White House Doesn't Deny Physical Fight Between Musk And Treasury Secretary Bessent

The White House did not deny a physical altercation between former DOGE head Elon Musk and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, reported during the weekend by the Washington Post.

Speaking to Fox News' Maria Bartiromo in Sunday Morning Futures, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she "wouldn't describe" the episode as a "fistfight." "It was definitely a disagreement," she added.

The Washington Post did not recount a fistfight between the two. It detailed a scene described to former Trump adviser Steve Bannon. It took place in mid-April, when the two had gone into the Oval Office to make their cases for their preferred people to become the next acting IRS commissioner. Trump ended up siding with Bessent.

After the meeting, the two exited the Oval Office and began exchanging insults, according to Bannon. The Treasury secretary then called Musk a "total fraud" over his failure to uncover over $1 trillion in wasteful and fraudulent government spending, like he said he would do.

"Musk then rammed his shoulder into Bessent's ribcage 'like a rugby player,' Bannon said, and Bessent hit him back. Multiple people stepped in to break up the scrum as the two men reached the national security adviser's office," reads the passage of the Washington Post's article detailing the fight. Musk was then escorted out of the West Wing. Trump then learned about the incident and said "this is too much," according to Bannon.

Leavitt clarified to Fox News that she didn't witness the episode and "heard about it through secondhand reporting." "But again, we've moved on from that. The president has moved on from it, and the entire administration is focusing on passing this [big beautiful] bill," she added.

Musk has quickly fallen from Trump's grace, especially after the two engaged in an explosive and public feud last Thursday. The alliance began to fracture with the introduction of Trump's "big, beautiful bill," the comprehensive tax and spending package aimed at extending tax cuts and increasing funding for infrastructure and defense. While the bill aligned with Trump's agenda, it included provisions that phased out electric vehicle (EV) tax credits, a move that directly impacted Musk's businesses.

Musk publicly denounced the bill, labeling it a "disgusting abomination" and criticizing its potential to inflate the national deficit by $2.5 trillion. He argued that the legislation favored traditional energy sectors by maintaining oil and gas subsidies while undermining the EV industry.

Trump has continued standing by the bill, leading to the clash on Thursday, when Musk called for Trump to be impeached and replaced with Vice President JD Vance, and claimed that the president is in the Epstein files, a post he later deleted.

Trump has stepped away from a potential truce, telling telling ABC News on Friday that the billionaire has "lost his mind." Trump also told the network's Jonathan Karl that he is "not particularly" interested in talking to Musk.