Elon Musk's father Errol has called his son's feud with President Donald Trump a "mistake," saying the pair "have been under incredible stress for five months."
The world has watched the dramatic fallout between Trump, one of the most powerful men on the planet, and Elon Musk, the world's richest man.
It started with Musk's criticism of Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which he called "outrageous," "pork-filled," and a "disgusting abomination."
Things escalated when Elon Musk claimed on social media, without providing evidence, that Trump was named in files about child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019 -- something the White House has denied.
Errol Musk was in Moscow to speak at the Future Forum 2050, a conference on Russia's development headlined by Alexander Dugin, an ultranationalist firebrand often referred to as "Putin's philosopher".
Musk-senior told Russian media that Elon Musk's comments had been "a mistake," according to the national daily newspaper Izvestia.
"They've been under incredible stress for five months. Give them a break," Errol Musk said. "They had to get rid of the opposition, try to restore normalcy, focus on ordinary matters, and so on. They're exhausted and tense, so something like this isn't unusual."
He went on to say that he believes his son and Trump will come to a resolution soon.
His remarks came after Trump said that the Tesla CEO would face "very serious consequences" if the tech billionaire started to fund Democrats in the wake of their fallout.
"If he does, he'll have to pay the consequences for that," Trump told NBC News in a phone interview. "He'll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that."
When asked if he had any desire to repair the relationship between the pair, Trump said "No," adding that he "would assume" that their relationship was over after the very public dispute.
Trump added that Musk had been "disrespectful to the office of the president" and that he was "too busy doing other things" to dwell on the matter, adding: "I have no intention of speaking to him."
"I think it's a very bad thing, because he's very disrespectful. You could [sic] not disrespect the office of the president," Trump said.
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."
President Donald Trump posted to Truth Social on Thursday: "I don't mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago. This is one of the Greatest Bills ever presented to Congress. It's a Record Cut in Expenses, $1.6 Trillion Dollars, and the Biggest Tax Cut ever given. If this Bill doesn't pass, there will be a 68% Tax Increase, and things far worse than that. I didn't create this mess, I'm just here to FIX IT. This puts our Country on a Path of Greatness. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
He added: "Elon was 'wearing thin,' I asked him to leave,I took away his EV [electric vehicle] 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!"
Trump has set a deadline for Senate Republicans to pass the "big beautiful bill" and get it to his desk to sign by July 4.
The impact of his fight with Elon Musk remains to be seen.