ELON MUSK

Indpendent UK -  The race to fill Trump’s remaining Cabinet positions fell under the shadow of the newest member of the president-elect’s entourage: Elon Musk. The Twitter/X CEO — who now travels with Trump frequently and hangs around Mar-a-Lago when not — is using his massive platform and his access to the president-elect in an attempt to shape the incoming administration.

On Saturday, his latest effort took form as he endorsed Howard Lutnick, Trump’s transition team co-chair, for the position of Treasury Secretary. Lutnick’s key competitor for the job, Scott Bessent, had auditioned for the job just a day prior. That makes the timing of Musk’s endorsement look extremely convenient.

And there’s more. CNN reports Musk has been “weighing in on staffing decisions – making clear his preference for certain roles”. And Axios reported on Monday about a blow-up between Musk and Boris Epshteyn, one of the president-elect’s longtime close advisers. According to the news outlet, Musk angrily accused the Trump loyalist of leaking to the media about other Cabinet nominations and accused Epshteyn of having too much influence over Trump. What was described as a “huge explosion” played out in front of Mar-a-Lago guests and club members, according to the report.

New Republic - Elon Musk is starting to clash with Donald Trump’s team on some of the president-elect’s key issues, especially tariffs. The Washington Post reports that Musk is trying to persuade Trump regarding Cabinet picks and economic policy, drawing the ire of the president-elect’s other advisers. On Saturday, Musk praised Argentine President Javier Milei in a post on X for cutting tariffs in his country. The central pillar of Trump’s economic program is raising tariffs. 

In another post later on Saturday, Musk endorsed Howard Lutnick, co-chair of Trump’s transition team and CEO of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, for the post of treasury secretary over hedge fund manager Scott Bessent, who is in the running for the position. Both posts from Musk aren’t going over well with the rest of Trump’s team. 

“People are not happy,” one person in contact with campaign officials told the Post anonymously. Musk’s posts seemed to reflect that the tech CEO and world’s richest man was acting like a “co-president” and beginning to overstep his role, the person added.