President Donald Trump said Tuesday he still likes “Elon a lot,” despite their high-profile split earlier this year over the One Big Beautiful Bill.
At the end of the administration’s monthly Cabinet meeting, Fox Business’ Edward Lawrence asked Trump whether Musk was “back in [his] circle of friends” after their falling-out.
Trump responded: “Well, I really don’t know. I mean, I like Elon a lot”…he said, praising Musk’s endorsement during the 2024 campaign before noting their disagreement over electric-vehicle policy.
Musk was a fixture in the White House in the early days of the second Trump administration as he took on the role as the Department of Government Efficiency’s de facto leader. He served as a special government employee with the Trump administration to help lead DOGE, frequently attending Cabinet meetings and joining Trump during public events. Musk’s tenure with DOGE wrapped up at the end of May.
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Musk had also championed Trump during the 2024 election cycle, criss-crossing battleground states that ultimately all voted for the Republican candidate over former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump repeatedly celebrated Musk for his efforts at DOGE to remove potential federal overspending, fraud and mismanagement – an effort assailed by government employees and Democrats who protested both the Trump administration and Musk repeatedly earlier this year.
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The cozy friendship fell to pieces in June, however, when Musk began publicly ridiculing the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which was a massive piece of legislation Trump signed into law in July that advances his agenda on taxes, immigration, energy, defense and the national debt.
Musk railed against the legislation, which Trump had been rallying Republican lawmakers to pass since the beginning of his second term, posting on X that it would be the “BIGGEST DEBT ceiling increase in HISTORY” and also claimed in a personal attack on Trump that “@RealDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files.”
Trump previously told the media that his relationship with Musk changed when he began discussing plans to eliminate the electic vehicle mandate, which would affect Musk’s signature electric company, Tesla. Trump signed a trio of congressional resolutions in June ending California’s restrictive rules for diesel engines and mandates on electric vehicle sales, with Trump celebrating that his signature “will kill the California mandates forever.”
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The pair abruptly parted ways in June, with Musk weeks later offering some support to Trump’s presidential actions on social media, such as praising a ceasefire deal between Israel and Gaza in July.
Musk was seen physically back in Trump’s orbit in September during the memorial service for Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA’s founder who was assassinated on Sept. 10. The pair was seen sitting next to each other and chatting during the ceremony.
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Musk most recently attended a Trump event on Nov. 18 at the White House for a dinner with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, as well as dozens of high-profile business leaders.
Trump’s latest remarks on Musk unfolded during his Cabinet meeting, which marked his ninth such meeting since the start of his second administration and matched the total number of full Cabinet meetings former President Joe Biden held across his four-year tenure.
