Trump warns Musk of ‘very serious consequences’ if he backs Democrats

Donald Trump warned Elon Musk on Saturday that he faces “very serious consequences” if he budget Democratic applicants following the pair’s epic public bust-up this week.

The caution, delivered in an interview with NBC News scheduled to broadcast on Sunday, follows days of feuding and threats after Musk known as Republicans’ price range regulation an “abomination”.

Trump advised interviewer Kristen Welker his dating with the tech tycoon used to be over and warned Musk in opposition to opting for to fund Democrats after spending as regards to $300m in fortify of Trump’s re-election closing 12 months.

“If he does, he’ll have to pay the consequences for that,” Trump advised NBC News. “He’ll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that,” he added.

Trump used to be additionally requested whether or not he had any want to restore his dating with Musk. “No,” he stated. Asked whether or not he idea their dating used to be over, he stated: “I would assume so, yeah,” and stated he had no plans to talk along with his erstwhile sidekick.

“I’m too busy doing other things,” Trump stated, including: “I have no intention of speaking to him.”

But he predicted that the spat had helped to unify the Republican celebration round him, announcing the “party has never been united like this before. It’s never been. It’s actually more so than it was three days ago.”

Musk’s opposition to the Republican price range invoice, officially the “one big beautiful bill act”, would now not, he predicted, impact its passage via Congress. The invoice narrowly handed the House and is now into account within the Senate. However, some conservative Republicans proportion Musk’s issues in regards to the want for vital spending cuts and are making an allowance for making adjustments.

The invoice extends Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and comprises new spending for border safety and the army. Republicans aimed to offset those prices with cuts to programmes comparable to Medicaid, meals stamps and green-energy tax credit.

Projections from the congressional price range place of job and unbiased analysts point out that the invoice would upload between $2.3tn and $5tn to the deficit over the following 10 years. White House officers contend that the industrial enlargement generated via tax cuts will offset the larger spending.

Still, Trump advised NBC he’s “very confident” that the invoice will cross the Senate sooner than 4 July.

“I think, actually, Elon brought out the strengths of the bill because people that weren’t as focused started focusing on it, and they see how good it is,” Trump stated. “So in that sense, there was a big favor. But I think Elon, really, I think it’s a shame that he’s so depressed and so heartbroken.”

He additionally accused Musk of being “disrespectful to the office of the president”.

“I think it’s a very bad thing, because he’s very disrespectful. You could not disrespect the office of the president,” he stated.

Earlier, Musk deleted a publish from X, the social media platform he owns, that asserted hyperlinks between Trump and disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Questioned in regards to the inflammatory publish, Trump stated: “That’s called ‘old news’, that’s been old news, that has been talked about for years. Even Epstein’s lawyer said I had nothing to do with it. It’s old news.”

Musk has additionally retracted a risk to start out “decommissioning” SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft utilized by Nasa to ferry astronauts and provides to the International Space Station.

The unique risk got here after Trump advised he would possibly cancel SpaceX’s federal contracts. On Saturday, the president stated he hadn’t given the topic any longer idea.

“I’d be allowed to do that,” he stated, “but I haven’t given it any thought.”

Earlier on Saturday, JD Vance advised interviewer and comic Theo Von that Musk used to be creating a “huge mistake” going after Trump, however downplayed Musk’s assaults as being made via an “emotional guy” who were given annoyed.

“I hope that eventually Elon comes back into the fold. Maybe that’s not possible now because he’s gone so nuclear,” the vice-president stated.

But he added: “Look, it happens to everybody. I’ve flown off the handle way worse than Elon Musk did in the last 24 hours.”

“I actually think if Elon chilled out a little bit, everything would be fine,” Vance stated.

David Smith contributed reporting