There Goes the Friendship? President Trump Blocked Elon Musk From Seeing Military Plans on Possible War With China During Pentagon Meeting: 'You Wouldn't Show it to a Businessman!'
Elon Musk was not allowed to see war plans, as Donald Trump stopped his close friend in his tracks.
March 21 2025, Published 7:45 p.m. ET
Donald Trump has to draw the line somewhere when it comes to Elon Musk, and it is apparently drawn when it has to do with a possible war with China.
On Friday, March 21, the president made it clear the billionaire – who has been attached to him for months – didn't come close to seeing military plans while at a meeting in the Pentagon, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Trump confirmed Musk did not come close to seeing potential war plans.
While speaking with reporters at the Oval Office, Trump said: "I don’t want to show it to anybody. You know you’re talking about a potential war with China.
"We don’t want to have a potential war with China, but I can tell you, if we did, we’re very well equipped to handle it.”
Trump's confirmation comes amid theories as to why Musk was at the Pentagon on Friday morning, where he met with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for over an hour.
Musk visited the Pentagon on March 21 for a mysterious meeting with Pete Hegseth.
It was previously reported the Tesla founder was receiving a briefing on the military’s plan for a possible battle with China, however, Pentagon officials shut down the rumors – as did Trump.
He said: “I don’t want to show that to anybody – but certainly, you wouldn’t show it to a businessman who is helping us so much. You know, Elon has businesses in China, and he would be susceptible, perhaps, to that – but it was such a fake story.”
When asked about his meeting with Hegseth, Musk was of course giddy as he responded: "It’s always a great meeting.”
"I’ve been here before, you know,” the 53-year-old joked, and added "Why would I tell you?" when asked if the meeting focused on China.
This is not the first time Trump has told the public Musk – known as 'First Buddy' – does not have as much power as everyone thinks.
On March 6, during a Cabinet-level meeting, Trump is said to have reminded heads of agencies that they are pulling the strings when it comes to firing employees, and not Musk.
Musk and Trump appeared to be the best of buds, hanging out consistently.
According to sources, Musk was in the meeting when Trump told his top officials the DOGE boss is only there to make recommendations on who to terminate, but does not have any power when it comes to actually doing the firing.
Trump's reported instructions came after the businessman was open about cutting government waste, even sending an email to federal employees urging them to list five things they had done that week. He gave them a deadline, too.
Musk then took to X, telling workers the email was to figure out “who had a pulse and two working neurons," and then warned those who did not send the email would “soon be furthering their career elsewhere.”
However, the email was met with pushback, including from department leads Kash Patel and Tulsi Gabbard.
Musk took another big hit recently as he watch his automotive and clean energy company Tesla plunge in the stock market. According to Business Insider, from December to March 14 after trading hours, the company lost almost 50 percent of its market cap.
Tesla saw its peak value of $1.54trillion from the end of 2024 fall to about $777billion.
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The billionaire's company Tesla has taken a major hit in the stock market amid backlash.
"We struggle to think of anything analogous in the history of the automotive industry, in which a brand has lost so much value so quickly," JPMorgan analysts told the outlet.
