WATCH: Trump says he's 'very disappointed' in Elon Musk after criticism of president's budget bill – PBS
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UPDATE: In escalating public feud, Trump threatens to cut Musk’s government contracts
President Donald Trump said Thursday that he was “very disappointed” in Elon Musk after the billionaire criticized the administration’s spending bill making its way through Congress.
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The president said he was surprised after Musk said earlier this week that the so-called Trump “big, beautiful” bill was a “disgusting abomination.”
WATCH: In Merz meeting, Trump says it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia ‘fight for a while’
Musk appeared on the campaign trail with Trump and also spent over $250 million during last year’s presidential election. Until last week, he led a Trump administration initiative that purported to clean up waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government.
“Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore,” the president said during an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz that was opened up to reporters.
The president said that Musk “knew the inner workings” of the bill better than many in his administration and “had no problem with it.” Following the meeting and in response, Musk called the president’s comments “false” and said the bill “was never shown to me even once.”
WATCH: House Speaker Johnson says Musk did ‘a 180’ in publicly opposing tax bill
The president said Musk, who is also the co-founder and CEO of Tesla Motors, was unhappy about the action the administration has taken to reverse a goal set by former President Joe Biden to increase the number of electric vehicles in the United States. Trump also noted that he pulled the nomination of Jared Isaacman, someone Musk recommended, to lead NASA.
“He said the most beautiful things about me. He hasn’t said bad about me personally, but I’m sure that’ll be next,” the president said of Musk. “But, I’m very disappointed in Elon. I’ve helped Elon a lot.”
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Dan Cooney is the PBS NewsHour’s Social Media Producer/Coordinator.
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