Bessent Gives Blunt Response to Elon Musk Attacks on Trump Bill

Treasury Secretary gave a blunt reply when asked to respond to Elon Musk's criticism of the One, Big, Beautiful Bill.

"I admire Elon's leadership on rockets. I will take care of the finances," Bessent told Fox & Friends on Tuesday morning.

Musk has attacked the "porky" bill—the tax-cutting centerpiece of President Donald Trump's domestic agenda—saying the trillions of dollars of additional federal debt push the U.S. toward bankruptcy.

He said he would form a new America Party that would pursue a balanced federal budget, and threatened to intervene in the primaries of Congressional Republicans who support spending cuts, but voted for the bill, to oust them from office.

Bessent and Musk, who until May spearheaded the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), clashed in the White House.

Musk Slams Trump Bill

Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, was a close ally of Trump until the two had a dramatic and public falling out over the bill.

The bill, headed to the House after passing the Senate with a deadline to hit the president's desk by July 4, is a mix of tax cuts and more money for Trump's domestic priorities, such as border security, partly paid for by cuts to medical and food assistance programs.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the bill will add around $3.3 trillion to the deficit over the coming decades.

"It is obvious with the insane spending of this bill, which increases the debt ceiling by a record FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS that we live in a one-party country – the PORKY PIG PARTY!!" Musk posted to his X platform on Monday, ahead of the Senate's vote on the bill.

"Time for a new political party that actually cares about the people."

Musk also fired a warning to Republicans in Congress: "Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!

"And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth."

Trump on Deporting Musk

Trump, asked about deporting Musk as a feud between the two former allies reignited, replied: "I don't know, we'll have to take a look."

Musk was born in South Africa and became a naturalized United States citizen more than two decades ago, he says lawfully, meaning he could not be deported unless it emerged that he had obtained citizenship through fraud or misrepresentation.

"We might have to put DOGE on Elon," Trump told reporters on Tuesday morning, referring to the Department of Government Efficiency, which Musk spearheaded at the White House until May, tasked with cutting fraud and waste in federal spending.

Trump said that "DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon," pointing to the subsidies and contracts Musk's businesses have from the federal government.