‘Elon is Terribly Wrong!’ Speaker Johnson Lashes Out at Musk for Trashing Trump’s Budget Bill
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) snapped back at “friend” Elon Musk after the billionaire called President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” an “abomination.”
Musk’s comments were brought up on Capitol Hill on Tuesday and Johnson said he was “disappointed” in someone he considers a “close friend.”
Johnson said:
It’s very disappointing, okay? I’ve come to consider Elon a good friend. He’s obviously a very intelligent person and he’s done a lot of great work. We’ve applauded all the work that he’s done with DOGE where he identified fraud, waste, and abuse in the government. It’s a very important service that’s been performed and we’re so excited about it, we’re now in the process of codifying it. As you all know, the administration has qualified and quantified the fraud, waste, and abuse that they found in DOGE. They’re sending it to us to codify and that’s what we’ll be doing.
Musk, who recently departed his role as a special government employee with DOGE, called Trump’s massive budget bill a “disgusting abomination” that will add to the country’s deficit.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” he wrote on X. “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
Trump’s budget bill passed through the House by just one vote. It now faces the Senate where a handful of lawmakers could prove to be massive hurdles. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) earned the ire of Trump for arguing the cost cutting in the bill is “anemic.” Paul said he will not support a bill that raises the debt ceiling, arguing that will simply lead to increased spending and the deficit to continue to grow.
Johnson said he had a “friendly” conversation with Musk about the bill on Monday. He echoed the White House’s claim that the bill would lead to $1.6 trillion in savings. Republicans have also touted 2017 tax cuts being extended.
CNN’s Manu Raju was first to bring up Musk’s comments to Johnson.
New — Speaker Johnson fires back at Elon Musk after he called the House bill “a disgusting abomination” filled with “pork” that would lead to crushing debt.
“It’s very disappointing… My friend Elon is terribly wrong,” Johnson says, noting they spoke at length yesterday. pic.twitter.com/Bh6IbEstaL
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) June 3, 2025
“With all due respect, my friend Elon is terribly wrong about the one Big Beautiful Bill. We had a long conversation yesterday. He and I spoke for I think more than 20 minutes on the telephone and I extolled the virtues of the bill. He seemed to understand that. We had a very friendly conversation about it,” Johnson said.
He noted that Musk could be upset about an electric vehicle mandate being done away with.
“It’s not personal. I know the EV mandate is very important to him,” Johnson said. “That is going away because the government should not be subsidizing these things.”
Watch above via Fox News.
