The Trump-Musk rupture that exploded across X and Truth Social on June 5, 2025 kept generating headlines through the weekend. On Saturday, June 7, Trump gave NBC News his most extensive account yet, in a phone interview with Kristen Welker: he does not want to repair the relationship, he assumes it is over, and he is now willing to threaten consequences.
For the AI industry, this is more than political spectacle. Musk founded xAI, the company behind Grok, and folded X into xAI earlier in 2025. TechCrunch reported on June 7 that the feud may now complicate the combined company’s $5 billion debt raise — a live example of political risk being priced into AI financing.
Trump’s Saturday interview: ‘I would assume so, yeah’
In the interview NBC News published on June 7, Trump warned there would be serious consequences if Musk funds Democratic candidates running against Republicans who vote for the GOP’s sweeping budget bill. “If he does, he’ll have to pay the consequences for that,” Trump said, before escalating: “He’ll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that.” He declined to say what those consequences would be.
Asked whether he had any wish to repair the relationship, Trump said no. Asked whether his relationship with the Tesla and SpaceX CEO was over, he replied, “I would assume so, yeah.” He added that he has no plans to speak with Musk anytime soon: “I’m too busy doing other things,” and “I have no intention of speaking to him.” On Musk’s since-deleted post highlighting Trump’s past ties to the late Jeffrey Epstein, Trump called it “old news.” He also accused Musk of being “disrespectful to the office of the President,” and claimed the Republican Party emerged from the very public falling-out more unified than ever. NBC described the remarks as Trump’s most extensive since the two men began trading threats earlier in the week.
How the rupture unfolded over one week
The trigger was the Republican spending bill. Musk kept criticizing it after it passed the House, and on Thursday, June 5, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office he was “very disappointed,” because “Elon knew the inner workings of this bill” and “I’ve helped Elon a lot.” Within hours, Musk unleashed a barrage on X, including since-deleted posts calling for Trump’s impeachment and pointing to Epstein, plus a warning that the tariff agenda would push the economy into a recession by the end of the year. Trump shot back on Truth Social: “I don’t mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago.”
Both sides briefly softened on Friday, June 6. But Trump’s Saturday interview showed no thaw — and it pointed squarely at money: if Musk channels funds to Democratic candidates, the price will be concrete.
xAI’s $5 billion debt sale hits a political headwind
TechCrunch’s June 7 analysis noted that just before the blowup, Bloomberg reported Musk was seeking $5 billion in debt for the merged X and xAI, plus roughly $300 million in a secondary sale. The merger, completed earlier in 2025, made that debt central to the combined group’s plans — and TechCrunch observed that while the feud drove traffic to X, it created problems for the parent-level fundraising at the same time.
The Wall Street Journal added an awkward piece of timing: on Thursday afternoon, Morgan Stanley had gathered xAI executives to pitch the debt to potential investors — while Musk and Trump were trading barbs on their respective social networks. Morgan Stanley had hoped to sell the debt at around 100 cents on the dollar, but at times on Thursday it traded near 95 cents, and investors said the bank may need to offer added incentives, such as a higher interest rate, to place it. In other words, a political fight turned into a financing-cost problem within 48 hours. For underwriters pitching institutional buyers, the founder’s public rupture with the president landed at the worst possible moment.
Three takeaways for the AI industry
First, AI company funding is now deeply coupled to politics: xAI’s debt pricing moved with the state of its founder’s relationship with the president, something rarely seen in traditional tech financing. Second, platform attention and capital confidence are different things — X saw surging traffic from the feud, yet the same feud squeezed xAI’s fundraising window; social buzz did not reassure credit markets. Third, weekend silence is not reconciliation: Trump said plainly he has no intention of speaking to Musk, leaving the relationship frozen rather than repaired. Any team building on Grok, X, or the broader Musk ecosystem should now treat political exposure as a standing variable in platform and supplier risk.
Sources
- Trump says Musk will face ‘serious consequences’ if he funds Democratic candidates — NBC News
- Will Musk vs. Trump affect xAI’s $5B debt deal? — TechCrunch
AI-assisted summary compiled from the sources above, reviewed by a human before publishing.