CNN political analyst and The New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman suggested that President-elect Trump’s decision to have billionaire Elon Musk join his phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was a “way of showing off” to the leader.
“I think it is a trust thing. I also just think it is that the Trump likes to impress other people, and Elon Musk is the richest man in the world, and that’s one way of showing off for Zelensky,” Haberman told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Friday.
“I also think it’s something of a dominance play,” Haberman added.
During the interview, Haberman pointed to reporting from The Wall Street Journal of alleged contact between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Musk.
“There has been a lot of reporting about that in The Wall Street Journal, and I don’t think that that is completely out of Donald Trump’s head when he is doing this,” Haberman said.
“I mean, this call attracted a lot of attention for a variety of reasons. Musk’s various connections to the government and interest in government approvals and government contracts and so forth is going to be a big discussion in the coming months,” she added.
Following Trump’s election, Zelensky said that he had a productive conversation with Trump after the Republican secured his presidential victory.
“It was a productive conversation, a good conversation,” Zelensky said of his phone call with Trump on Wednesday. “Of course, we cannot yet know what his actions will be. But we do hope that America will become stronger.”
“This is the kind of America that Europe needs. And a strong Europe is what America needs, to my mind,” he continued. “This is the connection between allies that must be valued and cannot be lost.”
When asked during the interview how much influence Musk could have during Trump’s second term, Haberman said she thinks the billionaire could have “a lot” of influence, citing his frequent appearances at Mar-a-Lago.
“I do think that he will be influential. Does it mean he is going to influence every single thing? No. But he is certainly going to leave his imprint, even if he never actually formally joins the government,” Haberman said.
