WASHINGTON — The simmering tension between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk exploded Thursday into a public brawl between the most powerful man in the world and the richest man in the world, filled with personal attacks and financial threats.
The spat began when the president criticized the Tesla CEO’s recent attacks on the Republican policy measure winding its way through Congress — which Trump has dubbed the “big, beautiful bill” — and quickly escalated into social media volleys. Trump suggested the U.S. government could cut its significant ties with Musk’s businesses. And Musk shot back, highlighting the one-time links between the president and the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and promoting a post that called for Trump’s impeachment.
“I’m very disappointed because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office during a bilateral meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. “I’m very disappointed in Elon. I’ve helped Elon a lot.”
The comments — and the flurry of online retorts from both men that quickly followed — are the latest development in a remarkable break between the two. Musk donated over $250 million in support of Trump’s 2024 campaign, and after his November win, Trump invited him into his administration.
Musk’s actions at the Department of Government Efficiency — instituting mass layoffs, shutting government functions and compiling data across agencies — defined the early stages of Trump’s second term, and the two showered each other with praise. But the relationship cooled as Trump’s priorities shifted to major spending legislation and Musk wound down his time at the White House.
Trump suggested that Musk, who called the GOP bill a “disgusting abomination” this week, was upset that the bill cut out a tax credit meant to incentivize electric vehicle purchases. “Elon’s upset because we took the EV mandate, which was a lot of money for electric vehicles and they’re having a hard time with electric vehicles and they want us to pay billions of dollars in subsidy,” Trump said. “Elon knew this from the beginning.”
Tesla is the biggest electric vehicle maker in the United States. The company’s sales have suffered in recent months, reflecting increased global competition and backlash generated by Musk’s political activities. Since leaving his White House role last week, Musk has said he is back “24/7” at his companies, including Tesla and the major government contractor SpaceX. Tesla’s stock, however, has stumbled as he’s ramped up his criticism of Trump’s signature bill. Shares are down more than 20% so far this year.
Trump’s comments Thursday are his strongest yet against a man who was once his top campaign donor and one of his closest advisers. Musk, who jokingly referred to himself as “first buddy,” officially left the administration last week on a less amicable note.
“I was, like, disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decrease it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” he told CBS News during his last few days as a special government employee.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicted in an estimate released Wednesday that the House-passed legislation would add $2.4 trillion to the national debt over the next decade.
Reacting to Trump’s comments on X, Musk first brushed them off as “whatever,” before firing off dozens of posts blasting the GOP bill and the president himself.
“Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” he said. “Such ingratitude,” he added.
Trump fired back later Thursday on Truth Social, his rival platform, claiming that Musk “went crazy” after the president “asked him to leave” his White House role. Trump also suggested the federal government could sever ties with Musk’s companies, which have billions of dollars in contracts with the federal government.
In response, Musk claimed that the president was in what are known as the “Epstein files” — a reference to a trove of documents and files spread across a number of investigations and lawsuits. The Justice Department released hundreds more pages of documents this year related to the Epstein investigations.
Though Trump and Epstein knew each other, there have been no new revelations about their relationship in any of those files. Trump has never been implicated in Epstein’s abuse of underage girls. He denied any wrongdoing, saying in a post last year, “I was never on Epstein’s Plane, or at his ‘stupid’ Island.”
Flight logs released in 2021 as part of Epstein associate Ghislane Maxwell’s trial, however, indicated Trump flew on the plane seven times. The logs don’t include the ages of the passengers.
The White House responded to Musk’s claim Thursday night with press secretary Karoline Leavitt calling it “an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted.”
She added that Trump “is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation.”
The back-and-forth between Trump and Musk included the president saying, “I don’t mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago.” Soon after, Musk shared a post that said he would win in a fight over Trump and that the president should be impeached and replaced with Vice President JD Vance. “Yes,” Musk posted, quoting that post.
Musk then charged that Trump’s sweeping tariffs on U.S. trading partners would “cause a recession in the second half of this year.”
Steve Bannon, a senior White House adviser during Trump’s first term who has clashed with Musk in recent months, called for an investigation Thursday into Musk on a variety of issues and the cancellation of all his government contracts.
The dramatic spat was a far cry from their previously close relationship. Even on Musk’s last day in the White House, Trump praised his work leading the Department of Government Efficiency and said, “Elon’s really not leaving. He’s going to be back and forth, I think.”
He added, “It’s his baby, and I think he’s going to be doing a lot of things. But Elon’s service to America has been without comparison in modern history.”
