President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he would not let billionaire Ilon Musk be involved in any government -related government decisions when the president was asked about the possible conflict of interests of Musk in his attempt to cut themselves.

“So anything to do with space, we will not let the Ilon participate in it”Trump told reporters.

The White House has previously stated that Musk would exclude any conflict between his various business interests and efforts to reduce the costs for the federal government through the Ministry of Efficiency of the Government, according to Reuters.

The White House said Monday that Musk’s role in the Trump government is as White House and a senior adviser to the president and that he is not an employee of Doge. The White House also said that Musk has no power to make decisions.

Doge has scanned federal services since Trump began his second term as president last month and put Musk responsible for the elimination of wasteful costs as part of a drastic reform of the government that includes thousands of job cuts.

“Ilon is, for me, a patriot. You know, you could call him an employee, you could call him a consultant ‘, Trump said about Musk on Tuesday. “You could tell him the way you want it, but he’s a patriot.”