Trump says he gave permission to Elon Musk to trash GOP-proposed spending bill on X

December 19, 2024

(WASHINGTON) -- President-elect Donald Trump, after rejecting House Speaker Mike Johnson's plan to avoid a government shutdown, worked the phones on Thursday, showing wavering confidence in Johnson and claiming he is aligned with billionaire Elon Musk, who first posted multiple calls to kill the GOP-brokered spending deal.

"If the speaker acts decisively, and tough, and gets rid of all of the traps being set by the Democrats, which will economically and, in other ways, destroy our country, he will easily remain speaker," Trump told Fox News Digital.

In an separate interview, Trump suggested that Johnson's proposed continuing resolution -- which would keep spending going at current levels -- was "unacceptable."

"We'll see. What they had yesterday was unacceptable," Trump told NBC News. "In many ways it was unacceptable. It's a Democrat trap."

Trump also indicated that he had discussed his views on the bill with social media giant Musk and granted the billionaire permission to trash the government spending bill on his social media platform.

"I told him that if he agrees with me, that he could put out a statement," Trump said.

Musk then conducted an all-out pressure campaign flooding his platform with dozens of posts threatening members of Congress to block Johnson's government funding bill.

"Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!" Musk wrote.

Musk also called on his more than 200 million followers to call their representatives and urge them to block the bill. "Please call your elected representatives right away to tell them how you feel! They are trying to get this passed today while no one is paying attention."

Trump's own statement opposing the measure came hours after Musk put his thoughts on his social media platform.

Trump, too, argued against the bill and threatened to primary Republicans who vote to pass it.

"If Republicans try to pass a clean Continuing Resolution without all of the Democrat "bells and whistles" that will be so destructive to our Country, all it will do, after January 20th, is bring the mess of the Debt Limit into the Trump Administration," Trump said in a post on Wednesday.

"Any Republican that would be so stupid as to do this should, and will, be Primaried. Everything should be done, and fully negotiated, prior to my taking Office on January 20th, 2025."

The next morning, Trump shared a similar sentiment with Fox News Digital, saying, "Anybody that supports a bill that doesn't take care of the Democrat quicksand known as the debt ceiling should be primaried and disposed of as quickly as possible."

ABC News' Soorin Kim and Will Steakin contributed to this report.