Elon Musk suffered a violent outburst during a shouting match in the Oval Office, former Trump strategist Steve Bannon has revealed.
Bannon told the Daily Mail that the billionaire “got physical” with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent upon being confronted over the Department of Government Efficiency’s meager savings.
“Scott Bessent called him out and said, ‘You promised us a trillion dollars (in cuts), and now you’re at like $100 billion, and nobody can find anything, what are you doing?’” Bannon said. “And that’s when Elon got physical. It’s a sore subject with him.”
“It wasn’t an argument, it was a physical confrontation. Elon basically shoved him,” Bannon added.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the April confrontation on Friday—Musk’s final day as a special advisor to President Donald Trump.
“It’s no secret President Trump has put together a team of people who are incredibly passionate about the issues impacting our country,” she said in a statement to the Daily Mail. “Disagreements are a normal part of any healthy policy process, and, ultimately, everyone knows they serve at the pleasure of President Trump.”
The revelation comes on the heels of a bombshell New York Times report alleging Musk used a heavy cocktail of drugs while on the campaign trail with Trump, including ketamine, ecstasy, and psychedelic mushrooms.
The confrontation was initially reported in April, but details about its physical nature have only now come to light.
“It was two billionaire, middle-aged men thinking it was WWE in the hall of the West Wing,” a witness told Axios when the incident first emerged.
“F--- you! F--- you! F--- you!” Bessent reportedly shouted at Musk. “I can’t hear you,” Musk said. “Say it louder.”
The brawl reportedly started in the Oval Office and moved outside Chief of Staff Susie Wiles’ office, and later the National Security adviser’s office.
Bannon—who frequently criticizes Musk and has called him a “parasitic illegal immigrant”—said Trump “100%” sided with Bessent after the clash.
The president also turned on Musk during a separate blow-up in March, when the Tesla CEO and Secretary of State Marco Rubio clashed over DOGE’s mass firings during a cabinet meeting. Shortly afterward, Trump publicly announced his intention to rein in Musk’s cost-cutting crusade.
As his turbulent White House stint comes to a close, the world’s richest man has started to voice his misgivings about the administration.
Noting that he agrees “with much of what the administration does,” Musk said that “there are things that I don’t entirely agree with” during an interview with CBS Sunday Morning.
“I’m a little stuck in a bind, where I’m like, well, I don’t wanna, you know, speak up against the administration, but I … also don’t wanna take responsibility for everything the administration’s doing. So I’m, like, kinda stuck, you know?” he added.
