US President-elect Donald Trump said the notion of ‘him ceding the presidency to billionaire Elon Musk’ was “another hoax”.

• • Trump says Elon Musk can’t become president due to US constitutional rules

• US Constitution mandates a natural-born citizen to become president
• Musk has been tapped by Trump to lead Department of Government Efficiency

US President-elect Donald Trump dismissed speculation that billionaire Elon Musk would take over the presidency, saying “it was not happening” and cited constitutional rules of being born in the country to hold the top post, NBC News reported.

Musk, the world’s richest person, was born in South Africa and has been tapped by Trump to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), aimed at drastically slashing government spending, federal regulations and the federal workforce.

According to the US Constitution, a person has to be a naturalised American citizen to become the President.

Trump made the remarks in response to criticism from the Democrats who have called the billionaire “President Musk” for the outsized role he is playing in the incoming administration.

The US President-elect went on to say that the notion of ‘him ceding the presidency to Elon Musk’ was “another hoax”, according to NBC News.

“No, he’s (Musk) not going to be president, that I can tell you. And I’m safe. You know why he can’t be? He wasn’t born in this country,” he said.

Musk became one of Trump’s biggest supporters during campaigning for the US presidential election and endorsed him in July after the Republican leader survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania.

The DOGE, which will be headed by Musk and another billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, is not an official government agency and has been billed as an independent advisory panel.

Rumours of Musk attempting to take the presidency gained steam last week when he intervened alongside Trump to scuttle a bill negotiated in the US Congress that would have threatened a government shutdown just days before Christmas. Ultimately, Congress reached an agreement to prevent a government shutdown.

However, the move to renege the funding bill invited attacks from Democrats, who accused Musk of calling the shots in the incoming Trump administration.

Even though Trump cleared the air that Musk would not become the president, he praised the billionaire for doing a “great job”.

“I like having smart people. Elon’s done an amazing job. It’s nice to have smart people that we can rely upon. Don’t we want that? He’s done a great job,” the President-elect said.

Trump, who is the world’s oldest elected president, is set to take office on January 20, 2025.