Trump dismisses Musk's call after public fallout, considers selling Tesla
US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk (R) speak in the Oval Office before departing the White House in Washington, DC, on the way to Trump's residence at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida
US President Donald Trump has no plans to speak to billionaire Elon Musk and may even ditch his red Tesla car, the White House said Friday after a stunning public divorce fraught with risk for both men.
Trump's camp insisted that he wanted to move on from the row with the South African-born Musk, with officials telling AFP that the tech tycoon had requested a call but that the president was not interested.
The Republican instead intended to focus on getting the US Congress to pass his "big, beautiful" spending bill -- Musk's harsh criticisms of which had triggered the astonishing meltdown on Thursday.
Fallout from the blow-up between the world's richest person and its most powerful could be significant, as Trump risks political damage and Musk faces the loss of huge US government contracts.
Trump phoned reporters at several US broadcast networks to insist that he was looking past the row. He called Musk "the man who has lost his mind" in a call to ABC and told CBS he was "totally" focused on the presidency.
The White House meanwhile, squashed earlier reports that they would talk.
"The president does not intend to speak to Musk today," a senior White House official told AFP on condition of anonymity. A second official said it was "true" that Musk had requested a call.
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