.-') _ .-') _ | |
( OO ) ) ( OO ) ) | |
.-----. ,--./ ,--,' ,--./ ,--,' | |
' .--./ | \ | |\ | \ | |\ | |
| |('-. | \| | )| \| | ) | |
/_) |OO )| . |/ | . |/ | |
|| |`-'| | |\ | | |\ | | |
(_' '--'\ | | \ | | | \ | | |
`-----' `--' `--' `--' `--' | |
lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Trump encouraged Vance to respond diplomatically when asked about Musk. | |
Here’s how it played in real time | |
By Kit Maher, CNN | |
Updated: | |
2:43 PM EDT, Sat June 7, 2025 | |
Source: CNN | |
Vice President JD Vance rolled his eyes when shown during a podcast | |
taping should be impeached and Vance should replace him. | |
“Oh, my God,” Vance said, sipping Celsius while sitting across from | |
comedian and podcaster Theo Von. “See, this is what I’m talking | |
about.” | |
“What are you talking about — campaigning?” Von joked. | |
But Vance didn’t take the bait, or even risk joking about the | |
possibility of taking power from Trump. | |
“This stuff is just not helpful,” Vance said of Musk, of Trump’s | |
domestic policy agenda into bitter personal attacks, this jab | |
specifically appearing to pit the president and Vance against each | |
other. | |
“Politics is a place where people stab each other in the back. You | |
can’t get anything done, unless you’re all on the same team and | |
you’re actually committed to getting stuff done together,” Vance | |
continued. “The idea that … the president should be impeached — | |
I’m sorry, it’s insane.” | |
As Musk was adding fuel to the flames of the escalating fight Thursday, | |
Vance was taping a with Von in Nashville at Trump ally Kid Rock’s new | |
restaurant and was forced to respond in real time. | |
Vance was shown for the first time Musk’s post accusing Trump, | |
without evidence, of being in the “.” | |
Reading the post on the monitor, Vance said, “I haven’t even seen | |
this one.” | |
“Jeez, man,” Vance said, letting out a breath. | |
“Presumably when this comes out, people are going to know more about | |
this than even I do, because this kinda happened on the plane when I | |
was coming on down here,” he said during the interview, which was | |
released Saturday morning. | |
Before Vance flew to Nashville to tape the podcast, the vice president | |
was in the Oval Office sitting to Trump’s left when reporters | |
peppered the president with questions about Musk’s criticism of his | |
“one big, beautiful bill.” A source familiar said Trump and Vance | |
had multiple conversations throughout the day Thursday and that Trump | |
encouraged Vance to speak diplomatically about Musk when asked about | |
him publicly. | |
Vance first defended Trump against the Epstein allegations, saying in | |
the podcast, “Absolutely not. Donald Trump didn’t do anything wrong | |
with Jeffrey Epstein.” | |
“Whatever the Democrats and the media says about them, that’s | |
totally BS,” Vance added. | |
But it wasn’t the Democrats or “the media” making this | |
allegation, it was Trump’s former right-hand man, Musk. | |
Vance, however, didn’t lash out at Musk or serve as an attack dog for | |
Trump, instead taking the diplomatic approach the president encouraged | |
and making it clear where his loyalty lies. At the time, Vance said he | |
hoped the two men might make amends, but the Epstein post put some | |
doubt in his mind. | |
“I’m the vice president to President Trump. My loyalties are always | |
going to be with the president, and I think that Elon, he’s an | |
incredible entrepreneur,” Vance said, adding, “I hope that | |
eventually Elon kind of comes back into the fold. Maybe that’s not | |
possible now, because he’s gone so nuclear.” | |
On Saturday, Trump told he’s not interested in fixing his | |
relationship with Musk. The Tesla CEO appears to have deleted several | |
of the posts from Thursday’s feud, including the one about Epstein | |
and suggesting the president should be impeached and replaced with | |
Vance, but the criticism of Trump’s bill remains on his X account. | |
Vance and Musk, however, have long had a good relationship, even before | |
Vance was chosen as Trump’s running mate, and the two would speak | |
regularly, a source familiar with their interactions told CNN. | |
that Musk lobbied Trump to pick Vance as a running mate, as did several | |
conservative allies, including Donald Trump Jr., Steve Bannon and | |
Tucker Carlson. | |
Responding to Musk’s implosion with Trump, Vance praised him for his | |
efforts to rid out “waste, fraud and abuse” with the Department of | |
Government Efficiency, but cast him as emotional, an entrepreneur who | |
is frustrated with business of politics. | |
“Elon’s new to politics, right? So, his businesses are being | |
attacked nonstop. They’re literally, like, fire-bombing some of his | |
cars,” Vance said, referring to against Tesla vehicles and | |
facilities. “I think part of it is this guy got into politics and has | |
suffered a lot for it.” | |
“I get the frustration,” Vance said. “It’s a good bill. It’s | |
not a perfect bill, like the process of DC, if you’re a business | |
leader, you probably get frustrated with that process because it’s | |
more, you know, bureaucratic, it’s more slow-moving.” | |
“Really, man, I think it’s a huge mistake for him to go after the | |
president like that,” Vance said. “I think that if he and the | |
president are in some blood feud. Most importantly, it’s gonna be bad | |
for the country, but … I don’t think it’s gonna be good for Elon | |
either.” | |
Vance hinted at some erosion between Trump and Musk’s relationship, | |
based on his criticism of the bill, even before Thursday’s blowup. | |
“I don’t want to reveal too many confidences, but [Trump] was | |
getting a little frustrated, feeling like some of the criticisms were | |
unfair coming from Elon, but I think has been very restrained, because | |
the president doesn’t think that he needs to be in a blood feud with | |
Elon Musk, and I actually think if Elon chilled out a little bit, | |
everything would be fine,” Vance said. | |
While Vance said, “Elon’s entitled to his opinion,” he warned of | |
entering a “war” with Trump. | |
“Is this war actually in the interest of the country? I don’t think | |
so,” Vance said. “So, hopefully, Elon figures it out, comes back | |
into the fold.” | |
<- back to index |