Elon Musk has a heated 'WWE-style' argument with Trump official, White House calls it 'healthy debate'

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and tech mogul Elon Musk reportedly engaged in a full-on shouting match that had staffers doing double-takes
PUBLISHED APR 24, 2025
President Donald Trump’s advisor and tech billionaire Elon Musk had a heated 'WWE-style' argument with another White House official (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump’s advisor and tech billionaire Elon Musk had a heated 'WWE-style' argument with another White House official (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC: In the hushed halls of the West Wing, two of President Donald Trump’s advisors—Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and tech mogul Elon Musk engaged in a full-on shouting match that had staffers doing double-takes.

According to Axios’s Marc Caputo, “the F bombs started to fly,” and suddenly it felt less like a White House corridor and more like a WWE smackdown. 

White House Senior Advisor, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk (L) speaks during a cabinet meeting held by U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on March 24, 2025 in Washington, DC. This is Trump's third cabinet meeting of his second term, and it focused on spending cuts proposed by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
White House Senior Advisor, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk (L) speaks during a cabinet meeting held by President Donald Trump at the White House on March 24, 2025, in Washington, DC (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

“It was two billionaire-middle-aged men thinking it was WWE in the hall of the West Wing,” one stunned witness told reporters. Thankfully, fists never flew, but the verbal volley made it clear that there’s some serious power jostling going on at the top, Mediaite reported.

A scene louder than the stock market

According to sources, if you thought the New York Stock Exchange floor was loud, you should have heard the decibels in the hallway. “It was quite a scene. It was loud. And I mean, loud,” another aide confessed. 

Billionaire businessman Elon Musk speaks during a town hall meeting at the KI Convention Center on March 30, 2025 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The town hall is being held in front of the state’s high-profile Supreme Court election between Circuit Court Judge Brad Schimel, who has been financially backed by Musk and endorsed by President Donald Trump, and Dane County Circuit Court Judge Susan Crawford. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Billionaire businessman Elon Musk speaks during a town hall meeting at the KI Convention Center on March 30, 2025, in Green Bay, Wisconsin (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

When tensions were so high, one brave staffer literally stepped between the two titans to keep things from boiling over. The New York Times first broke news that the "clash" centered on who should run the IRS. Musk’s pick was Acting Commissioner Gary Shapley, while Bessent’s preferred was Michael Faulkender. 

Musk had quietly recommended Shapley to take the wheel at the IRS. Bessent found out through the grapevine and wasn’t thrilled. Within days, Trump swapped Shapley out for Faulkender, Bessent’s guy.



 

When reporters pressed White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt about the situation, she tried to play it cool. “Look, there are disagreements amongst the president’s staff and Cabinet sometimes, but we think that’s part of a healthy debate process,” she said on Wednesday, April 23. “Everybody knows that ultimately President Trump is the decision-maker.”

Scott Bessent 'can't stand' Elon Musk

For those only casually following the saga, Acott Bessent might seem like Mr Nice Guy—but he has a threshold.

"What surprises a lot of people is Scott is so mild-mannered. But he has his limits, and he can roar," a Bessent supporter who was briefed on the argument revealed.

In fact, the same source said Bessent “can’t stand” Musk. "That goes pretty deep and pretty far back. But he's acting like a grown-up about it," they added.

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 02: U.S. Treasury Scott Bessent arrives to the U.S. Capitol on April 02, 2025 in Washington, DC. Bessent met with Senate Republicans ahead of President Trump's announcement on a new round of tariffs. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
 Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent arrives at the Capitol on April 2, 2025, in Washington, DC (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

All this unfolded during a roller-coaster week of tariff announcements and stock-market whipsawing.

Bessent quietly played peacemaker through it all, helping steady the administration’s trade messaging and soothing investors on edge.

Elon Musk’s exit strategy amid Tesla's sales disaster

Meanwhile, Elon Musk has already signaled he’s planning to dial back White House advising duties.

On Tuesday’s earnings call, Musk tried to reassure everyone. “Starting probably in next month, in May, my time allocation to DOGE will drop significantly,” he vowed, promising only “one or two days” advising the White House.

Still, he’s not ghosting the administration entirely. Musk said he’ll stick around for “one to two days" a week on government issues throughout Trump’s term. Come May, however, he will be "allocating far more of my time to Tesla."

GRUENHEIDE, GERMANY - MARCH 22: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (R), Brandenburg State Premier Dietmar
Tesla CEO Elon Musk (C) attends the official opening of the new Tesla electric car manufacturing plant on March 22, 2022, near Gruenheide, Germany (Christian Marquardt - Pool/Getty Images)

Investors responded with a collective sigh of relief. Tesla shares—down 41% this year—popped 4% to $247.53 after Musk’s pledge to scale back his DOGE distractions. Yet the carnage in the Q1 earnings report was hard to ignore as revenue tumbled 9% and profit slumped 71%, ABC News reported.

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