Elon Musk walked back his previous claim that he could cut at least $2 trillion from the federal budget, saying Wednesday that half that amount would be “an epic outcome.”

In a Wednesday interview on X, Elon Musk said cuts of $2 trillion to the federal budget might not be possible and was a "best-case outcome."

Elon Musk, who U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has tapped to oversee a government cost-cutting effort, acknowledged that his declared goal of cutting $2 trillion in spending from the $6.8 trillion federal budget would be a long shot.

Musk's escalating criticism and mocking of European leaders and governments, which he has done repeatedly via X, the social media platform he owns, has sparked a backlash from

Elon Musk urged Germans to vote for the far-right Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) in an upcoming election in a conversation with its leader on his social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that highlighted the US billionaire’s growing ambition to sway European politics.