Australian news and politics live: Clive Palmer joins political party Trumpet of Patriots, echoing Trump

I wanted great people and he is a great person. He is amazing person, a caring person,” Mr Trump said.

Mr Trump then talked about contracts that have gone on forever, costing the US Government, adding Mr Musk is finding things like that.

“They (DOGE) are finding like that. They are finding things far worse than that,” Mr Trump said.

“They’re finding billions and what will be hundreds of billions of dollars worth of fraud, I say, waste and abuse.

“He is doing an amazing job.”

Mr Musk has responded to the criticism he has been subjected to since taking the helm of DOGE.

“We must be doing something right. They wouldn’t be complaining so much if we weren’t doing something useful,” Mr Musk said.

“What we are doing here is trying to restore the will of the people through the president.

“What we are finding is that theres an unelected beurocracy, speaking of unelected, theres a vast federal bureaucracy that is implacably imposed to the president.

“If the will of the president is not implemented and the president is representative of the people, that means the will of the people is not being implemented.”

“I used to be adored by the left,” Mr Musk said.

“I really did a number,” Mr Trump joked.

Mr Musk said “Trump derangement” was real and something he has experienced in recent months.

The DOGE head told a story about when he mentioned Mr Trump to friends, before descriving their reaction.

“It was like they got shot with a dart in the jugular that contained methamphetamine and rabies,” Mr Musk said.

“They became completely irrational.”

Hannity asked Mr Musk about retrieving two stranded NASA astronauts who have been in space for over 300 days.

“We are accelerating the return of the astronauts, which was postponed to a ridiculous degree,” Mr Musk said.

“They got left in space,” Mr Trump said, before saying “Biden”.

Mr Musk revealed he now has the “go ahead” from Mr Trump and the return should occur in about “four weeks”.

Mr Trump said he thinks former President Joe Biden wanted to “leave them in space” as he didn’t want the publicity over a rescue gone wrong.

Speaking about Mr Musk’s career, Hannity reeled off the Space X and Telsa owner’s achievements, highlighting his work in space.

“He is going to go into orbit soon,” Mr Trump interjected.

“He is going to Mars,” he added as Mr Musk laughed nervously.

Mr Musk said he is often asked by his agency if he wants to go into space, adding he doesn’t want to “die on impact”.

“Those executive orders, I sign them, then they get passed on to him (Musk),” Mr Trump said.

“They’re all getting done. We are getting them done.”

Mr Trump says it was Mr Musk’s Starlink and SpaceX work that blew him away.

Mentioning both Starlink’s ability to send internet satellites to disaster stricken areas and Space X’s ability to catch a rocket as it returns to earth, Mr Trump said Mr Musk is “very smart”.

“He gets it done,” Mr Trump said.

Speaking to Mr Musk’s ability to get government workers moving on executive orders, Mr Trump said: “He would go to whatever agency it was and say ‘are you getting it done? Get it done’.”

Hannity alleged media were trying to make the public hate Mr Musk.

“Elon called me, he said ‘you know they are trying to drive us apart’, I said absolutely,” Mr Trump said.

“They are so bad at it.

“Nobody in history has ever got more bad publicity than me.

“I could do the greatest thing. I get 98 per cent bad publicity.”

“I’m a technologist,” Mr Musk said.

“I am here to provide the president with technical support.

“What we are doing here, the biggest function of the DOGE team, is making sure the presidential executive orders are carried out.”

Mr Trump said he has no choice but to take flack from the media.

Mr Musk said: “Not once have I seen him do something that was mean or cruel or wrong.”

“Not once”.

Mr Musk said the first attempt on President Trump’s life made him rush his endorsement of the Republican.

“It sped it up. I was going to do it anyway,” Mr Musk said.