Tesla CEO Elon Musk met with former President Donald Trump on Sunday in Palm Beach, Florida, along with unnamed wealthy Republican donors, the New York Times reported, citing three people briefed on the meeting.
Trump is courting donors as he gears up for a general election campaign against President Joe Biden. It’s not yet clear whether Musk will financially back or endorse Trump and his 2024 campaign.
Musk and a representative for Trump’s campaign didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Private jets belonging to Trump and Musk were spotted landing within less than an hour of one another at a Palm Beach airport on March 2. The jets’ whereabouts were first reported online by the service known as “Elon Jet,” which uses publicly available data to track more than 125 jets belonging to politicians, celebrities and executives.
In September 2023, Musk visited the White House to discuss artificial intelligence technology, but he didn’t meet with Biden at that time.
Musk, who owns X and runs defense contractor SpaceX in addition to Tesla, didn’t endorse Trump in his 2016 or 2020 campaigns.
The two have had their share of clashes.
In June 2017, Musk abandoned advisory councils of then-President Trump, citing his withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris climate accords.
In 2022, Trump called Musk a “bull—- artist,” claiming that the Tesla CEO said he voted for Trump in private conversations between them. Musk publicly denied that claim and said the first time he voted for a Republican was Mayra Flores in a special election in Texas that year.
Musk has publicly voiced criticisms of Trump and Biden.
“I don’t hate the man, but it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset,” Musk wrote in a tweet in July 2022. “Dems should also call off the attack — don’t make it so that Trump’s only way to survive is to regain the Presidency.”
Trump said in a post on Truth Social at that time that Musk came to the White House for help “on all of his many subsidized…
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