Key takeaways from Trump and Musk's "Hannity" interview
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Elon Musk and President Trump in the Oval Office of the White House earlier this month. Photo: Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
President Trump and Elon Musk defended the DOGE-led overhaul of the federal workforce and agencies during an interview on Fox News' "Hannity" that aired on Tuesday night.
The big picture: The pair praised each other during the interview as they pushed back against Democrats' criticism of DOGE, Trump declared "inflation is back" and the president revealed how much X paid him to settle a lawsuit, while Fox News' Sean Hannity noted: " I feel like I'm interviewing two brothers."
Trump says X paid him $10 million to settle lawsuit
Trump said in the interview that was pre-taped on Tuesday night that Musk "got a big discount" as X settled the lawsuit over the platform — then known as Twitter — permanently suspending his account after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
- "It's very low. I was looking to get much more money than that," Trump said as Musk sat beside him.
- Musk said he "left it up to the lawyers and the team running Twitter."
"Inflation's back. ... I had nothing to do with that"
Trump acknowledged inflation concerns, following The Consumer Price Index rising 3% in the year through January, compared to the 2.9% increase in December. Economists warn higher U.S. inflation is a risk of his global tariffs drive.
- "I'm only here for two and a half weeks. Inflation is back," Trump said.
- "Inflation's back and they said, 'Oh, Trump.' I had nothing to do with it. These people have run the country," he said, in an apparent reference to the Biden administration. "They spent money like nobody's ever spent."
Trump and Musk on conflict of interest concerns
Hannity raised the matter of potential conflicts of interest surrounding government contracts that Musk's companies SpaceX and Tesla have.
- Trump said Musk "won't be involved," while the world's richest person said: "I'll recuse myself if it is."
Defending criticism of DOGE
With DOGE's move to cut costs and the Trump administration's related mass firings of federal workers triggering a wave of lawsuits and nationwide protests, Hannity raised criticism of the drive.
- "This is what you get for it from the Democrats ... nobody voted for Elon. Well, nobody voted for any of your cabinet nominees, OK? People are dying because of DOGE cuts," Hannity said.
- "I'll give you a chance to respond to that. What DOGE is doing is illegal. Elon Musk is street vernacular for a male body part. It's a constitutional crisis," he added.
- Musk responded: "Why are they reacting like this?"
- He said all they're "really trying to do here is restore the will of the people through the president" and "what we're finding is that there's an unelected bureaucracy."
DOGE's $1 trillion goal
Musk in January pledged to slash at least $2 trillion from the federal budget, before later saying: "If we try for $2 trillion, we've got a good shot at getting $1 (trillion)."
- During the "Hannity" interview, he said: "The overall goal is to try to get $1 trillion out of the deficit. And if the deficit is not brought under control, America will go bankrupt."
- Trump said Musk, the face of DOGE, had identified 1% in waste, fraud and abuse, which he called "massive" and "huge money," and said he thinks the billionaire is "going to find $1 trillion."
Go deeper: Legal challenges to DOGE's data access hinge on outdated laws
Editor's note: This article has been updated with more details from the interview.
