Elon Musk blames 'snake' White House aide for rift with Trump
Elon Musk continued his feud with the Trump administration on his way out of Washington, referring to the director of presidential personnel as 'a snake.' Sergio Gor, who feuded with Musk during his time as head of DOGE and reportedly killed Musk's preferred nominee for NASA administrator, is accused of not being vetted before taking the job.
The media saw it as the man in charge of vetting White House employees not being looked into himself, while Musk saw it in a different way, writing on X Wednesday night: 'He's a snake.' Musk's post remains up which is notable given the Tesla CEO has apologized for going 'too far' in his wild statements regarding Donald Trump during their falling out.
When DailyMail.com reached out to the White House, they defended Gor's (pictured) credentials and a White House official noted that he helped Musk get many of his preferred DOGE employees installed in Washington. 'Mr. Gor is fully compliant with all applicable ethical and legal obligations. His security clearance is active, any insinuation he doesn't maintain a clearance is false.' said White House Counsel David Warrington. Nonetheless, several prominent officials defended Gor's work in the second Trump administration.
JD Vance added: 'Sergio has led the effort to ensure committed, principled America First advocates staff the President's government. He's done a great job, and will continue to do so. Sergio is a vital member of the team and he has helped President Trump put together an Administration that is second to none,' White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said. 'As a long-time advisor, there is nobody more capable of ensuring the government is staffed with people who are aligned with the mission to make America great again and work towards implementing the President's agenda.'
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called The New York Post's original story 'sad' and 'baseless gossip' and called Gor a 'trusted advisor to President Trump.' Trump's surprise decision to change Musk's preferred pick to lead NASA may have done more to fuel the historic blowup between the two men than previously known. The president canceled his nomination of Jared Isaacman as NASA's administrator after Musk officially left the White House on Friday.
Isaacman, a billionaire, pilot and astronaut, was close with Musk and even flew to space with Musk's Dragon program on Operation Polaris Dawn in 2024 . But he had a history of donating funds to Democrats, including recent Democratic candidates who ran against GOP senators Tim Sheehy of Montana and Bernie Moreno of Ohio in 2024. Despite his donations, Isaacman was approved by the Senate committee in April and was expected to get confirmed this week in the Senate.
But Trump's advisor Gor reportedly delivered Trump a list of Isaacman's donations to Democrats. Gor did not appreciate Musk's involvement in personnel matters, the report noted, as they had a tense relationship. 'This was Sergio's out-the-door '[expletive] you' to Musk,' one White House official said. Trump and Musk spoke about Issacson's record prior to their press conference last Friday.
Despite their conversation, Trump pulled Issacson's nomination on Saturday. 'After a thorough review of prior associations, I am hereby withdrawing the nomination of Jared Isaacman to head NASA,' Trump wrote on his Truth Social site.
Musk responded to the news with disappointment 'It is rare to find someone so competent and good-hearted,' Musk wrote of Isaacman on X. The president mused Thursday that Musk's personal attacks might have been trigged by his decision. 'I know that disturbed him He wanted and rightfully recommended somebody that I guess he knew very well. I'm sure he respected him, to run NASA. But I didn't think it was appropriate. He happened to be a Democrat, like totally Democrat,' Trump said, adding that the administration had the right to nominate a Republican to the position.
As the person in charge at the White House personnel office, Gor is a powerful aide that is rarely crossed as he influences who is allowed to work in the administration. Gor, a long-time loyal Deputy Chief of staff to Sen. Rand Paul, left in 2019 to serve as Chief of Staff to Trump Victory Finance Committee.
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