Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is totally open to the Trump administration shrugging off its supposed free-market ideals and using tax dollars to invest in private companies.

On Tuesday, CNBC host Andrew Ross Sorkin asked whether there is a limit to the government buying stakes in private companies, such as its announced 10% stake in chip maker Intel.

“Oh, there's a monstrous discussion about defense,” Lutnick said. “I mean, Lockheed Martin makes 97% of their revenue from the U.S. government. They are basically an arm of the U.S. government.” (Lockheed’s most recent financial report shows that the U.S. government accounted for about 73% of the company’s sales in the second quarter of this year.)

“I'm going to leave that to my secretary of defense and the deputy secretary of defense,”

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