Elon Musk‘s swift departure from his signature Department of Government Efficiency and the White House was escalated by an outburst that turned violent, according to a high-profile insider.
Former Chief Strategist Steve Bannon told DailyMail.com that Musk’s turbulent time in the White House was marred when he physically ‘shoved’ Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent after he was confronted over wild promises to save the administration ‘a trillion dollars’.
‘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?” the prominent MAGA figure revealed.
‘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 said the physical altercation came as the two billionaires moved from the Oval Office to outside Chief of Staff Susie Wiles’ office, and then outside the National Security Advisor’s office.
‘Trump 100%’ sided with Bessent after the clash, he added. ‘I don’t think Bessent has any bad blood, but he’s got a job to do and he’s going to do it.’
The revelation of a confrontation between the pair was confirmed by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Friday.
According to former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, Musk physically ‘shoved’ Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in the West Wing when confronted with promises to slash trillions in government spending
The alleged altercation came as Bessent questioned Musk’s DOGE cuts, which he said was a ‘sore subject’ with the Tesla CEO
‘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 DailyMail.com.
‘Disagreements are a normal part of any healthy policy process, and ultimately everyone knows they serve at the pleasure of President Trump.’
Musk’s time in the Trump White House was scheduled to only last five months, but it comes the same week he broke ranks by publicly trashing the administration’s ‘Big Beautiful’ domestic bill.
As Musk’s time at the White House came to a close, Bessent took to his X platform to publicly thank the Tesla CEO on his way out, saying he did ‘very important work’ and said he was ‘committed to not letting the bureaucracy slow it down’ now Musk is gone.
The revelations of the Musk Bessant clash follow an explosive New York Times report that alleged Musk was using a cocktail of drugs on the campaign trail including ketamine, ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms.
Bannon added that Musk also lost status in Trump’s orbit when it was leaked to the New York Times in March that the billionaire was preparing to receive top-secret military briefings on China, which Trump abruptly stopped.
Elon Musk’s turbulent time in the Trump White House was marred by controversy, including an alleged altercation with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in an argument over DOGE
Bannon, the chief strategist in Trump’s first administration, said when Musk was heading DOGE, people ‘in the administration and the White House realized he didn’t have any idea what he’s doing’
The former chief strategist in Trump’s first administration said the mounting issues with DOGE and the China briefings led to Musk losing face in the White House.
‘The president backed (Bessent) just like the president didn’t allow the briefing on China,’ he said.
‘People in the administration and the White House realized he didn’t have any idea what he’s doing.
‘They cauterized the damage.’
Bannon said the president’s decision to block Musk from receiving briefings on China ‘made (Musk) realize that Trump was going to back his cabinet.’
‘That’s the inflection point, you see Elon all changed from that moment.’
The fight between Musk and Bessent was initially reported in April, however the extent of the alleged physicality of the clash was not previously known.
Bannon added that Musk also lost status in Trump’s orbit when it was leaked in March that Musk was preparing to receive top-secret military briefings on China, which Trump abruptly stopped
Bannon said Musk’s alleged shortcomings with DOGE were exacerbated when Trump gave his State of the Union address earlier this year, when the president listed through millions of allegedly fraudulent Social Security recipients aged over 100.
Despite Musk claiming to have found a scandal, it was later alleged that these were primarily due to an accounting error and no significant money was sent to these recipients.
‘Not one penny was ever shown to have been sent to these people,’ Bannon said.
‘Is anyone trying to talk to Elon now? No.’
Musk’s departure from the White House comes as the Trump administration is grappling with its ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ in Congress.
The billionaire broke ranks earlier this week as he trashed the bill for its spending increases, which Musk fumed had ‘undermined’ the work he had done at DOGE.
But Bannon blamed the fallout from the bill squarely on Musk’s shoulders, saying the White House and Congressional Republicans relied on him to cancel out the spending with his DOGE cuts and he didn’t deliver.
‘The political class on Capitol hill willingly got behind a pied piper and wasted five months,’ he said.
Musk’s departure from the White House comes as the Trump administration is grappling with its ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ in Congress, and Bannon said Congressional Republicans hoped Musk would be their ‘fairy godmother’ but fell short of his promises
‘The people at fault here are Congress,’ he continued.
‘They wanted to have a fairy godmother come in and wave a magic wand and say, its all fraud, and get them off the hook.
‘Particularly (Speaker) Johnson… they didn’t invite Musk to Capitol hill because they think he’s politically radioactive, and they all lined up and didn’t do the work on these bills… There’s no cuts.’
Bannon insisted that he was a supporter of the DOGE mission and said ‘we have to cut out every penny we can’, but felt Musk failed to live up to the promise.
With the nation’s finances set to fall under the spotlight as Congress works to pass the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’, Bannon said the most pressing crisis will be the impact on the bond markets, and said the fallout could become a ‘Liz Truss moment.’
‘This is a crisis, unless we get our arms around this we’re going to have a Liz Truss moment.’
Bannon clarified that he did not mean the crisis could bring Trump down in the way that it did with the former UK Prime Minister, but warned that the looming financial fallout could have the same impact on the markets that her bungled premiership had.
‘Where is the fraud? The Pentagon is a cesspool of fraud, where is it? Where are the criminal referrals?’ he added.
