“What he did at Twitter is a good example of what I want to do to the administrative state,” he told Laura Ingraham on Fox News on Aug. 18. “Take out 75 percent of the dead weight cost. Improve the actual experience of what it’s supposed to do.”

Ramaswamy made some waves at the first GOP presidential debate Wednesday, raking in $450,000 in the first hours after the event. He has since returned to Iowa to continue his campaign pitch. The Messenger first reported his broader comments Friday.

Musk, who has suggested he will support Ron DeSantis and collaborated with the Florida governor on his campaign launch, is the richest man in the world and already holds a wide-ranging array of political power with his ownership of X, Tesla and SpaceX. Although he has not made a formal endorsement, he has previously expressed some praise for Ramaswamy.

“He is a very promising candidate,” Musk wrote on X about Ramaswamy on Aug. 17.

Ramaswamy’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Musk’s Tesla press team also did not return a request for comment.