(The Hill) — Vice President Vance in a recent interview came to President Trump’s defense in response to the recent spat between the president and tech billionaire Elon Musk.
The squabble, which spilled out into the public arena via social media on Thursday, has been dubbed as a “national divorce.” Vance called Musk’s comments — including tying Trump to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and signaling support for impeachment — a “huge mistake.”
“I think it’s a huge mistake for him to go after the president like that. And I think that if he and the president are in some blood feud,” Vance told “The Past Weekend” podcast team earlier this week. The episode was published on Saturday.
“Most importantly, it’s going to be bad for the country, but I think it’s going to be … I don’t think it’s going to be good for Elon either,” Vance added.
The vice president also pushed back on the alleged connection between Trump and Epstein. Musk has since removed the post from his social platform X account.
“First of all, like, absolutely not — Donald Trump didn’t do anything wrong with Jeffrey Epstein,” Vance told host and comedian Theo Von. “Like … the guy is whatever the Democrats and the media says about him. That’s totally BS.”
The back-and-forth between the two men in the world began after Musk voiced opposition to Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” The sprawling legislation includes most of the president’s legislative agenda. The tech mogul’s criticism of the bill — which he called a “disgusting abomination” — is focused primarily on increases to deficit spending.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO also argued the legislation lacks necessary spending cuts.
Trump, during comments from the White House on Thursday, said that while he and Musk had a “great” relationship in the beginning of his second term, “I don’t know if we will anymore.” The tech billionaire later lashed out at the president, suggesting he wouldn’t have won the 2024 presidential election without his support and calling for a third party to rise up.
In response, Trump threatened to cut off all federal contracts with Musk’s companies.
Vance in the interview said his loyalty will always lie with Trump. Still, he praised Musk’s business acumen and commended his work at the helm of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“And look, man, I’m always going to be loyal to the President, and I hope that eventually Elon kind of comes back into the fold,” the vice president said. “Maybe that’s not possible now, because he’s gone so nuclear.”
He also suggested part of Musk’s outburst comes from his dissatisfaction with the GOP’s megabill and as his businesses face scrutiny following the billionaire’s foray into politics.
“Elon’s new to politics, right? So his businesses are being attacked non-stop. They’re literally, like, fire bombing some of his cars,” Vance told Von, referring to Tesla vandalism that cropped up amid protests over DOGE’s influence on federal workforce cuts.
“And by the way, we’re looking into a lot of this stuff. I mean, some of that stuff we’re looking into is an act of terrorism, at the Department of Justice, because I think it is an act of terrorism,” he added. “So I think part of it is this guy got into politics and has suffered a lot for it.”
Vance acknowledged Musk’s frustration with the reconciliation package but said “it’s a good bill, it’s not a perfect bill.”
“If you’re a business leader, you probably get frustrated with that process because it’s more bureaucratic, it’s more slow-moving,” the vice president added.
