Quotes
He’s there for DOGE, not there for China
President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office while Hegseth stood beside the seated president after the meeting If there's anything I can do to be helpful, I would like us to have a good outcome here,
There is no legitimate national security or other rationale for providing this information to Mr. Musk,
two Democratic senators, Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Duckworth, wrote in a letter to Hegseth, demanding details on what information was shared with Musk and why There was no war plans, no Chinese war plans. There was no secret plans,
Elon Musk is a patriotic American and I appreciate him,
Hegseth said, without elaborating on what the two discussed I’ve been here before, you know,
Musk quipped, as he and Hegseth laughed and began walking down the stairs Why would I tell you?”
Asked by the New York Times after Musk’s departure what the two discussed, Hegseth said It’s always a great meeting.”
Asked by CNN about the meeting as Musk and Hegseth exited Hegseth’s office, Musk responded The economic prosperity that China has achieved is truly amazing, especially in infrastructure! I encourage people to visit and see for themselves,
I certainly wouldn't want, you know Elon has businesses in China, and he would be susceptible perhaps to that."
Trump, when asked about the Times report I've always been public about my deep reservations concerning Elon's financial ties to the CCP [Chinese Communist Party]—the Tesla joint venture underpins his entire business empire and they control it."
Steve Bannon previously told Newsweek [China's] policy has been to reunite Taiwan with China. From their standpoint, maybe it is analogous to Hawaii or something like that, like an integral part of China that is arbitrarily not part of China mostly because ... the U.S. Pacific Fleet has stopped any sort of reunification effort by force,
he said, ... according to Reuters But Elon had a problem. His second-largest market is China. He's building huge factories there. His bottom line depends on staying in China's good graces. He wants to build an AI data center there too—which could endanger U.S. security. He's been bending over backwards to ingratiate himself with Chinese leaders,
There is just a lot of super talented hardworking people in China [who] strongly believe in manufacturing,
I don't want to show it to anybody. You're talking about a potential war with China,
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about the possibility of sharing the war plan with Musk They really are the enemy of the people,
Trump said of the New York Times It was meant to sort of undermine whatever relationship the Pentagon has with Elon Musk,
Hegseth said about the New York Times reporting But certainly, you wouldn't show it to a businessman who is helping us so much. He's a great patriot. He's taken is paying a big price for helping us cut costs, and he's doing a great job,
And anybody read that story, people laughed at that story. Who would do such a thing?"
I said, 'Is there any truth to that?' And they said it's ridiculous. No, he's over there to talk about costs,
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