President Donald Trump is considering either giving away or selling the red Tesla he purchased to support Elon Musk, a senior administration official told ABC News.
The Tesla was parked on West Executive Avenue on Thursday.
Trump made a show of checking out Tesla models at the White House in March as Musk’s company took a hit as he arrived in Washington.
The war of words on Thursday, stemming from Musk’s criticism of Trump’s signature tax and immigration bill, had Musk suggesting Trump would have lost the 2024 election without him, backing calls for Trump’s impeachment and even claiming Trump was “in” the Epstein files regarding the investigation into the accused sex trafficker.
“That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!” Musk posted.
Trump, in turn, had said Musk had gone “CRAZY” and suggested terminating Musk’s government contracts and subsidies.
In a phone interview Friday morning, hours after his blistering exchange with Elon Musk, President Donald Trump sounded remarkably unconcerned about their feud, as if it weren’t even the most interesting thing that happened Thursday.
Speaking on a phone call Friday morning shortly before 7 a.m., ABC News asked him about reports he had a call scheduled with Musk for later in the day..
“You mean the man who has lost his mind?” he asked, saying he was “not particularly” interested in talking to him right now.
He said Musk wants to talk to him, but he’s not ready to talk to Musk.
Trump then talked for a couple of minutes about other things — referring to inflation (down), foreign investment (up) and his plans for a visit to China (huge).
People close to Trump have described him as more sad than angry at Musk. One adviser who was with Trump on Thursday night said he seemed “bummed” about the breakup. And that’s the way he sounded on Friday morning.
Vice President JD Vance expressed his support for Trump amid the public dispute in a brief post to X — albeit hours after the back-and-forth between Trump and Musk began. The post didn’t directly weigh in on Musk’s attacks or criticize the Tesla billionaire, with whom Vance has his own history with that predates his time as Trump’s running mate and vice president.
“President Trump has done more than anyone in my lifetime to earn the trust of the movement he leads. I am proud to stand beside him,” Vance wrote on social media.
Vance still hadn’t directly responded to Musk’s accusations against Trump when he posted again on Friday morning.
“There are many lies the corporate media tells about President Trump. One of the most glaring is that he’s impulsive or short-tempered. Anyone who has seen him operate under pressure knows that’s ridiculous,” Vance wrote, focusing his fury on the media.
The White House called the public feud between Trump and Elon Musk “an unfortunate episode from Elon, who doesn’t like the One Big Beautiful Bill because it doesn’t include his policies.”
“The President is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
Just hours after accusing President Donald Trump of appearing in the Epstein files, Elon Musk is showing signs of softening his tone, even appearing to agree with a post on X calling for the two to “make peace.”
The first sign Musk may be starting to walk things back came thanks to an account with — at the time — about 140 followers on X who suggested to “cool off” and “take a step back.” The post led Musk to reverse his threat to decommission the spacecraft used to transport astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station — a threat Musk had made just hours earlier.
Musk then wrote that he agreed with a post by hedge fund manager Bill Ackman saying Trump and Musk should “should make peace for the benefit of our great country.” Musk responded: “You’re not wrong.”
By ABC News
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