Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s political alliance (and friendship) ended in a fiery public divorce on Thursday, June 5th, with the U.S. president threatening to strip the billionaire of his huge government contracts.
Trump said in a televised Oval Office speech that he was “very disappointed” after his former aide and top donor criticised his “big, beautiful” spending bill before Congress.
Musk, in turn, alleged without proof on X that Trump was referenced in the files on disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The row could have major political and economic fallout, as shares in Musk’s Tesla car company plunged and the South African-born tech tycoon vowed that he would end a critical U.S. spaceship program.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told AFP that Musk’s Epstein tweet “is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted.”
Musk described the bill as an “abomination” because he says it will increase the U.S. deficit.
Trump finally suggested hitting the “crazy” entrepreneur where it hurts, threatening Musk’s multibillion-dollar government contracts including for launching rockets and for the use of the Starlink satellite service.
