This also resulted in Tesla shares
declining 14% and its market cap taking a $152 billion hit.
Here are the claims both, Trump and Musk, made overnight:What Trump Said
1. Trump publicly called Musk “crazy”: “I asked him to leave,” Trump said, claiming Musk “just went CRAZY” after he removed the EV mandate and that Musk is only upset because he lost government support for electric vehicles.
2. Expressed deep disappointment: “I’ve aided him significantly. Look, Elon and I had a fantastic rapport. I can’t say if that will continue. I was taken aback,” Trump said.
3. Accused Musk of not objecting to the bill before: Trump accused Musk of knowing all about his administration’s tax cut and spending bill and not objecting until after he left the administration: “He knew everything about it. He had no problem with it”.
4. Threatened to terminate all government contracts: Trump threatened to terminate all government contracts and subsidies for Musk’s companies, saying, “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!”.
5. Blamed Musk’s criticism on losing the EV tax credits: “Elon is upset because we implemented the E.V. mandate, which was a considerable sum for electric vehicles, and they’re struggling—the electric vehicles—and they expect us to provide billions in subsidies. Elon was aware of this from the outset. He has known this for quite a while. That’s been consistent from the start”.
What Musk Said
1. Accused Trump of lying about his knowledge of the bill: “This bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it!”.
2. Claimed credit for Trump’s 2024 win: “Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate”.
3. Called Trump ungrateful: “Such ingratitude”, Musk said.
4. Endorsed calls for Trump’s impeachment and said he should be replaced: When a user posted “Trump should be impeached and JD Vance should replace him,” Musk replied “Yes”.
5. Alleged Trump’s name is in the sealed Epstein files: Musk alleged that the “real reason” the sealed Epstein files are not public is because they include Trump.
6. Said will decommission Dragon spacecraft then backed down: Musk responded to Trump’s contract threats by announcing, “In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately”. However, hours later, he replied to a post suggesting he take a step back and cool off for a few days, saying, “Good advice. OK, we won’t decommission Dragon.”
Also Read: Harvard sues over Trump barring foreign students’ US entry
