President Donald Trump said he “dropped a dime” on Elon Musk’s alleged drug taking to the New York Times, according to biographer Michael Wolff.
As the feud between Trump and Musk reignited this week, Wolff claimed the president has been calling contacts to badmouth his former “first buddy.”
Musk denied claims that he was using drugs when he entered the White House after The Times broke the story in May, shortly before he exited Washington. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said he didn’t have any “concerns” about the allegations at the time.
“To be clear, I am NOT taking drugs! The New York Times was lying their a** off,” he said in a post on X at the time. “I tried *prescription* ketamine a few years ago and said so on X, so this not even news. It helps for getting out of dark mental holes, but haven’t taken it since then.”
Now Wolff said that Trump is “claiming credit” for The Times report, which was based on interviews with “more than a dozen people who have known or worked” with Musk.
“I was tracking some Trump phone calls on Monday night. And it’s sort of worth explaining here that over a long period of time, I’ve gotten to know and cultivated a lot of people who Trump regularly speaks to,” Wolff told the Daily Beast Podcast host Joanna Coles during Thursday’s episode.
Wolff, who did not speak to the president himself, claimed Trump made the comments on Monday after Musk threatened to form a new political party if the Big, Beautiful Bill passes.
“And he’s like calling people to say, ‘Do you think Elon is crazy? I think he’s crazy,’” Wolff said. “He was on about, you know…how many drugs [Musk] takes, you know…He takes drugs all the time. The New York Times wrote about it. They said he takes drugs,’” Wolff continued.
“And then [Trump] went on to say…you know, actually, we dropped a dime to The New York Times on Elon for taking…on Elon’s drug taking.’”
White House communications director Steven Cheung dismissed the claims and fired back with one of his signature takedowns of the Trump biographer.
“Michael Wolff is a lying sack of s*** and has been proven to be a fraud,” Cheung said in a statement to The Independent. “He routinely fabricates stories originating from his sick and warped imagination, only possible because he has a severe and debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted his peanut-sized brain.”
Tensions between Musk and Trump have boiled over once again after the Tesla CEO launched fresh attacks on the president on his social media platform.
The president even said he would “take a look” at deporting Musk after his renewed criticism of the tax and spending megabill.
His threats followed Musk’s promise to bankroll primary challenges against Republican lawmakers who vote to pass legislation.
“Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame! And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth,” Musk wrote on X.
Trump also hinted he might also turn the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which Musk spearheaded, on his former friend.
“We might have to put Doge on Elon,” he said. “You know what Doge is? Doge is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon.”
