US President Donald Trump said he has no plans to speak to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, amid the growing tension between the two, especially regarding the draft tax and spending cuts being considered by Congress.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Mr. Trump said he ged not about Mr. Musk, despite expressing hope he would succeed with Tesla. However, he also said the government will review the contracts between Musk and the federal government because its a huge amount of money.
Elon Musk has been leading a US government program to streamline the federal payroll and cut spending. However, he has only cut less than 0.5% of the budget, far from the original target of cutting $2,000 billion. Elon Musk has recently harshly criticized Trump's tax bill, calling it a " disaster", warning that it would weaken Republicans' politics and increase public debt by $2,400 billion over the next 10 years.
The division between the two became public after Trump withdrew his nomination of Jared Isaacman - a close ally of Musk - to head NASA. According to two sources, White House chief of staff Sergio Gor played a role in convincing Mr. Trump to withdraw his nomination by mentioning Isaacman's donation to the Democratic Party. Previously, Elon Musk and Mr. Gor had a conflict at a cabinet meeting over slow recruitment speed.
Musk responded by threatening to withdraw SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft from spacecraft missions to the International Space Station - the only US vehicle to do so at present - but later withdrew the statement. He also said Trump should be impeached and said Trump would not be re-elected without hims financial support.
A White House official said Trump is even considering removing the red Tesla he bought in March. Meanwhile, Mr. Musk's close allies have mostly remained silent, except for investor James Fishback, who called on Mr. Musk to apologize and said Mr. Trump was "suggident while Elon was acting disappointingly".
This cracks could hurt Republican efforts to maintain control of Congress if Elon Musk cuts back on financial aid or other technology leaders in Silicon Valley separate from Trump.
