Donald Trump has not ruled out the possibility of reconciling with Elon Musk after their public falling out.
In an interview for podcast Pod Force One, Trump said he “could” fix the relationship with the richest man in the world, but it was not a top priority.
“Look, I have no hard feelings,” Trump said in the interview recorded on Monday. “I was really surprised that that happened. He went after a bill that’s phenomenal. …He just — I think he feels very badly that he said that, actually.”
It came before Elon Musk publicly apologised for some of his social media posts about the president.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Musk tweeted: “I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far.”
Sources close to Musk told Reuters his anger has started to subside, and they believe he may want to repair his relationship with Trump.
In the podcast interview with Miranda Devine, Trump said he had “no hard feelings” towards Musk.
The president said he was “really surprised” at Musk’s public reaction to his “Big Beautiful Bill.”
“It’s the best thing we’ve ever signed in this country,” Trump said. “When he did that, I was not a happy camper.”
Shortly after Musk’s role as special government advisor leading the Department of Government Efficiency ended on May 30, the Tesla owner took to social media to share his true feelings about the president’s cornerstone policy.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it,” Musk wrote on June 3.
That prompted Trump to say he was “surprised” and “disappointed” by Musk, saying in the Oval Office on June 5: “Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore.”
Their relationship deteriorated from there. Musk said on X that Trump’s name appears in files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The president then threatened to cancel “billions and billions of dollars” worth of federal government contracts with Musk’s companies.
Earlier this week, Musk’s father said the men were fighting because they were both “tired and stressed”.
Errol Musk said the fight would “be over tomorrow” and was “just a small thing”, in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper while visiting Moscow.
“Trump will prevail – he’s the president, he was elected as the president. So, you know, Elon made a mistake, I think. But he is tired, he is stressed,” Mr Musk said.
