Trump Says He Told Elon Musk To Exit Administration, Threatens Funding Cuts
FILE PHOTO: Elon Musk greets US President Donald Trump as they attend the NCAA men's wrestling championships in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, March 22, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo
US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk attend a press conference in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., US, May 30, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
WASHINGTON, June 6 (Bernama-Anadolu) -- US President Donald Trump said he asked Elon Musk to leave his role in the Trump administration, and appeared to threaten billions of dollars in government funding as the row between the once close allies continued to widen Thursday, Anadolu Ajansi reported.
"Elon was 'wearing thin,' I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!" Trump wrote in a social media post.
Trump appeared to threaten government subsidies for the multiple companies Musk runs, saying, "The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts."
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"I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it!" he said in a second post.
The comments are the latest salvo as the US president and the world's richest man continue to deepen their intensifying feud.
Musk said earlier in the day that Trump would have lost the 2024 US election without his support, and suggested that it may be time for the country to establish a new political party.
"Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate," Musk wrote on X. "Such ingratitude."
Musk posted a poll asking his more than 220 million followers if it is time to form a new political party in the US. While the poll has 23 hours to conclude, over 83 per cent of respondents said it is time.
The comments, and the apparent testing of the political waters, mark the latest escalation in the growing feud between the once-close political allies after Musk left the White House where he led Trump's government-slashing effort.
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