Trump to keep White House Starlink internet service as Musk feud dissipates

US president Trump suggested he may remove the Tesla Inc. car he purchased from White House grounds and suggested the onus was on Musk to reach out

By Skylar Woodhouse and Tyler Kendall

 

President Donald Trump reiterated his desire to end his public spat with Elon Musk, telling reporters he would retain Starlink internet service at the White House and that he wished his billionaire backer “very well.” 

Still, the US president suggested he may remove the Tesla Inc. car he purchased from White House grounds and suggested the onus was on Musk to reach out after an explosive week that saw the pair trade insults and threats in a dispute that began over the president’s signature tax bill. 

 

“I would think that if I were him, I’d want to speak to me,” Trump said. “But, and maybe he has already called, you’d have to ask him, ask him whether or not he’s already called. But I’d have no problem with — well, I don’t want to say that, but, you know, but I would imagine he’d want to talk to me.”

 

Trump said he had not observed a confrontation between Musk and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent getting physical, and said he hoped Musk had not been using recreational drugs during his time working for the government after a New York Times report that the onetime head of the Department of Government Efficiency effort had been using ketamine.

 

“I really don’t know - I don’t think so,” Trump said. “I hope not.” 

 

The president’s relatively restrained comments came after Musk over the weekend deleted a series of social media posts, including multiple suggestions that Trump was mentioned in unreleased files related to disgraced New York financier Jeffrey Epstein. Tesla stock plummeted during the dispute, and Trump threatened to cut government contracts to Musk’s companies. 

 

“Look, I wish him well,” Trump said Monday. “You understand, we had a good relationship.”