U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) speaks during the fourth day of the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, October 15, 2020.
Susan Walsh | Pool | Reuters
Sen. Cory Booker on Sunday said he would not accept campaign donations from tech mogul Elon Musk but urged the former Trump adviser to “get involved right now in a more substantive way” in Democrats’ push against the sweeping GOP-backed spending bill.
“This bill is disastrous for our long-term economy,” Booker told NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” “This is an American issue, and I welcome Elon Musk not to my campaign. I welcome him right now, not to sit back and just fire off tweets, get involved right now in a more substantive way in putting pressure on Congress people and senators to not do this.”
Asked directly whether he would ever accept campaign funding from Musk, Booker said, “I would not accept money from Elon Musk for my campaign, but I would be supportive of anybody, including Elon Musk, putting resources forward right now to let more Americans know” about the bill.
Booker’s remarks come as other Democrats, like Rep. Ro Khanna of California, have floated welcoming Musk into the Democratic Party after a feud between President Donald Trump and the Tesla and SpaceX CEO exploded into public view last week.
“We should ultimately be trying to convince him that the Democratic Party has more of the values that he agrees with,” Khanna told Politico last week after Musk and Trump fired off a series of social media posts criticizing each other.
The falling out started after Musk called the budget bill a “disgusting abomination” in a post on X. In subsequent posts on Truth Social, the president accused Musk of “wearing thin” and said “he just went crazy.”
Musk later accused Trump of “ingratitude” in another post on X after he spent $250 million boosting Trump’s campaign in 2024 and accused Trump of links to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in a now-deleted post.
On Saturday, in a phone call with NBC News, Trump said he has no desire to repair his relationship with Musk after their public spat.
The president also responded to a direct question about what might happen if Musk decided to financially support Democrats in the 2026 midterm elections, days after Musk wrote in a post on X, “In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people,” appearing to refer to Republicans who voted for the GOP-backed spending bill in the House.
“If he does, he’ll have to pay the consequences for that,” Trump told NBC News, adding that there could be “serious consequences.”
In May, House Republicans passed a sweeping domestic policy bill called the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” that would extend tax cuts passed in the first Trump administration, increase funding for border security and eliminate federal taxes on tips and overtime pay. The bill has also drawn scrutiny from Democrats for slashing funding for Medicaid and some food stamps while adding work requirements for Medicaid, which provides health care for low-income Americans.
Musk and some Senate Republicans have blasted the bill for estimated effects it could have on the federal debt and deficit, though Trump and House Republicans have downplayed those concerns.
“More Americans have to understand that if this bill passes, average Americans are going to see their costs skyrocket as this president again pushes legislation that is indicative of his chaos, corruption and cruelty towards Americans,” Booker said on Sunday.
