Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Thursday he would establish a government efficiency commission headed by billionaire supporter Elon Musk if he wins the presidency in November.
The former president said that Tesla, Inc. (NASADQt: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk agreed to head the body in a speech on his economic plans at the New York Economic Club.
"And Elon, because he's not very busy, has agreed to head that task force," Trump said.
"He's be a good one to do it, if he has the time, but he's agreed to do it."
Trump had talked about the idea of a government efficiency commission with aides for weeks, people with knowledge of those conversations told Reuters, but Thursday's speech was the first time he publicly endorsed the idea, the outlet reported.
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"I will create a government efficiency commission tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and making recommendations for drastic reforms," Trump said.
"We need to do it, can't go on the way we are now."
Trump said that fraud and improper payments cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars in 2022.
"As the first order of business, this commission will develop an action plan to totally eliminate fraud and improper payments within six months."
He said taking such action will save the U.S. trillions of dollars while keeping the same level of government services.
"It's massive," he said. "Trillions of dollars is wasted, gone and nobody knows where it went."
Musk said on an Aug. 19 podcast that he had held conversations with the former president about the commission and that he would be interested in serving on the body.
"I look forward to serving America if the opportunity arises," Musk wrote on X on Thursday.
"No pay, no title, no recognition is needed."
TSLA Price Action: Tesla has risen 4.06% to $228.32 as of Thursday's mid-afternoon trading.
Exchange-traded funds that hold the stock also gained on Thursday afternoon.
- T-Rex 2X Long Tesla Daily Target ETF (NASDAQ:TSLT) jumped 10.54%.
- Direxion Daily TSLA Bull 2X Shares (NASDAQ:TSLL) gained 10.35%.
- Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLY) picked up 1.12%.
- The Nightview Fund (NYSE:NITE) edged up 1.43%.
- ARK Innovation ETF (NYSE:ARKK) went up 1.54%.
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