Elon Musk’s father has said his son and Donald Trump’s dramatic falling out was like “a man and a wife arguing”, but they will patch things up soon.
Errol Musk told Sky News’ Moscow correspondent Ivor Bennett: “It’s like any argument. Everybody at some point says I’ll never make up, but then they do later.”
It comes after the world’s richest man said in a now-deleted tweet that the US president appears in files relating to the disgraced paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The social media back-and-forth began when the Tesla and SpaceX CEO called Mr Trump’s tax and spending bill a “disgusting abomination” days after abruptly leaving his position spearheading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), saying it would add to US debts and threaten economic stability.
“Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public,” he tweeted.
In a follow-up post he added: “Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.”
He gave no evidence for his claim, which the White House dismissed. The posts disappeared from his social media platform by Sunday.
Asked what he thought of the public falling out, Errol Musk said: “I was very surprised, I didn’t expect anything like that.”
He said his son is “somebody who sticks by his principles” and “doesn’t like to be called out on anything”.
He added: “I don’t think Elon would be concerned about whether he criticises Donald Trump or not.”
‘They’ll come to an understanding’
Mr Musk said his son and the president fell out over Mr Trump’s bill, adding it was “not going to save the country money” and “was going to cost the country even more money”.
But he said: “I think they’ll come to an understanding in due course. Elon is standing by his principles that we must cut costs.”
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Asked if they would make up, he said: “Yes absolutely. They may not go back to exactly the same arrangement but they’re certainly both on the same side of things so it’s simply a matter of they should take notice of what Elon is saying and he should take notice of the needs that the government has.”
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‘We’re sorting it out’
He said the argument likely happened because of “emotions welling out of hand”.
“They’ve had five months of intense day and night, hardly any sleep, and anybody who went through that would know your nerves are pretty much shredded after that time.
“And once they’d cleared the opposition and it was just the two of them left… they’d got to a point where it was just the two of them left so they had to start fighting with each other.”
He added: “I’m not sure it will be a matter of going back into the White House, because he’s not an elected president. But getting back on a normal footing, I would imagine very soon. Tomorrow maybe.”
Mr Musk said he had received a text from his son saying: “Don’t worry, we’re sorting it out”.
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Mr Musk also said his son would like to cooperate with Russia “in matters of space exploration” – after the SpaceX CEO said his company would “immediately” begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft – the only US spacecraft available to deliver crew to and from the International Space Station – after Mr Trump threatened to cancel government contracts with Musk’s businesses.
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It comes after Mr Trump told NBC he has no plans of making up with Musk.
Asked if he thought his relationship with Musk was over, the president replied: “I would assume so, yeah. I’m too busy doing other things.”
