Trump 'not even thinking about Elon' and won't speak to him 'for a while'

US President Donald Trump told CNN on Friday he is "not even thinking about" billionaire Elon Musk and won't be speaking to him in the near future.

"I'm not even thinking about Elon. He's got a problem. The poor guy's got a problem," Trump said in a brief phone call.

The comments come after a day Trump and Musk traded barbs on social media as their relationship deteriorated in spectacular public fashion.

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Trump said on Thursday he was "very disappointed" with the tech billionaire for criticising his massive tax and spending cuts package while Musk fired back that "Trump would have lost the election" without him.

In his call with CNN on Friday morning, Trump talked about the forthcoming jobs report, which has since been released, inflation and gas prices.

Asked if he had a call with Musk, the president responded: "No. I won't be speaking to him for a while I guess, but I wish him well."

As the two powerful onetime friends duked it out online on Thursday, their shared allies sought to quietly broker a truce, CNN previously reported.

Musk, for his part, appeared open to a thaw.

"You're not wrong," Musk responded to a post from billionaire investor Bill Ackman, who wrote on X: "I support @realDonaldTrump and @elonmusk and they should make peace for the benefit of our great country. We are much stronger together than apart."

In a sign of their break, however, Trump is planning to get rid of the Tesla he purchased in March, a senior White House official told CNN. The red vehicle may be sold or possibly given away, another official said.

Trump had previously allowed some of his younger staffers to use the car. As of Friday morning, it was visibly parked in the West Executive Driveway.

Back in March, Trump transformed the South Lawn into what resembled a Tesla showroom, an apparent gesture toward his then-adviser. Later that day, Trump publicly announced he was purchasing a Tesla and had even bought a Cybertruck for his granddaughter.

"I think (Musk has) been treated very unfairly by a very small group of people, and I just want people to know that he can't be penalised for being a patriot," Trump said at the time.

As the two billionaires' clash over Trump's sweeping tax and domestic policy bill turned increasingly personal on Thursday, several people familiar with what was happening behind the scenes — who were desperately making phone calls to one another and trying to tamp down the escalating feud — described Musk's invocation of the Jeffrey Epstein files as the tipping point.

"Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!" Musk wrote, stunning those with close relationships to Trump and Musk.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called Musk's claims an "unfortunate episode" in a statement to CNN on Thursday night.

Musk has not detailed how he would have gained access to unreleased files related to the disgraced financier and has not provided any evidence of where his information was coming from.

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