House speaker spoke with man in charge—and Trump—ahead of spending bill vote

After Republicans tried to blame everyone else for the crisis they created, it looks like House Speaker Mike Johnson was finally able to pass a spending bill Friday night to keep the government open through the end of the year and into the next administration.

Johnson emerged from the House floor to cheerlead and try to erase all memories of the GOP’s disastrous handling of the bill—and how shadow President Elon Musk and President-elect Donald Trump sabotaged an earlier version of it. When asked if he spoke to Musk or Trump about the final bill, Johnson’s response was interesting:

I was in constant contact with, with President Trump, throughout this process. Spoke with him most recently about 45 minutes ago. He knew exactly what we were doing and why. And, and this is a good outcome for the country. I think he certainly is happy about this outcome as well. Elon Musk and I talked within about an hour ago.

That sure makes it sound like Musk got to okay the deal before Trump did. This, of course, would contradict the Trump’s team’s insistence that Donald is totally in charge—and the world’s actual richest man is not the one who’s calling the shots.   

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