Rick Klein, ABC News Washington bureau chief Interview

Rick Klein speaks with Mendte in the Morning about the massive feud between Donald Trump and Elon Musk that unfolded on social media yesterday.  

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
And welcome to New York Recline. ABC News Washington Bureau Chief.
Thanks Rick for being with us again. Every Friday, we
get to talk about what's coming on in this week
and what happened in the past week. What do you
make of this feud with a lot of people have
between Donald Trump and Elon Musk. A lot of people
have left us talkbacks today, left us messages. They don't

(00:22):
think it's real, they think it's all manufactured.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yeah, oh, look, I think there's there's always an element
of showmanship when you're talking about Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
Bowl that's it. They got highly personal fast. And if
you thought this was for show, I think the check
on that might be when when Elon Musk said, Jeffrey
Epstein files include Donald Trump's name and that's not why
it's released. You know, if that were to be true,

(00:48):
it's an explosive revelation. It's a guest he knows something
that Donald Trump doesn't want anyone to know. And it's
not just the highly personal nature of this there is
there are huge consequences for the bill that is currently encompassed.
The entire Trump agenda legislatively is sitting in the Senate
right now, waiting for the politics to play out and
beyond that, Look, you thure the movement, I mean Elon.

(01:09):
The other personal thing that Elon said is he's any
president of three and a half years, I'm gonna be
around as the world's richest man for forty That's a
big threat if you think about it, and I think
it is something that is personal. Even if they even
if they kiss and make up right now today, there's
a lot of damage that's already been done.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
Yeah, you know what really fascinating, Rick, what you just
mentioned a moment ago is the big beautiful bill in
the Senate. It seems like Donald Trump, I mean, I'm sorry,
Elon Musk. It seems like Elon Musk has emboldened some
of the conservative senators now to stand up that I
think coward before to Donald Trump, and it's he might

(01:47):
create some real problems for this bill. If you follow
some of these people on social media, they are retweeting
what Musk said and now seemingly coming out in public
and agreeing with him.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah. I mean, look, we like to talk about people's
political sway, that's a lot of it has to do, frankly,
with money. And influence, and Elon Musk has unlimited funds virtually.
He also has the biggest megaphone, uh you know, this
side of Donald Trump in X, his social media platform.
So if Elon Musk says, look, if you oppose this bill,

(02:21):
I got your back, that's a huge message of support
for anyone who who might be inclined to oppose it.
And by the way, he's on the side of fiscal
conservatism here, you know, maga in fiscal conservatives. If Trump
wasn't saying this is a good idea, they look at
this and say, what is all this pork spending? Why
are we doing all these one offs? Why are we
doing all these special things. Why isn't there a medicated
work requirement that's going into effect faster? Where are the

(02:42):
real savings? Why are you adding to the deficit. Those
are real issues that they've tapped into. And now Musk saying, hey,
I agree with you, and I made He's even saying
I could start my own political party with people who
agree with that, and that that is a threat to Trump. Whoever,
whether you think Trump would have won the election without
Elon's money or not, is a disagree them on that.
The idea of Musk is another force, a quasi independent

(03:04):
force on the outside of MAGA is a huge threat
to Trump and a huge threat to a signature bill.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
Donald Trump has ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate
whether former President Joe Biden's administration conspired to cover up
his mental state while in office. I guess my question
to that is what would the criminal charges be.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
It's a great question, and what the practical impact would be.
I mean, they can focus on the use of the autopen.
All presidents in recent years, including Donald Trump, have used
the autopen. It's been upheld as a constitutional use of power.
But I don't know what we would you know, if
there's some kind of an intentional cover up, what the
actual net result would be. You know, I think a
lot of people have looked at this as just a

(03:46):
distraction strategy, and you know, if there's a real investigation,
obviously it goes where it goes, and Bondi will will
follow the facts. But given the other stakes of things
that are going on in the country right now looking forward,
I can't imagine that there's going to be a lot
of track for criminal charges against people. And Biden's in
a circle, and again for what what the charge would
be is still a mystry to me as well.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
Right, I understand the house investigation. I get that it's
worth looking into for a house investigation just so maybe
it could never happen again if it truly did happen.
But this is taking to another level, and as you said,
I just don't know where that ends, what the criminal
charges would be. What's coming up on this week?

Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yeah, my colleague Martha Raditis is in Ukraine just as
the tension feed up there, you know, the talk of
a Russian retaliation. Should we be talking to some people
on the ground, including especially you know, the peace negotiators
as they try to bring things to inclusion. And my
colleague John Carlson, why don't we just talk to Donalds?
Up this morning? Trump told him that he doesn't, he
doesn't have any interest in having a conversation with a

(04:46):
man as left as mind and ide elon Musk. It's
get to be unpacking all this because it is a
weird and wild a couple of couple of days it's
been with this and to see this, this big public breakup,
as I said, the future of this large political move
but this huge political force of Maga is very much
in a question this morning, so.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
That interview is going to play on this week.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
It was just a phone interview, so I don't know
there's much to play. He just picked up the phone
this morning with John Carl called which is which is
born to do? We'll never see it all the president like
this one.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
No, he does give access. The media should love him
for all the access he gives. Recline, thank you so much,
ABC Washington Bureau Chief. We'll all be watching this week,
come this weekend on Sunday. Thanks so much. Rich.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
Hey, my pleasure.

Speaker 1 (05:31):
Thanks Rick.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
Sorry