Days after a major public dispute, billionaire Elon Musk on Wednesday expressed regret over some of his recent social media posts targeting Donald Trump, in an apparent attempt to difuse tensions with the US President after a ugly public spat between the two not too long after the SpaceX exited the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE.
"I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far," Musk wrote on X.
How the Trump-Musk feud began
The fallout began when Musk sharply criticised a key spending bill backed by the Trump administration. Describing it as a "disgusting abomination," Musk called for political retribution against Republican lawmakers who supported the bill, which is considered central to Trump’s domestic agenda during his second term.
The White House quickly responded.
Trump's take on Musk
In an interview with NBC News on Saturday, President Trump issued a warning, saying Musk would face "very serious consequences" if he followed through on threats to fund primary challengers against incumbent Republican legislators.
"He'll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that," Trump said, without offering specifics. He also ruled out any reconciliation.
"I have no intention of speaking to him," he added.
Just a week earlier, Trump had publicly praised Musk for his role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a federal advisory group focused on reducing government waste. Musk resigned from the position, citing disagreements over government spending priorities.
Shortly after his resignation, Musk began criticising the administration’s signature legislation. His remarks prompted swift backlash, with Trump accusing him of disloyalty and threatening to re-examine federal contracts held by Musk’s companies.
Musk's Epstein files bombshell and a U-turn
Tensions escalated when Elon Musk posted a series of provocative messages suggesting a link between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, the financier who died by suicide in 2019 while in custody on sex trafficking charges.
"Time to drop the really big bomb: (Trump) is in the Epstein files," Musk wrote, referencing unreleased government documents allegedly tied to Epstein's network.
He suggested that authorities were suppressing these documents and implied they could contain compromising material about Trump.
Musk did not provide any evidence or clarify which files he meant. In a follow-up post, he urged followers to “mark this post for the future,” adding, “The truth will come out.”