Johnson was "disappointed" by Musk's big, beautiful bill blowup
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), then-President-elect Donald Trump, Elon Musk and then-Vice President-elect JD Vance attend the the Army-Navy football game on December 14, 2024, in Landover, Maryland. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Sunday that Elon Musk's online blowup against President Trump and his signature big, beautiful bill was disappointing but brushed off questions about the impact of the billionaire's criticism.
Why it matters: Musk's grievances against the president's signature tax-and-spending package have been echoed by some GOP fiscal hawks on Capitol Hill.
- Senators last week strategized with Trump and other administration officials on how to cut spending further than the House-passed legislation did.
Driving the news: Johnson said on ABC's "This Week" that he hasn't spoken to Musk on the phone since Monday of last week, before the Trump-Musk alliance publicly exploded on Thursday.
- "We were disappointed, surprised," Johnson said. "I'd had a lot of great interaction, discussion with him about the one big, beautiful bill to make sure he had accurate information because I was concerned that people were telling him things that just simply weren't true."
- Musk on Thursday posted that he never saw the bill, denying Trump's claim that he was familiar with the inner workings of the legislation.
Johnson told ABC's Jon Karl that Musk had expressed in text messages that his primary concern was about spending in the legislation.
- He added that there have been "almost no calls" to GOP lawmakers' offices, despite Musk urging his 220 million followers to call their representatives over the bill.
What he's saying: "I didn't go out to craft a piece of legislation to please the richest man in the world," Johnson said. "What we're trying to do is help hard-working Americans who are trying to provide for their families and make ends meet."
- Johnson declined to elaborate on Trump's threat to cut Musk's government contracts.
- "What I'm trying to do is make sure that all of this gets resolved quickly," he said. "That we get the one big, beautiful bill done and then hopefully these two titans can reconcile."
Zoom out: But Trump, in a phone interview with NBC News' Kristen Welker, said he had no desire to mend his relationship with Musk following the explosive falling out.
- Trump also told NBC on Saturday that there would be "serious consequences" if Musk started funding Democratic candidates.
- Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) sidestepped Trump's comment when asked about it on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday, saying, "We have a lot of social media drama going on between two of the most active social media individuals in the world ... back and forth on that. And I know a lot of people are focused on that."
Friction point: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" that Trump has not spoken to Musk since the spat and that she doesn't believe he intends to.
- "We were all hoping for the best for Elon," she said. "And I think it's unfortunate that now that he's gone back to his companies, he is lambasting this bill that he was very much supportive of by all accounts."
Go deeper: Musk has money, but Trump has power
Editor's note: This story has been updated with comments from Karoline Leavitt.
