WASHINTON D.C, June 11 – Billionaire Elon Musk issued a public apology on his social media platform, X, early on June 11th, regarding critical posts he made about former President Donald Trump the previous week.
“I regret some of my posts about President Donald Trump last week. They went too far,” Musk stated without specifying which comments he regretted. This apology came less than a week after a highly public spat between the two figures began on June 5th.
The conflict erupted when Trump, speaking from the Oval Office, expressed being “very disappointed” with Musk and suggested their previously close relationship was over, specifically citing Musk’s opposition to a major spending bill. Musk responded aggressively on X, asserting, “Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate.” He spent hours that day posting criticisms of Trump, opposing the bill, resurfacing old Trump tweets, and interacting with supporters.
Several of Musk’s June 5th posts were later deleted, including a highly controversial claim referencing the “Epstein files” and alleging Trump’s involvement was the reason they weren’t public. Other deleted tweets accused Trump of lying about asking Musk to leave a position and claimed Musk was never shown the tax bill.
The public feud coincided with a significant drop in Tesla’s stock value. Between market open and close on June 5th, Tesla shares plummeted from $322.52 to $284.68. While the stock had partially recovered to $326.09 by June 10th, it remained below its pre-spat value of $332.05 on June 4th. Reports indicated Musk personally lost approximately $34 billion during the market dip. Many commenters on Musk’s apology post speculated this financial impact was a key motivator for his retraction, though Musk did not state a reason.
