President Trump has publicly hit back at Elon Musk in an astonishing rant, admitting he was left “very disappointed” by the tech mogul’s criticism.

The pair are locked in a war of words after Musk called Trump’s tax bill a “disgusting abomination”.

The tech billionaire quit the Trump administration abruptly last week after 129 days working on cost-cutting initiatives with his team, known as Doge.

Responding to Musk’s comments, Trump said: “You saw a man who was very happy when he stood behind the Oval desk. Even with a black eye.

“I said, ‘do you want a little makeup?’, He said, ‘no, I don’t think so’, which is interesting.

“Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore.”

The row centres around Trump’s signature tax and spending bill, which includes huge tax breaks and more defence spending.

It was passed by the House of Representatives last month and is now being considered by senators.

Musk fears the bill would add to the US budget deficit and saddle Americans with “crushing” debt.

On Tuesday, be branded it a “disgusting abomination” as the pair’s divide deepened.

Trump said Musk is “upset” because of his measures on electric vehicles, which he says will impact his Tesla business.

He also claimed Musk wanted a Democrat to run NASA, which Trump refused to accept.

“Electric vehicles are having a hard time and they want us to pay billions of dollars in subsidy”, he explained.

“Elon knew that, and it disturbed in. He recommended someone I’m sure he knew very well to run NASA. He happened to be totally Democrat. I said ‘we won and we have certain privileges, one of those privileges is not appointing a Democrat’.

“I can understand why he’s upset. He was here for a very long time.”