Live Updates: Trump Threatens to Cut Elon Musk’s Government Contracts as Feud Escalates

 

Live Updates: Trump Threatens to Cut Elon Musk’s Government Contracts as Feud Escalates

The open acrimony between the two men comes after the billionaire denounced President Trump’s signature domestic policy bill as an “abomination.”

 

Tyler Pager

Theodore Schleifer

Updated

June 5, 2025, 3:14 p.m. ET44 minutes ago

Tyler Pager and Theodore SchleiferReporting from Washington

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06/05/us/trump-elon-musk

 

Here’s the latest.

President Trump on Thursday threatened to cut the billions of dollars in federal contracts and tax subsidies for Elon Musk’s companies, escalating a feud that unfurled on social media in remarkably public and rapid fashion.

 

Their unlikely alliance dissolved into open acrimony, with the two men hurling personal attacks at each other over matters both significant and petty.

 

What started as simply a fight over Mr. Trump’s domestic policy bill sharply escalated into who deserved more credit for Mr. Trump’s election victory and why Mr. Musk did not cover up a black eye with makeup and whether the government should cut its contracts with Mr. Musk’s companies and provide it with subsidies.

 

“The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!”

 

While meeting with Friedrich Merz, Germany’s new chancellor, in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump broke days of uncharacteristic silence and unloaded on Mr. Musk, who until last week was a top presidential adviser.

 

“I’m very disappointed in Elon,” Mr. Trump said. “I’ve helped Elon a lot.”

 

As the president criticized Mr. Musk, the billionaire responded in real time on X, the social media platform he owns.

 

“Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” Mr. Musk wrote. “Such ingratitude,” he added, taking credit for Mr. Trump’s election in a way that he never has before.

 

By Thursday afternoon, Mr. Musk was floating leaving the Republican Party to form a new entity. Mr. Trump, for his part, was accusing him of “Trump derangement syndrome.”

 

Here’s what else to know:

A shattered alliance: The public break comes after a remarkable partnership between the two men. Mr. Musk deployed over $250 million to back Mr. Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. After Mr. Trump won, he gave Mr. Musk free rein to slash the federal work force. Just last week, Mr. Trump gave Mr. Musk a personal send-off in the Oval Office, praising him as “one of the greatest business leaders and innovators the world has ever produced,” while Mr. Musk promised to remain a “friend and adviser to the president.” Read more ›

 

Musk’s leverage: Elon Musk created a poll on X that asked his followers if there should be a “new political party” that represents “the 80 percent in the middle.” He has often portrayed himself as a centrist, despite his engagement with right-wing leaders around the world. Although he promised $100 million to groups controlled by the Trump political operation, he has not delivered it, and could funnel his considerable wealth into this idea as his next political project.

 

Online chaos: Now unshackled from loyalty to the Trump party line, Mr. Musk has returned to fomenting chaos on X. Mr. Musk panned the president’s signature domestic policy bill as a “disgusting abomination” and telling House members who voted for it: “You know you did wrong.” Mr. Musk has often criticized legislation, agencies and others that are against the interests of himself and his companies, which include the electric carmaker Tesla and the rocket company SpaceX.

 

Kate Conger, Michael Gold and Jonathan Swan contributed reporting.