Trump denies reports Musk saw plans for potential war with China
President Donald Trump said his advisor Elon Musk should not see classified plans for a potential war with China.
The remarks came after he made an announcement in the Oval Office with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, revealing Boeing will build the Air Force's future fighter jet called F-47.
"There's never been anything ever close to it from speed to maneuverability to what it can have, to payload," Trump said, referring to the new F-47 fighter jet.
"America is going to have generations in the future of air dominance," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said.
But as the president took questions from reporters, the focus shifted to his advisor Elon Musk, who had a meeting at the Pentagon Friday.
"Mr. Musk, did you get a classified briefing? Was your briefing about China?" a reporter asked Musk.
Musk did not respond to questions of whether he received a classified briefing on how the United States would fight a potential war with China after the New York Times reported those talks were originally planned.
President Trump denied that report, saying instead Musk was there to talk about DOGE and the administration's cost-cutting efforts.
"I don't want to show it to anybody, you know? You're talking about a potential war with China," Trump said.
He called Musk a patriot but acknowledged concerns about potential conflicts of interest. Musk is the CEO of Tesla, which is trying to expand sales and production in China.
"Elon has businesses in China and he would be susceptible, perhaps, to that, but it was such a fake story," Trump said.
Political analysts said this shows the potential leaks concerned the president.
"Elon Musk is only going to be around as long as he is not causing problems for Donald Trump. And this certainly did. Donald Trump himself said he got on the phone with Pete Hegseth in order to verify this," said Todd Belt, a political analyst from George Washington University.
This all comes as a senior defense official has said the Department of Defense plans to cut up to 60,000 civilian jobs, impacting some military veterans.