Trump declares ties with Musk have ended

US President Donald Trump has confirmed that his relationship with Elon Musk is over.

When asked by NBC News on Saturday if he believed their close ties had ended, Trump responded, "I would assume so, yeah."

He also declined when questioned about any desire to repair their fractured relationship.

This statement follows a public fallout between the two, which played out across social media platforms.

The tension began after Musk who previously donated millions to Trump’s campaign and served as a White House adviser voiced sharp criticism of the president’s tax and spending legislation, a key piece of domestic policy.

While most Republicans continue to support Trump, Vice President JD Vance expressed strong disapproval of Musk’s stance, saying the Tesla and SpaceX CEO had “gone so nuclear” that he might never regain favor within the party.

Speaking to podcaster Theo Von, Vance called Musk’s attacks on Trump a “big mistake.”

For weeks leading up to the bill’s progress through Congress, Musk had openly opposed Trump’s flagship legislation, known as the "Big Beautiful Bill."

Elon Musk warned that if the bill were approved, it would add trillions to the national deficit and undermine the progress he made as head of DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), where he focused on cutting government spending.

After stepping down from DOGE after just 129 days, Musk took to his social media platform X to call the bill a “disgusting abomination,” though he didn’t directly attack Trump at that time.

However, on Thursday, Trump told reporters he was “disappointed” with Musk’s conduct.

Musk fired back with a series of posts on X, claiming Trump wouldn’t have won the election without him and accusing the former president of being connected to files involving Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier who died in jail awaiting sex trafficking charges.

Musk later deleted the post, and Epstein’s lawyer denied the allegations.

Trump responded on his platform Truth Social, calling Musk "crazy" and threatening to terminate Musk’s federal contracts.

In an NBC News interview on Saturday, Trump said Musk showed "disrespect to the office of the president."

"I think it’s a very bad thing because he’s very disrespectful. You cannot disrespect the office of the president," Trump said.

Musk, the world’s richest man who donated approximately $250 million to Trump’s presidential campaign, hinted during the social media spat that he might support some of Trump’s opponents in next year’s midterm elections by backing challengers against lawmakers who supported Trump’s tax bill.

When questioned about the possibility of Musk supporting Democratic candidates challenging Republicans, Trump warned that Musk would face "serious consequences."