Donald Trump Could Seize Space X From Elon Musk As President's Tit-for-Tat War With Tesla Boss Rolls On
Donald Trump and Elon Musk's feud has boiled over and now the president is being encouraged to seize SpaceX from his former ally.
June 6 2025, Published 2:40 p.m. ET
Donald Trump has been encouraged to seize control of SpaceX from Elon Musk as the former allies' feud turns nasty.
RadarOnline.com can reveal the president, 78, also faces calls to "deport" the South African-born Tesla founder, 53, who threatened to decommission a space capsule used to take astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station.
Trump Responds To 'Epstein' Jibe
Trump has threatened to strip Musk of his multibillion-dollar government contracts.
Trump hit back at Musk's escalating claims by suggesting the entrepreneur's multibillion-dollar government contracts be taken away.
It comes after Musk called for Trump to be impeached on Thursday after linking him to Jeffrey Epstein.
The clash, which began over Musk's opposition to Trump's "big, beautiful bill," quickly evolved into personal insults and prompted the president to suggest that Musk should be stripped of his multibillion-dollar government contracts.
"The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts," Trump said on Truth Social.
'Musk Should Be Deported'
Musk critic, Steve Bannon, has urged Trump to deport the South African-born Tesla founder.
Musk promptly fired back, with the SpaceX chief saying he would begin "decommissioning" his company's Dragon spacecraft in response.
The spacecraft is vital for ferrying NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
And now Steve Bannon, a former senior adviser to Trump during his first administration and a fierce critic of Musk, quickly weighed in row and claimed the president could get the upper hand if he seized SpaceX from the billionaire entrepreneur and invoke the Defense Production Act – a national security measure dating back to the Korean War era – to seize control of the company.
Musk issued Trump with an olive branch on Thursday night.
Musk appeared to extend an olive branch on social media on Thursday night, replying: "You're not wrong" to a post from hedge fund manager Bill Ackman that called on the pair to reconcile and urged: "We're much stronger together than apart."
Trump's aides are reportedly looking to organize a call between the president and his former "First Buddy" for Friday, June 6, to smooth over the fallout that threatens to tear apart MAGA and destabilize DC.
In practice, seizing SpaceX, which is a private company, would prove difficult.
While the Defense Production Act gives the president broad powers to prioritize contracts deemed necessary for national defense, expand productive capacity and supply of critical goods and materials, and allocate resources like energy, materials, or services, it does not explicitly authorize outright seizure or nationalization of private companies.
Calls to deport Musk come despite the billionaire being a U.S. citizen for two decades.
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Trump could target Musk in other ways, such as targeting his contracts, clearances, and federal partnerships.
SpaceX has various contracts embedded within the U.S. national security infrastructure, including Pentagon satellites (Starlink military versions), not to mention NASA’s Artemis program to return humans to the Moon.
Nevertheless, Bannon went further still, suggesting Musk be stripped of his security clearance and that all federal contracts awarded to the billionaire's various enterprises be suspended pending a full-scale investigation.
Bannon then went on to demand Trump initiate deportation proceedings against Musk.
"Elon Musk is here illegally. He's got to go," Bannon said, even though Musk, originally from South Africa, has been a naturalized U.S. citizen for more than twenty years.
"They should initiate a formal investigation of his immigration status because I am of the strong belief that he is an illegal alien, and he should be deported from the country immediately."
