Donald Trump escalates stand-off between executive and judicial branches

Donald Trump used a press conference with Elon Musk to hit back at the courts for blocking his efforts to ­reduce government waste and prosecute his agenda, warning he may ‘look at the judges’ ­responsible for stymieing his plans.

Elon Musk speaks as US President Donald Trump looks on in the Oval Office. Picture: AFP

Donald Trump has used a press conference with Elon Musk in the Oval Office to hit back at the courts for blocking his efforts to ­reduce government waste and prosecute his agenda, warning he may “look at the judges” ­responsible for stymieing his plans.

The threat comes as the US President faces more than 40 lawsuits filed against his ­administration and growing warnings from legal experts and Democrats that he is leading America into a constitutional ­crisis as part of a bold new experiment in presidential power.

The clash between the executive and judicial branches continues to grow, with Rhode Island federal court judge John McConnell taking aim at the White House for defying his January 31 order to unfreeze and disperse billions of dollars in federal grants – although he stopped short of finding any ­administration officials in contempt.

Speaking in the Oval Office on Tuesday, local time, Mr Trump ­responded to the building showdown with the judiciary by saying that “it seems hard to believe that judges want to try and stop us from looking for corruption”.

“So maybe we have to look at the judges,” he said.

Musk with his son X in the Oval Office. Picture: AFP

Mr Musk, who was accompanied by his son, named X Æ A-12, said it was necessary to trim the size of government to ensure the President’s agenda was implemented. “If the bureaucracy is in charge, then what meaning does democracy actually have if the people cannot vote and have their will be decided by their elected representatives in the form of the President and the Senate and the House,” the head of the ­Department of Government ­Efficiency said.

“Then we don’t live in a democracy. We live in a bureaucracy.”

Dressed in a dark overcoat and black MAGA cap, Mr Musk said his team had uncovered instances of people in the bureaucracy on salaries of a few hundred thousand dollars who had “managed to ­accrue tens of millions of dollars in net worth” and warned that Treasury’s payment systems were badly flawed.

“It’s, like, just a massive number of blank cheques just flying out the building,” he said. “A cursory examination of ­social security – and we’ve got people in there that are 150 years old. Now do you know anyone who is 150?”

Mr Musk’s comments come after he and his team at the DOGE were prevented from ­accessing Treasury’s payment and data system by federal court judge Paul Engelmayer, who said it ran the risk of causing “irreparable harm”.

Mr Trump gave an example of a man who he said had received a three-month government contract but continued to receive payments for 20 years.

“Now a judge who’s an activist judge wants to try and stop us from doing this,” he said. “I campaigned on the fact that I said government was corrupt … I hope that the court system is going to allow us to do what we were elected to do.”

Mr Trump said it was possible to find close to $US1 trillion in savings, with Mr Musk agreeing it was possible to cut the budget deficit in half.

The world’s richest person also defended his gutting of the US Agency for International Development, saying it provided very poor “bang for buck” and was influencing elections in ways that were “dubious and do not stand the light of day”.

Speaking in the Capitol Building on Tuesday, Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said the courts had “put a hold on Donald Trump’s illegal actions”.

“The trend is clear. Donald Trump cannot bulldoze his way through the rule of law,” he said.

“That’s what the courts in America are saying. Donald Trump isn’t allowed to break the law to achieve those goals.”

Senator Schumer said everyone understood there was waste in government, but warned that DOGE was “using a meat axe” that would end up hurting millions of American families.

“When veterans see they’re not getting their benefits, when people on Medicaid see that they’re getting cut, when all of these things happen, the American people say, ‘that’s not what Donald Trump campaigned on’,” he said.

“If you want to make cuts, then you do it through a debate in congress. Not lawlessly.”