President Trump received a phone call from Elon Musk late on Monday night, which led to a public expression of regret from the billionaire early Wednesday for the attacks he had lodged against the president in their extraordinary public showdown last week, according to three people briefed on the call.
Mr. Musk’s outreach to Mr. Trump came after the tech entrepreneur spoke privately on Friday with Vice President JD Vance and the White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, about a path to a truce between the two men, according to two of the people. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private discussions.
The conversations paved the way for the strikingly chastened tone Mr. Musk struck in an X post early Wednesday, in which he wrote: “I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far.”
Representatives for Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk did not respond to requests for comment.
Mr. Musk had spent several days signaling that he wanted to make up with the president after the two men engaged in a sharp series of personal attacks last Thursday that played out from the Oval Office and on social media.
What began as criticism by the tech billionaire of Mr. Trump’s signature domestic bill devolved into an exchange of insults that mounted throughout the day, as the president claimed he had not needed Mr. Musk’s help to get elected and Mr. Musk attempted to link Mr. Trump to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The day after Mr. Musk spoke with Ms. Wiles and Mr. Vance, he deleted his social media posts suggesting that the president’s name was in government files about Mr. Epstein.
It remains to be seen how Mr. Trump will handle the attempted rapprochement and whether the two men’s relationship can be restored.
In the wake of their showdown, Mr. Trump told advisers that he had no interest in talking to Mr. Musk, and was done with him, a sentiment he reiterated in interviews with reporters.
But behind the scenes, advisers from both camps worked to arrange a détente.
Both Mr. Musk and Mr. Trump have a lot at stake in the relationship, but it was Mr. Musk who appeared more eager to make amends. Mr. Trump threatened to cancel billions of dollars’ worth of contracts that Mr. Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX, has with the federal government.
Mr. Musk is not without leverage, however. He is the biggest donor in Republican politics and had promised to give an additional $100 million to Mr. Trump’s outside groups ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. He also has extensive knowledge of the inner dynamics of the administration, and Mr. Trump has been keen to avoid a repeat of his first term, when former aides left on bad terms and went on to write books about their experiences.
Ryan Mac and Maggie Haberman contributed reporting.
Jonathan Swan is a White House reporter for The Times, covering the administration of Donald J. Trump. Contact him securely on Signal: @jonathan.941
Theodore Schleifer is a Times reporter covering billionaires and their impact on the world.
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