Ted Cruz was with president when Musk’s barrage of attacks started: ‘Trump was pissed’

nypost.com

Sen. Ted Cruz was with a fuming President Trump as Elon Musk viciously attacked his former ally online Thursday — with the Texas Republican saying the spat made him feel like he was a kid in the middle of a divorce.

“I was sitting in the Oval as this unfolded. Trump was pissed. He was venting,” the Republican senator revealed on his podcast “Verdict with Ted Cruz” Friday.

“I was sitting there, and the tweets were coming…. Elon was saying some really harsh things.”

Donald Trump and Elon Musk speaking in the White House.

President Trump and Tesla billionaire Elon Musk came to blows on social media this week, ending their bromance. AFP via Getty Images

The SpaceX and Tesla billionaire went on a multi-day social media offensive against Trump, panning the president’s “big, beautiful” reconciliation bill “disgusting” and urging Congress to kill it.

“Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” Musk fumed after Trump spoke out about the simmering feud.


Here is the latest on Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s feud


Cruz, who’s friends with both former bros, called their very public break-up this week “incredibly painful.”

“These are two men whom I know very well, they’re both good friends of mine,” he said.

“I feel like the kids of a bitter divorce where you’re just saying, ‘I really wish mommy and daddy would stop screaming.'”

Ted Cruz speaking in a video.

Ted Cruz talked about the break-up this Friday on his podcast “Verdict with Ted Cruz.” Verdict with Ted Cruz/Facebook

Trump and Musk’s tiff escalated later in the week — with Trump threatening to cancel billions of dollars in government contracts to Musk’s companies and Musk claiming Trump was holding out on making the Jeffrey Epstein files public because he’s in them.

Elon Musk and Donald Trump shaking hands.

Trump and Musk’s tiff escalated later in the week. Getty Images

“It just went from zero to 11 instantaneously,” said Cruz.

“These are two alpha males who are pissed off. And unfortunately, they’re unloading on each other … They’re angry, it’s not complicated.”

Cruz and his co-host commented that they thought both men are right — Trump’s big beautiful budget bill has to get passed but the government has to tackle the deficit more as Musk argued.

“Unfortunately, Elon is working under the assumption that Congress actually wants to do the job and save our country,” said podcast co-host Ben Ferguson. “And I think Trump is working under the reality that there’s a lot of people in Congress that actually aren’t looking out for the American people.”

Musk on Saturday deleted his post about the Epstein files in a sign he was ready to throw in the towel. But Trump made it clear he wasn’t interested in kissing and making up anytime soon.

“I have no intention of speaking to him,” he told NBC News.