saying he was ready to do “anything that could be helpful.”
According to a CNN video of the two men exiting their meeting, Musk refused to answer questions as to whether he received a classified briefing on China as part of the visit. Hegseth had said late Thursday that he would be meeting with Musk to discuss “innovation, efficiencies & smarter production.”
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The Pentagon is in the middle of identifying personnel and programs it can cut to save between 5% and 8% of its budget, but lawmakers and government watchdogs have questioned whether Musk should have any role in decisions at the Pentagon, where his company SpaceX receives billions of dollars in federal contracs.
Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has played an integral role in the Trump administration’s push to dramatically reduce the size of the government. Musk has faced intense blowback from some lawmakers and voters for his chainsaw-wielding approach to laying off workers and slashing programs, although the Republican president’s supporters have hailed it.
A senior defense official told reporters Tuesday that roughly 50,000 to 60,000 civilian jobs will be cut in the Defense Department.
In a post on Musk’s X platform, Hegseth emphasized that “this is NOT a meeting about ‘top secret China war plans,’” denying a newspaper report.