Donald Trump responds to Elon Musk's late-night apology after ugly public feud
WASHINGTON — President Trump is feeling good about Elon Musk's apology after the former 'first buddy' admitted late Tuesday he had gone 'too far' in his personal attacks on the commander-in-chief.
'I thought it was very nice that he did that,' the president told The Post in a brief phone conversation Wednesday morning, but didn't say whether he was willing to let bygones be bygones with the Tesla and SpaceX CEO.
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Musk, 53, went off on Trump in a series of social media messages this past Thursday, at one point claiming the Republican would not have won the 2024 election without his help and suggesting the president was responsible for preventing the release of files on convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein due to his past association with the late financier.
'I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far,' Musk wrote late Tuesday after previously deleting his post about the Epstein files.
Efforts have been made by Trump's allies to ease tensions between the two men.
On Friday, Vice President JD Vance and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles held a phone call with Musk to talk about his relationship with Trump, according to a source familiar with the conversation.
The Post could not independently confirm other reports that Musk reached out to Trump personally on Monday.
The president has expressed openness to potentially burying the hatchet with Musk — who he accused last week of having 'Trump Derangement Syndrome' and being bitter about both leaving his special government employee position and the House GOP removing electric vehicle tax incentives from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
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Trump told CNN on Friday that Musk was 'crazy' — and threatened on Truth Social to look into revoking his company's federal government contracts.
But the president also told The Post on Friday that 'nothing surprises him' — not even his onetime ally turning against him.
Trump told Post columnist Miranda Devine Monday that he doesn't 'blame' Musk for the blow-up that started with the former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) figure's criticisms of the Big Beautiful Bill — but maintained that he's 'a little disappointed.'
'Look, I have no hard feelings,' Trump said. 'I was really surprised that that happened. He went after a bill that's phenomenal. …He just — I think he feels very badly that he said that, actually.'
When asked whether he would ever go back to a regular relationship with Musk, Trump told Devine's 'Pod Force One' podcast: 'I guess I could, but we have to straighten out the country.'
'And my sole function now is getting this country back to a level higher than it's ever been. And I think we can do that.'
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