Although there had been long-standing rumours that their friendship had soured, the billionaire’s departure from the Trump administration was anticipated. The two were inseparable for the first few months after the Republican took back the White House in January.
The reason for this is that Musk had been employed by the US government in a unique capacity as a “special government employee,” allowing him to spend up to 130 days in the office annually.
But he resigned just one day after criticising Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” and three days ahead of schedule.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office today (June 5), Trump said, “Look, you know, I’ve always liked Elon, and it’s always – very surprised. You saw the words he had for me, the words and he hasn’t said anything about me, that’s bad.”
“I’d rather have him criticize me than the bill, because the bill is incredible. Elon and I had a great relationship, I don’t know if it went well anymore.”
“I was surprised because, you were here, everybody in this room practically was here as we had a wonderful send off. He said wonderful things about me couldn’t have nicer. Said the best thing.”
“But I’m very disappointed, because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here.”
“False, this bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it!” Musk wrote in his subsequent Twitter response to him.
Musk has already expressed strong opinions about the law.
Speaking to CBS in a preview clip that aired on Tuesday (May 27), Musk said, “I was 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.”
“I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful… but I don’t know if it could be both, my personal opinion.”
The measure proposed multi-trillion dollar tax benefits and greater defence spending, including Trump’s goal of erecting a “Golden Dome” over the US to shield it from foreign missiles.
Musk noted that the new law might raise government spending by almost $600 billion in the upcoming fiscal year, undermining his position as chairman of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
