Clyburn brushes off Musk's plan to fund moderates in Democratic districts
Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., brushed off Elon Musk's statement about funding moderates in key Democratic districts and said he didn't know anyone in his party that was afraid of Musk's "money."
CNN's Victor Blackwell asked Clyburn on Saturday about Musk's statement posted to X and wondered how Democrats would respond to Musk's potential financial involvement in Democratic races.
"Well, you outwork them. That’s what you do. You’re at work now. Look, I’m a child of the 60s. I grew up here in South Carolina. I missed a vote yesterday because I was a part of eulogizing the gentleman from very modest backgrounds who brought that flag down off the statehouse dome and started that effort all over the south to get rid of all of these Confederate emblems. We did that with a lot of money against us," Clyburn began.
Musk posted to social media, responding to a video of Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., and said "forgot to mention that I’m also going to be funding moderate candidates in heavily Democrat districts, so that the country can get rid of those who don’t represent them."
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"When I worked for John Lewis back in the 60s, a lot of the money and power was against us. We did what we had to do. And I don’t know of a single Democrat who is afraid of Elon Musk’s money because we stay close to our constituents and we will outwork him," he added.
Prominent Democrats and members of the media have deemed Musk to be the real president, not Trump, in recent weeks and have blasted the billionaire over his role in government as an un-elected official.
CNN's Scott Jennings unloaded on Democrats criticizing Musk's role in government and said they should read the Wall Street Journal's reporting on President Biden from Thursday, which said people noticed issues with Biden's stamina very early on in his presidency.
"Un-elected people have been running the government for the last four years. I hear Democrats criticizing the influence of billionaires on our politics when you've got this Soros punk running around collecting Democrat politicians like my kids collect Pokémon cards," Jennings said.
"I think all the criticism of Musk coming from the left is totally hypocritical, totally over the top," he added.
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Clyburn, a close ally to Biden, also helped convince the president to pardon his son, Hunter Biden, despite months of saying he wouldn't issue the pardon.
"I am absolutely okay with it. I don’t know how many people urged him to do so, but I did," Clyburn revealed in a different CNN appearance.
When CNN's Laura Coates asked him what Biden’s reaction was, Clyburn replied, "He seemed to be a bit reticent about it, but I emphasized the fact that we as fathers have obligations to our children."