US President Donald Trump is not interested in talking with his former ally Elon Musk, amid a bitter feud over the president’s sweeping tax-cut bill, a White House official said, adding that no phone call between the two men is planned for the day.
A separate White House official had said earlier that Mr Trump and Mr Musk were going to talk to each other today.
“I’m not even thinking about Elon. He’s got a problem, the poor guy’s got a problem,” Mr Trump told CNN this morning.
Mr Trump, the world’s most powerful leader, and Mr Musk, the world’s richest man, battled openly yesterday in an extraordinary day of hostilities – largely over social media – that marked a stark end to a close alliance.
Shares in Mr Musk’s Tesla rose 4.5% when markets opened today.
In yesterday’s session, the stock dived 14% and lost about $150bn in value, the largest single-day decline in the electric vehicle maker’s history.
Mr Musk bankrolled a large part of Mr Trump’s presidential campaign and was then brought to the White House to head up a controversial effort to downsize the federal workforce and slash spending.
The falling-out began brewing days ago when Mr Musk, who left his role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency a week ago, denounced Mr Trump’s tax-cut and spending bill.
The feud is complicating efforts to pass the bill, which is the president’s main demand of the Republican-controlled Congress.
Mr Musk has denounced the package, which contains most of Mr Trump’s domestic priorities, as a “disgusting abomination” that would add too much to the nation’s $36.2 trillion in debt.
The package narrowly passed the House of Representatives last month and is now before the Senate, where Republicans say they will make further changes.
Nonpartisan analysts say it would add $2.4 trillion in debt over 10 years.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said he has been in touch with Mr Musk.
“I don’t argue with him about how to build rockets and I wish he wouldn’t argue with me about how to craft legislation and pass it,” he said on CNBC.
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Mr Trump had initially stayed quiet while Mr Musk campaigned to torpedo the bill, but broke his silence yesterday, telling reporters he was “very disappointed” in Mr Musk.
“Look, Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore,” he said. The pair then traded barbs on their social media platforms: Mr Trump’s Truth Social and Mr Musk’s X.
“Without me, Trump would have lost the election,” wrote Mr Musk, who spent nearly $300m backing Mr Trump and other Republicans in last year’s election.
“Time to drop the really big bomb: (Trump) is in the Epstein files,” Mr Musk posted on X. “That is the real reason they have not been made public.”
Musk did not reveal which files he was talking about and offered no evidence for his claim.
Mr Musk also asserted that Mr Trump’s signature import tariffs would push the US into a recession and responded “Yes” to a post on X saying Mr Trump should be impeached.
That would be highly unlikely given Mr Trump’s Republicans hold majorities in both chambers of Congress.
Mr Trump, for his part, suggested he would terminate government contracts with Mr Musk’s businesses, which include rocket company SpaceX and its satellite unit Starlink.
Mr Musk, whose space business plays a critical role in the US government’s space programme, responded that he would begin decommissioning SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, which is the only US spacecraft capable of sending astronauts to the International Space Station.
He backed off the threat later in the day.
In a sign of a possible detente, Mr Musk subsequently wrote: “You’re not wrong” in response to billionaire investor Bill Ackman saying Mr Trump and Mr Musk should make peace.
A prolonged feud between the pair could make it harder for Republicans to keep control of Congress in next year’s midterm elections if Mr Musk withholds financial support or other major Silicon Valley business leaders distance themselves from Mr Trump.
Mr Musk had already said he planned to curtail his political spending, and on Tuesday he called for “all politicians who betrayed the American people” to be fired next year.
His involvement with the Trump administration has provoked widespread protests at Tesla sites, driving down sales while investors fretted that Mr Musk’s attention was too divided.
