Steve Bannon on Friday called for the Trump administration to investigate Elon Musk, whose brewing feud with the president became public Thursday in a series of escalating tit-for-tat social media posts.
Bannon, a former White House chief strategist and an ally of President Trump, told CBS News that he wants the White House and Trump administration to probe alleged drug use by Musk, as well as the South African-native’s immigration status.
“They have to do that. You have to take his security clearance. Investigate drug use and investigate his involvement” with China, Bannon said in a phone interview. “And you have to investigate his status as a citizen.”
Bannon questioned whether Musk’s path to citizenship was handled properly.
“If it turned out he overstayed visas and lied about it, it’s not right. It has to be investigated,” Bannon said.
Musk, the world’s richest man, was at first a powerful voice in the White House, after spending some $277 million in support of Mr. Trump’s election campaign. Mr. Trump lauded the cost-cutting efforts of the Musk-inspired Department of Government Efficiency during a March speech before Congress, but their relationship has since soured.
Bannon now believes DOGE needs greater scrutiny from the administration.
“Did they take data sets to feed into their AI model? This has to be investigated now. He’s an unstable individual. What did DOGE do? What did DOGE find?” Bannon asked, saying it’s a matter of “national security.”
Bannon has criticized Musk for years, claiming to CBS News in March 2023 that Musk was “owned by the Chinese Communist Party.” In January, he called Musk “out of control.”
Bannon said Friday he is in “touch with the White House at many levels.”
His comments came the day after Mr. Trump and Musk’s relationship broke down in a series of dramatic, public outbursts that erupted over Musk’s withering criticisms of Republicans’ tax and budget bill.
The president said Musk “went CRAZY!” and threatened to cancel Musk’s lucrative government contracts. Musk claimed that Mr. Trump could not have won the presidency without him, voiced support for impeachment and claimed the president’s name appeared in files related to the case of Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased financier who died by suicide in federal custody in 2019 while facing charges of sex trafficking.
Throughout the back and forth, Mr. Trump continued to defend the budget bill Musk opposes.
“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,” Mr. Trump posted on his social media site.
Graham Kates
contributed to this report.
