EXCLUSIVE: As Elon Musk prepares to receive a prestigious honor from President Donald Trump Thursday afternoon, several sources familiar with the pair’s relationship say the trillionaire is back in the administration’s fold after last year’s nasty blowup between the pair.
“Water under the bridge,” one former administration official told Fox News Digital when about to classify the falling out and subsequent rekindling of the pair’s relationship.
Musk had a meteoric rise within the MAGA movement during the 2024 presidential election and, after Trump was re-elected, joined the administration to lead massive federal government cuts under the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). During that time, he had a chummy relationship with Trump, who presented him with a ceremonial golden key to the White House during an Oval Office celebration.
In May 2025, Musk left the government after leading DOGE for four months. The CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and X (formerly Twitter) was reportedly at odds with Trump over the amount of government spending tied to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which he viewed as antithetical to DOGE’s effort to reduce wasteful spending in a bloated federal government.
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On June 3, 2025, Musk took to the social media platform he owns to rail against the bill, describing it as a “disgusting abomination.”
“KILL THE BILL,” Musk wrote on X the following day.
Trump fired back in a social media post of his own, saying Musk had been “wearing thin” on him, and that Musk went “CRAZY” after Trump rolled back what the administration described as a Biden-era “backdoor electric vehicle mandate.”
Musk then claimed that Trump would not have won the 2024 election without his financial support and accused him of “ingratitude.” Through his America PAC, Musk helped fund the campaigns of Trump and other Republicans to the tune of nearly $300 million. Musk later accused Trump of being in the infamous Epstein files, though he never provided proof for the claim.
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At that point, a former White House official told Fox News Digital that Musk was completely removed from the White House fold.
“He wasn’t in the office at all,” the source said. Musk had previously occupied a space in the Eisenhower Executive Office Space, alongside other White House staff.
But, the former official said it’s in Trump’s nature to rekindle old relationships, regardless of how nasty the dustup.
In fact, Trump and his longtime personal attorney, Michael Cohen, just revived their old friendship in September, despite a major falling out and Cohen’s testimony against Trump during the 2024 “hush money” trial involving adult entertainer Stormy Daniels.
A third source familiar with the matter said Musk began getting back into Trump’s good graces earlier this year, while a current administration official disputed the characterization that Musk was fully out of the White House fold in the first place.
The administration official said that despite the fallout, Musk has been seen recently at the White House, in part because he’s making good on promises to financially support Republican candidates in the 2026 midterm elections.
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Musk has made several high-profile appearances at the White House in recent weeks. He was at the America.gov launch in late September, alongside engineers from the National Design Studio who built the AI-powered website. He appeared again during Trump’s state dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping last month, and was seated at the president’s table.
Thursday afternoon, Trump is slated to award Musk the National Medal of Science, the nation’s top award for scientific and technological achievement, as first reported by Fox News Digital.
“The Trump administration is grateful for the contributions of these incredible leaders in science and technology. These recipients are helping ensure America keeps leading the world in innovation,” White House spokesperson Liz Huston told Fox News Digital regarding the award.
Fox News Digital reached out to Musk and the White House for comment.
Fox News’ Ashley J. DiMella contributed to this report.
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