WASHINGTON — Elon Musk lashed out at Trump ally Steve Bannon Friday, calling the former White House chief strategist “a criminal” after he urged the president to seize the Musk’s SpaceX company and to deport the South African-born billionaire.
Replying to an X post rehashing Bannon’s call for Trump to use the Defense Production Act to take over Musk’s space exploration company, the Tesla CEO posted that “Bannon advocates crime, because he is a criminal.”
Musk, 53, became a naturalized American citizen in 2002.
Bannon, 71, served four months in federal prison after being convicted in July 2022 of two counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to give documents and testimony to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. He was released in October of last year.
Here is the latest on Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s feud
- Elon Musk drops ‘really big bomb,’ accuses Trump of being in Epstein files as public brawl escalates
- Trump sounds off on Elon Musk after billionaire blasted prez’s ‘big beautiful bill’
- Tesla shares tumble as Trump, Musk escalate attacks: ‘Elon’s politics continue to harm stock’
- Musk escalates Trump feud with pointed election dig after blasting prez’s ‘big, beautiful, bill’
- President threatens to cut ‘Billions and Billions of Dollars’ in federal funding for Elon Musk’s companies as feud goes nuclear
Trump, 78, also granted Bannon a pardon during the final moments of his first term in office, getting him off the hook for federal charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering after allegedly defrauding donors to a fund advertised as helping construct a wall along the US-Mexico border.
Bannon advocates crime, because he is a criminal
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 6, 2025
Musk’s broadside at Bannon came amid a still-simmering feud with Trump over the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, during which the Tesla boss threatened to decommission SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft — used by NASA to take astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station — before later backing off.
The Defense Production Act would allow the federal government to take over private assets such as SpaceX; however, the company would have to be deemed critical to national security.
