President-elect Donald Trump returned to Washington on Wednesday with his top backer, Elon Musk, where he joked that he can’t get rid of his billionaire supporter.
Trump joined the House Republican conference meeting where he delivered remarks during his visit to DC. Sitting front and center at the Capitol meeting was the richest man in the world.
It was the last appearance for Musk, who has been hanging around Mar-a-Lago since helping propel Trump back to the White House with the 2024 election.
According to one person in the room, Trump, 78, joked to House Republicans: “Elon is not coming home.”
‘I can’t get rid of him. Until I don’t like it,” the president-elect would have said.
Trump supporter Elon Musk sat in the front row and received a greeting from Trump during the House Republican conference meeting.
Musk also received a standing ovation from Republican lawmakers at the meeting after receiving a salute from Trump while making remarks.
“Elon has been so great,” Trump said, pointing to Musk sitting in the middle row directly in front of the stage.
That’s when the billionaire turned and greeted the crowd of Republican leaders.
Several members of the Republican conference stood and applauded. Some lawmakers were also heard applauding.
Musk has been a near-permanent fixture at the center of Trump’s transition since the former president won the 2024 election with considerable campaign help from the businessman.
Elon Musk arrives at the House Republican Conference meeting on Capitol Hill as Trump peaks on November 13.
He has been regularly seen at Trump’s Florida home since the election after celebrating the victory with campaign officials on election night.
The billionaire has been spotted at Trump’s golf course and dining with the president-elect.
Trump’s granddaughter even referred to the bombastic billionaire as “uncle” in a social media post.
On Wednesday morning, he was among Trump staffers seen walking on the president-elect’s plane for his visit to DC to meet with President Biden and Republican lawmakers.
Elon Musk seen getting off the plane with members of Trump’s team
Elon Musk leaves the House Republican Conference on Capitol Hill on November 13
Musk holds a folder that says “Reverse the Curse” as he leaves the Republican Party meeting.
It comes after Trump announced Tuesday that Musk will co-lead a new Department of Government Efficiency alongside 2024 Republican presidential primary candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
Trump said in his statement that he would pave the way for his administration to dismantle “government bureaucracy” and that that would be “potentially the ‘Manhattan Project’ of our time.”
“We finally have a mandate to remove the mountain of suffocating regulations that do not serve the common good,” Musk wrote Wednesday on X, which he also owns.
But the move has also been met with criticism as Musk’s companies have tangled with the very agencies he will now deal with directly.
Musk jumps on stage as Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on October 5.
The nonprofit watchdog group Public Citizen called his appointment “the ultimate corruption.”
“Not only does Musk know nothing about government efficiency and regulation, but his own businesses have regularly broken the very rules he will be in a position to attack in his new position as ‘czar,'” said the group’s co-chair, Lisa Gilbert.
‘This is the ultimate corporate corruption. “If anyone had any doubt about whether the Trump administration intends to serve ordinary people or billionaires, they should resolve it now,” he continued.