Trump warns Musk of 'serious consequences' if he backs Democrats

Musk deletes social-media posts that sought to connect the president to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein

- Brian Schwartz & Annie Linskey

President Trump warned former right-hand-man Elon Musk to stay out of the midterm elections, threatening "very serious consequences" if he backed Democrats in the campaign.

Musk, who crossed Trump by staunchly opposing his "big, beautiful" tax-and-spending bill over deficit concerns, said last week that anyone who votes for this bill should be fired.

Some Democrats have suggested that they try to win Musk over to their side, despite his being villainized by the party for his sweeping cuts to government staff. The billionaire spent about $300 million backing Trump and Republican candidates in the 2024 elections.

Asked by NBC News on Saturday if Trump was concerned that Musk could start funding Democratic candidates, Trump said "he'll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that," but declined to provide specifics.

In the NBC interview Trump said he had "no reason to" repair his relationship with Musk, after their breakup played out in real time on Thursday. Asked whether his relationship with the billionaire businessman was over, Trump said, "I would assume so."

Musk deleted social-media posts in which he attempted to connect the president with convicted sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein. As the men's relationship imploded on Thursday, Musk wrote on X that Trump's name appeared in documents stemming from a federal investigation of Epstein, insinuating that he was in some way linked to the late disgraced financier's criminal behavior.

On Friday, Musk wrote, "I will apologize profusely as soon as there is a full dump of the Epstein files." Both posts have been removed from Musk's X feed.