It\u2019s over: US president no desire to make up with Musk, who dredged up allegations of links to sex offender Epstein.<\/p>\n
United States President Donald Trump has warned billionaire former ally, and campaign benefactor to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, Elon Musk against funding Democratic candidates in the country\u2019s 2026 midterm elections as the pair\u2019s volcanic break-up<\/a> continues to play out on the world stage.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019ll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that,\u201d Trump told US network NBC News in an interview published Saturday, without spelling out what the repercussions might be for the tech mogul, whose businesses benefit from lucrative US federal contracts.<\/p>\n Trump aides, various Republicans, and key wealthy donors to the GOP\u00a0 have urged the two to temper the bitter feud and make peace, fearing irreparable political and economic fallout.<\/p>\n But, asked whether he thought his relationship with the Tesla and SpaceX CEO was over, Trump said, \u201cI would assume so, yeah\u201d.<\/p>\n The interview featured Trump\u2019s most extensive comments yet on the spectacular bust-up that saw Musk criticising his signature tax and spending bill as an \u201cabomination\u201d, tensions escalating after he went on to highlight one-time links between the president and the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>.<\/p>\n By Saturday morning, Musk had deleted his \u201cbig bomb\u201d allegation that Trump featured in unreleased government files on former associates of Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while facing sex trafficking charges.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is the real reason they have not been made public,\u201d he said in Thursday\u2019s post on X.<\/p>\n The Trump administration has acknowledged it is reviewing tens of thousands of documents, videos, and investigative material that his \u201cMAGA\u201d movement says will unmask public figures complicit in Epstein\u2019s crimes.<\/p>\n Trump was named in a trove of deposition and statements linked to Epstein that were unsealed by a New York judge in early 2024. The president has not been accused of any wrongdoing, but he had a long and well-publicised friendship with Epstein.<\/p>\n Trump has denied spending time on Little Saint James, the private redoubt in the US Virgin Islands where prosecutors alleged Epstein trafficked underage girls for sex.<\/p>\n Just last week, Trump had given Musk a glowing send-off as he left his cost-cutting role at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).<\/p>\n Vice President JD Vance said Musk was making a \u201chuge mistake\u201d going after Trump, though he also tried to downplay his attacks as the frustrations of an \u201cemotional guy\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope that eventually Elon comes back into the fold. Maybe that\u2019s not possible now because he\u2019s gone so nuclear,\u201d he said in the interview with comedian Theo Von, released Friday.<\/p>\n