Trump confirms Elon Musk WILL be part of White House cabinet as he names billionaire's role

President-elect Trump announced the Tesla, X and SpaceX owner will work with former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy in heading the department of government efficiency – claiming the duo “will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy’

Donald Trump has confirmed Elon Musk will be part of his White House cabinet as he names the billionaire’s role in government efficiency.

President-elect Trump announced the Tesla, X and SpaceX owner will work with former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy in heading the department of government efficiency – claiming the duo “will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies”.

Trump said “A smaller government, with more efficiency and less bureaucracy, will be the perfect gift to America on the 250th Anniversary of The Declaration of Independence. I am confident they will succeed!”. It comes after Elon Musk endorsed Trump for president weeks ahead of his election win, appearing in numerous rallies and campaigns in the build-up to November 5.

READ MORE: Donald Trump nominates Fox News host and army veteran Pete Hegseth for defense secretary

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It comes after Musk, the world’s richest man, joined Trump’s call with Ukraine’s Zelensky, the Associated Press reported citing a Ukrainian official with direct knowledge of the phone call.

The person, who was not authorized to comment on the matter publicly, confirmed that Zelenskyy and Musk spoke during the call with Trump, but that Musk did not appear to be on the line for the entire conversation on Wednesday. Trump seemingly handed his phone over to Musk, the person said, and the Ukrainian president thanked the SpaceX owner for assisting his country with access to the Starlink satellite internet platform.

Musk has become a close ally of the President-Elect over the last year, appearing at many of of rallies during the campaign and running much of the ground game for Trump through his America PAC which he had given significant amounts of money to. The presence of Musk on the call highlights his influence in the president-elect’s circle. Trump has mused that Musk could have a formal role in his administration that focuses on government efficiency, raising questions about potential conflicts of interest given SpaceX’s lucrative government contracts.

It comes after Trump said Tuesday that he is nominating Fox News host and Army veteran Pete Hegseth to serve as his defense secretary.

Hegseth deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and unsuccessfully ran for Senate in Minnesota in 2012 before joining Fox News.

“With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice — Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down,” Trump said in a statement. “Nobody fights harder for the Troops, and Pete will be a courageous and patriotic champion of our ‘Peace through Strength’ policy.”

Hegseth, 44, is a co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends Weekend” and has been a contributor at the network since 2014. He is also the author of “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free.”

“Pete Hegseth has been an exceptional host on FOX & Friends and FOX Nation and a best-selling author for FOX News Books for nearly a decade. His insights and analysis especially about the military resonated deeply with our viewers and made the program the major success that it is today. We are extremely proud of his work at FOX News Media and wish him the best of luck in Washington,” FOX News Media said in a statement to The Mirror US.