GOP Senator Rips AOC’s Claim Musk Isn’t Qualified To Cut Govt. Spending
Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst pushed back against criticism from Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who took aim at Elon Musk — the founder and CEO behind SpaceX, Tesla, and Starlink. Ocasio-Cortez argued that Musk lacked the proper qualifications to evaluate and eliminate government waste and fraud.
During an interview on Fox News Thursday, anchor John Roberts introduced the topic by playing a clip of Ocasio-Cortez’s comments before turning to Ernst for her response.
“Elon Musk is not a scientist. He is not an engineer. He is a billionaire con man with a lot of money. He does not have this kind of good background,” Ocasio-Cortez said in the video.
After the clip, Roberts reminded Ernst that she had met with Musk earlier that day and asked: “What would you say to the good congresswoman?”
“I would ask what her background is,” Ernst replied. “I think it takes a lot of different talents and abilities to go in, and obviously, Elon Musk when he went into the role of the Department of Government Efficiency, he brought with him a lot of technical expertise that allows him and his team to go in and work with the agencies, and that’s key. They’re working with the agencies to query through the systems where there might be waste.”
Ernst continued: “So, I would say I’m going to push back on that because, again, here is someone who maybe doesn’t have the same talents and abilities to be a congressman or a congresswoman than anybody else. So, I don’t see where she’s going with that. But obviously, Elon Musk has the right skills and ability to ferret out waste in the federal government.”
Roberts then offered a lighthearted remark: “She forgot to mention he’s a guy who can catch rocket boosters too. That’s a pretty impressive skill.”
“Yes, exactly,” Ernst agreed, adding: “You know, it’s who you surround yourself — it’s who you surround yourself with.”
Musk had also discussed his plans to cut down on unnecessary spending in his role overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency during President Donald Trump’s first Cabinet meeting of the week.
“DOGE is a support function for the president and for the agencies and departments, to help achieve those savings and to effectively find 15% in reduction in fraud and waste,” Musk explained during the meeting.
He acknowledged facing intense backlash for the work, saying: “I’m taking a lot of flak and getting a lot of death threats, by the way. I can, like, stack them up. But if we don’t do this, America will go bankrupt. That’s why it has to be done.”
Trump also injected some humor into the meeting. After a reporter asked if any Cabinet officials were unhappy with Musk’s involvement, Trump turned to his team and joked: “Is anybody unhappy with Elon? If you are, well, throw them out of here,” prompting laughter and applause.
The president went on to say: “Some disagree a little bit, but I will tell you, for the most part, I think everyone’s not only happy, they’re thrilled.”
During the hour-long Cabinet meeting, Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance fielded several questions from reporters. At one point, Trump confirmed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would visit the White House on Friday to formalize an agreement requiring Ukraine to allocate some of its mineral revenue toward repaying the United States for military aid received since Russia’s invasion in 2022.
Trump also previewed a new trade move, revealing that his administration would soon impose 25% tariffs on vehicles and other products imported from the European Union. He accused EU leaders of exploiting the U.S. economically: “They’ve really taken advantage of us,” Trump said. “They don’t accept our cars. They don’t accept, essentially, our farm products. They use all sorts of reasons why not.”