Melania allegedly said no to Elon Musk's White House sleepover, Trump said yes anyway
WASHINGTON, DC: First lady Melania Trump allegedly objected to Elon Musk staying overnight at the White House but was overruled by President Donald Trump, according to a new book by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan.
The book, ‘Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump,’ details how Musk, then head of the Department of Government Efficiency, asked Trump if he could sleep at the White House. Trump agreed, and Musk went on to spend several nights in the Lincoln Bedroom despite the first lady's objections.
Musk confirms sleepovers, praises Trump as host
The book recounts how “then-DOGE head Elon Musk asked Trump if he could sleep at the White House. Donald Trump agreed. Melania did not,” the Daily Beast wrote.
Her objection was overruled, with Musk spending several nights in the Lincoln Bedroom.
“Other nights he stayed with friends,” Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan of The New York Times wrote in the book, “though he also told associates he had taken to using a sleeping bag on the floor of his office in the Eisenhower Building.”
Musk has previously said it was Trump who asked him over and that the president gave him a tour of the Lincoln Bedroom while encouraging him to get ice cream in the kitchen.
“He’s actually a very good host,” Musk said.
According to the book, Musk told associates that on other nights he stayed with friends or used a sleeping bag on the floor of his office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
Musk has previously confirmed the arrangement publicly, saying it was Trump who invited him to stay and that the president personally gave him a tour of the Lincoln Bedroom while encouraging him to grab ice cream from the kitchen.
Musk himself would later brag about the sleepovers to a group of reporters. “Sometimes I stay at the White House,” he told them, adding that he had stayed there “more than once.”
Musk-Trump relationship has had ups and downs
The sleepover arrangement came during Musk's roughly four-month tenure leading DOGE's federal cost-cutting effort.
His relationship with the administration grew more turbulent after he left the role in May 2025, sparking a public feud that included his criticism of Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill" and the administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
In Musk’s version of events, Trump had asked where he was staying as the pair were traveling aboard Air Force One. When Musk replied that he didn’t know yet, Trump invited him to the White House and gave him a private tour, Musk claimed.
“The president’s, very, very, I guess we’re good friends and we’ll be on Air Force One or Marine One and then he’s like, ‘Hey do you want to stay over?’ and I’m like, ‘Sure,’” Musk said in May 2025.
“And then he gave me a tour of the Lincoln Bedroom and… oh, this is cool,” he continued.
“I didn’t request it, to be sure,” Musk, 54, added.
The Tesla CEO also praised the president’s generosity as a host, telling reporters, “He’ll actually call, like late at night, and say, like, ‘Oh, by the way, make sure you get some ice cream from the kitchen.’”
The two appeared to patch things up in early 2026, when Musk shared a photo of himself dining with Trump and the first lady at Mar-a-Lago.
The pair are also tied through Musk's SpaceX, whose initial public offering reportedly stood to benefit several figures connected to the Trump administration. The IPO briefly made Musk a trillionaire, though the stock has since pulled back.
“I ate a whole tub of ice cream… Caramel, Häagen-Dazs,” Musk said. “I mean, don’t tell RFK,” he added.
“He’s actually a very good host.”
The book also recounts other details of life inside the White House, including Trump's habit of making do-it-yourself touch-ups to Oval Office decor using super glue, and an ongoing disagreement between the president and first lady over decor in a shared second-floor living space.
