President Donald Trump slammed The New York Times on Friday for a story that it published this week alleging that Elon Musk was going to receive a classified briefing from the Pentagon about what America’s plan would be if it had to attack China.
“I don’t want to show it to anybody,” Trump said of potential military plans involving China. “You’re talking about a potential war with China.”
Trump indicated that he does not even want many of the high-level military officials he deals with to even know what the United States’ plans are if there is a war.
“We don’t want to have a potential war with China, but I can tell you, if we did, we’re very well equipped to handle it,” he said. “But I don’t want to show that to anybody, but certainly you wouldn’t show it to a businessman who is helping us so much. He’s a great patriot. He’s paying a big price for helping us cut costs, and he’s doing a great job. He’s finding tremendous waste, fraud, and abuse.”
“But I certainly wouldn’t want, you know Elon has businesses in China, and he would be susceptible, perhaps, to that,” Trump continued.
Trump said that the Times’ story that Musk was going to gain access to the plans was “such a fake story.”
WATCH:
.@POTUS: I don’t want anybody seeing plans for a potential war with China. We don’t want to have a potential war with China, but if we did, we’re very well-equipped… but certainly, you wouldn’t show it to a businessman… The @nytimes is just as fake as CNN and MSDNC. pic.twitter.com/Hg1DfjkkAk
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 21, 2025
