Donald Trump Elon Musk
Elon Musk shakes hands with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show grounds in Butler, Pennsylvania, on October 5, 2024. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Donald Trump jokingly said that he could not get Elon Musk "out of here" during a recent speech at Mar-a-Lago where he highlighted the billionaire's contributions to his campaign.

The president-elect called Musk "a great guy" at the America First Policy Institute Gala. As Trump surveyed the crowd looking for him, those in attendance burst into applause.

"He likes this place. I can't get him out of here!" Trump told the crowd, as captured in a C-SPAN video posted to X. "And I like having him here. He's good, he's done a fantastic job. Really an incredible mind and he's an unbelievable entrepreneur. I'm asking him, 'What do you do best?' and we were not able to figure it out."

Musk became a prominent figure in Trump's campaign for a second term, constantly tweeting in support of the former president on his social media platform X, and appeared at multiple rallies held prior to Election Day. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO was also included on a call with Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

"We have a man who has a seriously high IQ. You know I'm a person who believes in high IQs, and his is about as high as they get," Trump told the crowd. "He launched a rocket three weeks ago and then went to Pennsylvania to campaign because he considers this more important than launching rockets that cost billions."

Trump recently announced that Musk will serve for the Department of Government Efficiency alongside former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. While the department is not an official government agency, it plans to offer "advice and guidance from outside."

Originally published by Latin Times.