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Elon Musk on Thursday insisted that his companies do not receive any special subsidies or favorable contracts from the federal government, as he dismissed an apparent peace offering from President Donald Trump, saying he has no intention to target the billionaire’s companies and instead wants Musk to “thrive.”
Elon Musk dismissed a apparent olive branch from President Donald Trump and insisted that his ... More
In a post on X, the billionaire responded to a Truth Social post made by Trump earlier in the day, saying the president has no intention to “destroy” Musk’s companies by taking away “large-scale subsidies he receives from the U.S. government.”
Musk rejected this suggestion and said: “The ‘subsidies’ he’s talking about simply do not exist.”
Musk then claimed the president, referring to him simply as “DJT”, has “already removed or put an expiry date on all sustainable energy support while leaving massive oil & gas subsidies untouched,” a dig at the president’s signature spending legislation scrapping the $7,500 federal EV tax credit.
He also rejected the suggestion that his rocket company, SpaceX, was receiving favorable treatment, noting “SpaceX won the NASA contracts by doing a better job for less money.”
Musk claimed that moving SpaceX’s contracts to “other aerospace companies would leave astronauts stranded and taxpayers on the hook for twice as much!”
The billionaire also mockingly wrote “Phew” in response to a post by a Tesla fan account which said: “President Trump has said he will not ‘destroy Elon Musk’s companies.’”
In a post on Truth Social earlier on Thursday, Trump wrote: “Everyone is stating that I will destroy Elon’s companies by taking away some, if not all, of the large-scale subsidies he receives from the U.S. government. This is not so!” The president, who has repeatedly threatened to scrap Musk’s government contracts and subsidies since the two former allies began feuding publicly last month, insisted that he wants Musk to “THRIVE like never before.” The post appeared to be an effort to seek a detente in the feud at a time when the president is besieged by controversy over his administration’s handling of documents detailing the investigation into the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
When the feud between Musk and Trump first broke out in public last month, the X owner alleged in a now-deleted tweet that Trump’s name was in the Epstein files and this was the reason why the administration had not made it public. After deleting the tweet, Musk said he regretted some of his “posts about President Donald Trump,” as he thought some of them “went too far.” However, the feud has reignited since then with Musk taking multiple potshots at Trump over the so-called Epstein files. However, the billionaire has remained silent about a Wall Street Journal report from Wednesday, which stated that Attorney General Pam Bondi informed President Donald Trump that he was named multiple times in the Epstein files during a briefing in May. Musk's silence on the matter comes even as several people have suggested that the report proves that his deleted tweet was correct.
Musk does not appear to be backing down from dredging up the Epstein issue on X, despite Trump’s overture. In a post on Truth Social, Trump attacked “Radical Left Democrats” and accused them of perpetuating “what we will call the Jeffrey Epstein SCAM.” Trump added: “Hopefully, the Grand Jury Files will put an end to this HOAX. Everyone should see what is there, but people who are innocent should not be hurt.” Musk then replied “Exactly” to a post from a follower responding to Trump’s claim, saying: “Why not review the 10,000 hours of video. Each video will contain a victim and perpetrator. Identify all the perpetrators and make a list. Release the list.”
Trump Says He Wants Musk To ‘Thrive’ Amid Epstein Scrutiny Pushed By Tesla CEO (Forbes)
The Musk Vs. Trump Feud Timeline (Forbes)
Trump Told In May He Was In Epstein Files, Report Says (Forbes)