An adviser to billionaire Elon Musk says the SpaceX, Tesla, and Starlink CEO has threatened to pull tens of millions of dollars from a political action committee earmarked for Republicans amid a growing feud with President Donald Trump and the GOP over the “big, beautiful bill.”
The aide, who spoke to NBC News on condition of anonymity, said that Musk actually made the threat a few months ago, but now is ready to make good on it.
“He does not give a f— about Republicans or the RNC, or House seats, or whatever,” the adviser/aide said, according to the outlet.
“He will blow them up; he will. … I mean, we already know Republicans are going to lose the House. Senate will likely be fine, but Elon does not give a s— about that party stuff,” the adviser noted further, adding that Musk had yet to donate as much as $100 million to PACs associated with Trump, but that the funds aren’t coming now.
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“It’s gone,” the Musk adviser said. “He’s going to go nuclear. He will support Democrats if needed; he absolutely will.”
Musk poured $275 million into the 2024 elections, largely backing Trump, according to campaign finance records. In return, Trump appointed him to a high-profile position as the public face of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency.
The role cast Musk as the driving force behind efforts to shrink the size and reach of the federal government—a mission that quickly made him a polarizing figure. He openly embraced the spotlight, often celebrating agency closures and workforce cuts. In one headline-grabbing moment, Musk brandished a fake chainsaw on stage to underscore his image as the administration’s “cutter-in-chief.”
During his tirade against Trump throughout the day Thursday, Musk also accused the administration of withholding key documents from its widely publicized release of records related to Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier with ties to numerous powerful individuals, including Trump, who died in prison after being charged with sex trafficking minors.
While the Trump administration has released some new material, much of it was already publicly available, NBC News noted.
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Musk claimed the “Epstein files” include Trump’s name; Trump and Epstein were known to have associated in the past, and Trump’s name appears on Epstein’s flight logs. However, the president has never been implicated in Epstein’s abuse of underage girls. And it seems highly unlikely that Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino would continue to work for Trump if they were in possession of evidence that he had the same tendencies as Epstein.
Meanwhile, Democrats were essentially celebrating the breakdown.
“The most important thing that’s happening here is that Musk is killing this terrible bill. If he’s willing to do that, then welcome,” Simon Rosenberg, a veteran Democratic operative, told NBC News. “This is doing enormous damage to Donald Trump. There is no version of this that is good for him. There is nothing here positive for Trump. He looks weak and feckless; he can’t control his buddy.”
Republicans disagree, however.
“President Trump is the boss, and there can be only one boss. If anything, this deals a blow to the Democrats’ lame attempts to paint the president as a puppet of the world’s richest man,” a GOP operative close to the White House told the outlet.
“On the other hand, I could see them both back in the Oval bro-ing it up again in a month, as it may be just the art of the deal,” the operative added.
