Elon Musk and President Trump in the Oval Office of the White House earlier this month. Photo: Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

President Trump and Elon Musk defended the DOGE-led overhaul of the federal workforce and agencies during an interview on Fox News’ “Hannity” that aired on Tuesday night.

The big picture: The pair praised each other during the interview as they pushed back against Democrats’ criticism of DOGE, Trump declared “inflation is back” and the president revealed how much X paid him to settle a lawsuit, while Fox News’ Sean Hannity noted: ” I feel like I’m interviewing two brothers.”

Trump said in the interview that was pre-taped on Tuesday night that Musk “got a big discount” as X settled the suit regarding the platform that was then known as Twitter’s permanent suspension of the president’s account following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

• “It’s very low. I was looking to get much more money than that,” Trump said as Musk sat beside him.
• Musk said he “left it up to the lawyers and the team running Twitter.”

“Inflation’s back. … I had nothing to do with that”

Trump acknowledged inflation concerns, following The Consumer Price Index rising 3% in the year through January, compared to the 2.9% increase in December. Economists warn higher U.S. inflation is a risk of his global tariffs drive.

• “I’m only here for two and a half weeks. Inflation is back,” Trump said.
• “Inflation’s back and they said, ‘Oh, Trump.’ I had nothing to do with it. These people have run the country,” he said, in an apparent reference to the Biden administration. “They spent money like nobody’s ever spent.”

Musk says DOGE’s goal is to cut $1 trillion

Musk in January pledged to slash at least $2 trillion from the federal budget, before later saying “$2 trillion, we’ve got a good shot at getting $1 trillion.”

• During the “Hannity interview, he said: “The overall goal is to try to get $1 trillion out of the deficit. And if if the deficit is not brought under control, America will go bankrupt.”
• Trump said Musk, the face of DOGE, had identified 1% in identified in waste, fraud, abuse, which he called “massive” and “huge money,” and said he thinks the billionaire is “going to find $1 trillion.”

Go deeper: Legal challenges to DOGE’s data access hinge on outdated laws