Elon Musk, one of the closest aides and biggest donors of Donald Trump, has been consistently present in the Oval Office alongside the US president. However, their relationship has not always been this cordial, reveals a Politico report.

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The report citing a person in the meeting details the first encounter of the two men at the White House in 2020 during Trump’s first term in office, where the billionaire called the president a “f***ing moron”.

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What happened at the White House?

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In 2020, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump learned about Musk’s plans to build a Tesla factory in Mexico instead of Texas and invited him to the White House to discuss the matter.

However, a source told Politico that Musk called Trump a “f***ing moron” behind his back in the White House before the meeting.

“We walk into the Oval, and he kind of looks around, and he’s looking around,” this person in the room said. “He’s like, ‘Gosh, I tell you. I mean, I was just in China and man, their palaces just make the White House kind of look more like an outhouse.’”

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Reportedly, Trump fumed following the remark as National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow and four of his staffers stood by silently.

Past clashes between Trump and Musk

This incident was not the only one where Trump and Musk seemed to have a rocky relationship. 

In 2017, when Trump announced the withdrawing of the US from the Paris Climate Accords, Musk, who served on three Trump advisory councils at the time, distanced himself from the president.

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“Am departing presidential councils,” he posted on X. “Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world.”

The tensions were sparked again in 2022 when Musk was seeking his controversial deal to buy Twitter (now X) and said that he thinks former President Donald Trump should, “hang up his hat & sail into the sunset.”

Trump hit back at the billionaire, taking it to his Truth Social where he said, “When Elon Musk came to the White House asking me for help on all of his many subsidized projects, whether it’s electric cars that don’t drive long enough, driverless cars that crash, or rocketships to nowhere, without which subsidies he’d be worthless, and telling me how he was a big Trump fan and Republican, I could have said, “drop to your knees and beg,” and he would have done it…”

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Despite the past differences, Musk has now become Trump’s one of the biggest supporters and donors, investing nearly $300 million in his campaign. He is also among the closest advisors to the president currently.

(With inputs from agencies)