Maggie Haberman Says Trump ‘Does Not Want’ Public Fight With Elon Musk — ‘Dodged’ Question in Oval

CNN commentator and New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman told anchor Jake Tapper that President Donald Trump “dodged” a question about Elon Musk because he “does not want” a public fight with the outgoing DOGE czar.

Trump was confronted during an Oval Office photo op with Musk’s criticism that he was “disappointed” with the “Big Beautiful Bill,” but Trump pivoted instantly to attacking Democrats and didn’t address the apparent rift with Musk.

Haberman was a guest on Thursday’s edition of CNN’s The Lead, during which Tapper asked about that Oval Office exchange, and Haberman called out the “dodge”:

TAPPER: Speaking of loyalty, interesting comments from Trump’s friend Elon Musk about Trump’s big, beautiful bill. Let’s play that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELON MUSK: I was like disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing. I think a bill can be big or it can beautiful, but I don’t know if it could be both.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So Trump was asked about this today. He deflected trying to blame Democrats for the bill, which is interesting. How do you think that comment from Musk is really actually going over with Trump?

HABERMAN: I don’t think it’s thrilling Trump. I also don’t think it’s entirely surprising to Trump. I think that Musk has been sort of trying to cleave some separation with the White House and his own work right now. I also don’t know how much effect it is going to have. I think that if it ends up having a real material impact on the bill, then I think Trump will care a lot. But it was, as you say, he dodged it and clearly does not want to be in some kind of a public fight with Musk.

TAPPER: Where is their relationship right now, do you think?

HABERMAN: I think they still deal with each other. I think Musk — look, Musk was in that meeting with the South African president. Musk is still around. He is still, you know, allied with some people in the Trump administration. And he still has a lot of money. And so all of that is going to mean he will be around going forward just what quantities remain to be seen, right?

TAPPER: Richest man in the world, so. All right, Maggie Haberman, thanks so much.

HABERMAN: Thanks, Jake.

Watch above via CNN’s The Lead.