ARussian official said that the nation could offer American billionaire Elon Musk political asylum over his fierce dispute with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Why It Matters
The U.S. president and the world’s richest man have had a dramatic fallout, leaving many wondering what will come of the relationship.
The comments come as tensions between Washington and Moscow remain high as ceasefire talks for the Russia-Ukraine war have stalled, with the last round of negotiations lasting just 90 minutes with little progress outside of an agreement to release prisoners on both sides.
Last month, Trump said about Russian President Vladimir Putin, “I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him.”
What To Know
Dmitry Novikov, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, made the comments to Russian state news outlet TASS.
“I think that Musk has a completely different game, [so] he will not need any political asylum, although if he did, Russia, of course, could provide it,” Novikov said, in remarks translated from Russian.
Musk and Trump, who had been political allies over desired cuts to federal spending, have publicly clashed recently with the feud escalating on June 5 in a series of exchanges across social media and in comments to reporters.
The spat began over Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which includes an extension of his signature tax cuts and spending for other priorities, such as border security. Musk has expressed worries about the impact this bill will have on national debt.
Trump has claimed that Musk is upset that the president has taken away mandates for electric vehicles (EVs).
“Elon was ‘wearing thin,’ I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!” he wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Musk wrote later on X on Thursday: “Time to drop the really big bomb:@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!”
In another post, he added: “Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.”
The Tesla CEO also suggested that Trump should be impeached.
What People Are Saying
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Newsweek on Thursday: “This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted. The President is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again.”
Elon Musk, on X: “Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate. Such ingratitude.”
Source: https://www.newsweek.com/russia-offers-political-asylum-elon-musk-over-trump-feud-2081887