Trump claims he fed the NYT that explosive Musk drug story, and his own biographer warns it’s a full-on blood feud now
Donald Trump’s feud with Elon Musk is getting intensely personal, according to journalist and author Michael Wolff. On Wednesday, Wolff told The Daily Beast Podcast that Trump has been venting about the Tesla billionaire on private calls, even claiming responsibility for tipping off The New York Times about Musk’s alleged drug use.
In May, The Times reported that the 53-year-old tech mogul was using ketamine, Adderall, ecstasy, and psychedelic mushrooms during Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign—a campaign Musk had financially backed with hundreds of millions. Musk has denied all allegations of drug use.
“I was tracking some Trump phone calls on Monday night. And it’s sort of worth explaining here that over a long period of time, I’ve gotten to know and cultivated a lot of people who Trump regularly speaks to,” Wolff told podcast host Joanna Coles. “Trump speaks to them, and then they speak to other people,” he said, adding, “whoever he calls, he says the same thing to everybody. So you know exactly what is on his mind.”
And on Monday night, according to Wolff, Musk was exactly that—on Trump’s mind.
Their public falling-out intensified this week as Musk escalated attacks on Trump’s proposed megabill, a sweeping spending package that the president is urgently trying to get through Congress. By Tuesday, Trump fired back, suggesting Musk’s government subsidies could be pulled and hinting that Musk may need to “go back home to South Africa.”
“He’s like, calling people to say, ‘do you think Elon is crazy?’” Wolff recounted. “In one of these phone calls—many of them—he was on about, you know, how many drugs he takes,” he continued. “‘He takes drugs all the time. You know that, don’t you? You know, The New York Times wrote about it. They said, he takes drugs.’”
Wolff added that Trump went so far as to claim, “‘actually, we dropped a dime to The New York Times … on Elon’s drug taking.’” He clarified that he doesn’t know whether anyone from Trump’s team was genuinely the source, but “he is just claiming credit for that now.”
The Times has said its report on Musk’s behavior was based on interviews with over a dozen individuals who had worked with him or knew him personally, in addition to private messages obtained during the reporting process.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the matter. Meanwhile, Trump’s communications director Steven Cheung dismissed Wolff’s credibility, previously telling The Daily Beast that the author is a “lying sack of s–t” who “fabricates stories.”
Wolff, who authored Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House and several other Trump-focused titles, said the falling out between the two men has gone beyond politics. According to him, this has entered “blood score” territory. He also noted that even if Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” fails in the House, “Elon is pi–ed” and may follow through on launching a new political party.
Musk has already hinted at forming an “America Party” if the “insane spending bill passes,” and has threatened to fund primary challengers against any Republican lawmakers who “campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history.”
Trump remains focused on pushing the legislation through by his July 4 deadline, publicly urging House Republicans to unify behind it as internal division threatens to stall momentum.
Note to our readers: This report is based on verified interviews and original reporting from reputable sources including The Daily Beast and The New York Times. All quoted statements remain unaltered to ensure factual integrity.
