Trump threatens Musk with "very serious consequences" if he supports Democratic candidates.
"It's a shame Elon is so depressed and heartbroken," the president says, ending his relationship with the world's richest man.
BarcelonaNew chapter in the battle between Elon Musk and Donald TrumpThe US president warned the tech mogul, with whom he completely severed relations on Thursday, that he will face "very serious consequences" if he decides to support Democratic candidates who oppose Republicans who vote in favor of his mega-tax bill.
"If he does that, he will have to pay the consequences [...] He will have to pay very serious consequences if he does that," Trump said in a telephone interview with NBC, without elaborating on the threat.
Trump's bill, registered under the name Big Beautiful Bill and described by Musk as "a terrible abomination," was narrowly approved by the House of Representatives and is now before the Senate before being voted on again in the House of Representatives.
In this sense, Trump has added that he believes that Elon Musk's opposition to his law - which pursues significant tax cuts - has "highlighted his strengths": "People who were not so focused started paying attention to it and saw how good it is," Trump continued.
On the other hand, the American president has responded "I guess so" when asked if his relationship with the co-founder of Tesla was over, and has said again that he has no intention of reconciling with the richest man in the world.
"I think it's a very bad thing because it was very disrespectful. You can't disrespect the presidency," he added.
Regarding Musk's accusations that the US president was on the list of the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Trump said: "This is old news, it's been talked about for years. Even Epstein's lawyer has said I didn't have it."
As for the multi-million dollar contracts that Musk's companies like Space X have with the White House, and that Trump has threatened to cancel, he said that "he could do it" but that, for the moment, he hasn't thought about it. "I really think it's a shame that Elon is so depressed and so heartbroken," Trump said.
Until Thursday, Trump and Musk had been working closely together, with the South African businessman even donating $250 million to the Republican's re-election bid and calling each other "friends." However, the billionaire's departure from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) began to come into public view on Thursday when Musk stepped up his attacks on Trump's mega-tax project and accused him of hiding the Jeffrey Epstein list because his name appears on it, sparking a barrage of personal criticism.
The tech mogul, who had so far seen his support for Trump continue to boost the valuation of his companies, suggested he would dismantle NASA's SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, but backtracked five hours later.