President Trump was peeved.
Just minutes before he walked into the Oval Office for a televised send-off for Elon Musk, an aide had handed him a file.
The papers in that file showed that Mr. Trump’s nominee to run NASA — a close associate of Mr. Musk’s — had donated to prominent Democrats in recent years, including some who Mr. Trump was learning about for the first time.
The president set his outrage aside and mustered through the public farewell, with both men praising each other and saying their relationship would continue. But as soon as the cameras left the Oval Office, the president confronted Mr. Musk.
Mr. Trump started to read some of the donations out loud, shaking his head and pointing out several of the most recent ones in the file. This was not good, the president said — an early signal of the simmering tensions between the two men that would explode into the open less than a week later.
Mr. Musk, who was sporting a black eye, which he blamed on a tussle with his young son, tried to explain. He said his friend Jared Isaacman, a billionaire entrepreneur who was set to become the next NASA administrator, cared about getting things done. Yes, he had donated to Democrats, but so had a lot of people.
Maybe it’s a good thing, Mr. Musk told the president — it shows that you’re willing to hire people of all stripes.
But Mr. Trump was unmoved. He said that people don’t change. These are the types of people who will turn, he said, and it won’t end up being good for us.
Mr. Musk was anxious about mounting a vigorous defense of Mr. Isaacman with other people around, including Sergio Gor, the director of the presidential personnel office who has clashed with Mr. Musk over nominees. Mr. Musk believed that he would be able to talk to the president after the gathering, privately.
But later that day, Mr. Trump decided he would withdraw Mr. Isaacman from consideration to run NASA, dealing a blow to Mr. Musk, who had worked to place a top associate in charge of the agency most important to SpaceX, his rocket business. Mr. Musk spent the next day trying to salvage Mr. Isaacman’s nomination, to no avail. Mr. Musk was stunned by the timing.
This account of the crumbling relationship between the president and Mr. Trump is based on interviews with 13 people with direct knowledge of the events, all of whom asked for anonymity to describe private discussions.
On Thursday, less than a week after the confrontation in the Oval Office, an extraordinary political alliance exploded, with Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk hurling insults at one another on social media. The feud culminated in threats from the president to cut the billions of dollars in federal contracts with Mr. Musk’s companies, and Mr. Musk claiming there were references to the president in government documents about Jeffrey Epstein, the sex offender. Mr. Musk indicated his support for the president’s impeachment.
By Thursday evening, Mr. Musk signaled he would be open to de-escalating the fight, while the president seemed to have little interest in an immediate reconciliation. White House officials said Mr. Trump had no plans to call Mr. Musk on Friday. A spokeswoman for Mr. Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Over the last several months, Mr. Musk saw his standing in the administration diminish. He angered the president by planning to attend a sensitive briefing about China at the Pentagon, one the president learned about from a New York Times report. He also sparred with cabinet officials and top Trump aides, and criticized the president’s tariffs. The president had grown more distant from a man with whom he had once seemed inseparable.
One point of contention between the men was the president’s signature domestic policy bill. Mr. Musk spent several days assailing the bill on X, his social media platform, furious because he said it would undo his work to cut government spending. He also suggested that he would support efforts ahead of next year’s midterm elections to unseat Republicans who backed the bill.
But it was the decision to pull Mr. Isaacman’s nomination that people close to both men said had accelerated the end of the relationship.
For Mr. Musk, there were few positions across the thousands in the federal government that mattered more than the head of NASA, because of its critical importance to SpaceX. So it was of great personal benefit to Mr. Musk when Mr. Trump chose Mr. Isaacman, who has flown to space twice with SpaceX, to oversee the agency.
For weeks, Senate Republican leadership had been under pressure from the White House to expedite his nomination, despite concerns from some Republican lawmakers about his past donations. The president, a White House aide told leaders, was fine with those donations, and the leadership should be as well.
After Mr. Trump withdrew Mr. Isaacman’s nomination, Mr. Musk, his allies and even some White House officials pinned the blame on Mr. Gor, believing he intentionally sabotaged Mr. Isaacman as Mr. Musk was on his way out.
Mr. Gor and Mr. Musk had clashed several times early in Mr. Trump’s second term, including at two cabinet meetings, where Mr. Musk questioned how swiftly Mr. Gor was moving to fill the top ranks of agencies.
But Mr. Gor’s title — director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office — belies his influence in the president’s orbit. Mr. Gor founded a pro-Trump super PAC during the 2024 presidential election, and co-founded a publishing house with Donald Trump Jr. that has published books by the president and his allies.
“Sergio Gor is a vital member of the team and he has helped President Trump put together an administration that is second to none,” Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, said in a statement.
By Friday morning, White House officials said Mr. Trump was planning to sell the bright red Tesla he said he had purchased in March in a show of support for Mr. Musk.
Tyler Pager is a White House correspondent for The Times, covering President Trump and his administration.
Maggie Haberman is a White House correspondent for The Times, reporting on President Trump.
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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