On December 23, Trump told a conservative audience: "No, he will not take over the presidency." He said the claim that he handed the presidency to Musk was a "scam":

"You know, they are at it again... all sorts of different scams, the new one is that President Trump has handed the presidency over to Elon Musk, no, no, that’s not true."

Trump jokingly said: "But no, he won't be president, I can tell you that. And I'm very safe. You know why? Because he can't. He wasn't born in this country. Hahaha."

Trump expressed appreciation for Musk's technical abilities and praised him for helping to win Pennsylvania. At the rally, Trump told the audience: "Aren't we glad to have smart people we can rely on? Don't we want that?"