How Elon Musk Has Planted Himself Almost Literally at Trump’s Doorstep

 

How Elon Musk Has Planted Himself Almost Literally at Trump’s Doorstep

 

For much of the period since Election Day, the billionaire has been staying at a $2,000-a-night cottage at Mar-a-Lago, giving him easy access to the president-elect.

 

Maggie Haberman Jonathan Swan Ryan Mac

By Maggie HabermanJonathan Swan and Ryan Mac

Dec. 30, 2024, 3:10 p.m. ET

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/30/us/politics/elon-musk-trump-mar-a-lago.html

 

Elon Musk plays many roles with President-elect Donald J. Trump. He is Mr. Trump’s most important donor, most influential social media promoter and a key adviser on policy and personnel.

 

For most of the time since Election Day, he has also been Mr. Trump’s tenant.

 

Mr. Musk has been using one of the cottages available for rent on Mr. Trump’s property at Mar-a-Lago, the former Marjorie Merriweather Post home in Florida that Mr. Trump converted into a members-only club and hotel in the 1990s, according to two people with knowledge of the arrangement. The cottage where he has been staying, named Banyan, is several hundred feet away from the main house, according to a person who knows the property.

 

Staying right on the grounds has helped provide Mr. Musk with easy access to Mr. Trump.

 

He can drop in on Mr. Trump’s dinners, such as one he had recently with Mr. Musk’s rival, the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

 

Mr. Musk, who spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars in the final months of this year’s election cycle to help elect Mr. Trump, has attended personnel meetings in the Mar-a-Lago Teahouse, sat in on phone calls with foreign leaders and spent hours with Mr. Trump in his office. Mr. Musk’s employees from his various businesses have also been integrally involved in the transition, vetting prospective candidates for senior administration jobs, in interviews at the Trump transition headquarters in West Palm Beach.

 

Mr. Musk is not the only member of the president-elect’s inner circle who has been bunking on Mr. Trump’s property. Vice President-elect JD Vance has stayed in one of the cottages at Mar-a-Lago when he has been in Palm Beach and has been there frequently during the transition, according to a person with knowledge of his stays. And others are said to have used cottages since Election Day. But few have been as omnipresent as Mr. Musk.

 

The cottage being used by Mr. Musk has been used over the years by many friends and associates of Mr. Trump.

 

Years ago, former Speaker John Boehner stayed at Banyan with a friend, before Mr. Trump became a presidential candidate.

 

Mr. Trump has bragged to people that Mr. Musk — the world’s richest man — is “renting” one of the residential spaces at Mar-a-Lago. It is unclear how much Mr. Musk will ultimately end up paying for the cottage, which historically has rented for at least $2,000 a night, according to a person with knowledge of the fees.

 

Officials at the club do not typically bill guests until the end of their stay, leaving open the possibility that Mr. Trump will choose not to charge Mr. Musk, or to reduce the size of his bill. But Mr. Trump is not known to shy away from income opportunities.

 

Mr. Musk moved into the cottage around Election Day and watched the returns at Mar-a-Lago with Mr. Trump. He left the property around Christmas and has been expected to return in the coming days.

 

Mr. Musk is known around the club to make requests like meals outside the normal kitchen hours. While staying at Mar-a-Lago, he has been accompanied by at least two of his children — Mr. Musk has at least 11 — and their nannies.

 

One of the mothers of his children, Shivon Zilis, who worked for Mr. Musk at his brain implant company Neuralink, has also been photographed at Mar-a-Lago, after the election.

 

Mr. Musk travels frequently and is known to stay at properties owned by his friends. In San Francisco, he has been known to stay at the home of David Sacks, the venture capitalist whom Mr. Trump nominated recently to be an adviser on cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence. While in Hawaii, he has resided at places owned by the billionaire Larry Ellison on the island of Lanai.

 

Mar-a-Lago is different, however, in being a for-profit enterprise owned by Mr. Trump rather than a private home.

 

A spokesman for the Trump transition did not respond to an email seeking comment about the arrangement. Mr. Musk did not respond to an email request for comment.

 

On Friday, in a post on Truth Social that seemed intended as a private communication to Mr. Musk, Mr. Trump wrote: “Where are you? When are you coming to the ‘Center of the Universe,’ Mar-a-Lago. Bill Gates asked to come, tonight. We miss you and x! New Year’s Eve is going to be AMAZING!!! DJT.”

 

Some of Mr. Trump’s advisers have privately griped about how much influence Mr. Musk has had on the transition and how inseparable he is from the president-elect.

 

Mr. Musk is unlikely to have such unfettered physical access to Mr. Trump after the president-elect is sworn in on Jan. 20 in Washington. Coming and going in the West Wing is more onerous than at Mr. Trump’s private clubs, as is access to the White House residence.

 

Still, Mr. Trump has often liked to collect people, and has enjoyed knowing that many of them pay for access to him. Since he first took office, people seeking to curry favor with him — or to get face time with him — have joined his clubs, rented ballrooms at his properties or stayed in his hotels.

 

Mr. Trump is said to have increased the annual membership fee at Mar-a-Lago to $1 million.

 

Maggie Haberman is a senior political correspondent reporting on the 2024 presidential campaign, down ballot races across the country and the investigations into former President Donald J. Trump. More about Maggie Haberman

 

Jonathan Swan is a political reporter covering the 2024 presidential election and Donald Trump’s campaign. More about Jonathan Swan

 

Ryan Mac covers corporate accountability across the global technology industry. More about Ryan Mac