### Tensions Rise Between Trump and Musk as Lawmaker Criticizes Exaggerations

After a heated escalation between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk culminated on Thursday, Republican Rep. Blake Moore of Utah voiced his concerns about Musk's ambitious claims. Speaking outside the Capitol, Moore, who has been involved in legislative efforts around DOGE, highlighted Musk's stark overestimation in proposed federal spending cuts.

"Most everybody knew Elon was exaggerating what he could do," Moore stated. "He was claiming he could find $4 billion a day in cuts, and even suggested $2 trillion at one point." Moore pointed out that these figures are wildly unrealistic and that people are now beginning to see through them.

Moore is one of the three co-leaders of the House DOGE caucus, a bipartisan group aimed at supporting cost-cutting measures. However, the caucus has faced significant challenges. The group met a few times earlier in the year with the intention of preparing a report on potential savings, but this goal was never realized due to limited interaction with the White House DOGE Office. A Democratic member even declared the caucus "dead" last month.

"We've always been a little frustrated that there was such limited interaction," Moore remarked. "We couldn't really identify how we could help, and we had a lot of support ready, but the cooperation just wasn't there."

While Musk declined to comment, Moore expressed his intent to continue pushing for spending cuts through bipartisan channels. He noted that many Democrats are also aware of government waste and are willing to address it. Republican leaders plan to pursue these cuts through both government funding processes and rescission packages, with the first $9.4 billion package set to be voted on in the House next week. This amount falls significantly short of Musk's bold forecasts.

Moore characterized Musk's performance as "over-promising, under-delivering," emphasizing the gap between Musk's claims and the reality of the cuts proposed.

The public dispute between Musk and Trump intensified last week when Musk started criticizing the "Big Beautiful Bill" that Republicans are advocating. This bill could significantly increase the deficit, a point of contention that propelled the feud. On Tuesday, the disagreement spilled over onto social media, where Musk and Trump exchanged heated remarks.

"When I saw Musk start posting and repeating false claims about the tax reconciliation bill, it was clear something was amiss," Moore commented. "And so it escalated, yeah. It escalated very quickly."