A top Republican has slammed accusations that Elon Musk has transformed himself into the GOP’s éminence grise, insisting the tech-bro billionaire is a force for “transparency” just days after the SpaceX founder’s legislative meddling almost resulted in a federal shutdown.

President Donald Trump’s billionaire ally Elon Musk used his outsize influence on X to help kill a bipartisan funding proposal that would have prevented a government shutdown, spreading multiple false claims in the process.

Strategists and some legislators have suggested Musk is holding the reins of government instead of Trump, following a series of his posts on his social platform X worked to tank the funding bill that would have kept the government open until March.