Elon Musk was reportedly blocked from a top secret meeting about China by Donald Trump after annoying White House staff. A top official is reported to have said the US President was furious when he learnt the tech billionaire would attend, telling staff: “What the f*** is Elon doing there? Make sure he doesn’t go”.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth is reported to have suspended two Pentagon officials as part of an investigation over who leaked word of the meeting to Tesla’s billionaire co-founder. The official told Axios Mr Trump “still very much loves” Mr Musk, but there are “some red lines”.
They are quoted as going on to say: “Elon has a lot of business in China and he has good relations there and this briefing just wasn’t the right thing.”
The matter first became public in March when the New York Times reported Mr Musk was to receive a briefing from the Pentagon on military plans in the event of a war between the US and China.
Mr Trump described the report as “fake news” from the “failing” New York Times. He posted on his Truth Social platform: “They said, incorrectly, that Elon Musk is going to the Pentagon tomorrow to be briefed on any potential ‘war with China’.
“How ridiculous? China will not even be mentioned or discussed. How disgraceful it is that the discredited media can make up such lies. Anyway, the story is completely untrue!!!”
The post, according to Axios, was posted after plans for the briefing for Mr Musk changed. He reportedly still attended a meeting at the Pentagon, but it wasn’t about China.
Mr Trump told reporters Mr Musk “would be susceptible, perhaps”, adding “it was such a fake story”.
Mr Musk has business interests in China. Tesla has a giant factory in Shanghai and the world’s second largest economy accounts for 20% of the carmaker’s revenue.
The tech entrepreneur posted on his X platform in the wake of the New York Times report that he was looking forward to prosecutions of “those at the Pentagon who are leaking maliciously false information to NYT”.
He warned: “They will be found.”
