Trump furious with Musk over secret China briefing - Axios
Photo: Businessman Elon Musk and US President Donald Trump (Getty Images)
Last month, American businessman Elon Musk was supposed to join a secret briefing at the Pentagon to discuss China. However, US President Donald Trump found out about it and ordered the event to be canceled, Axios reports.
According to the agency, Trump was very annoyed when he learned about the upcoming Pentagon briefing with Musk. He ordered his subordinates to cancel it.
"POTUS still very much loves Elon, but there are some red lines. Elon has a lot of business in China and he has good relations there, and this briefing just wasn't the right thing," a Trump administration official told the publication on condition of anonymity.
He added that Trump did not mince words when he learned about the planned briefing with Musk on China.
"What the f**k is Elon doing there? Make sure he doesn't go," the President said, according to one of the officials.
Pentagon briefing on China
The story of the Pentagon briefing on China became public on March 20. Then, The New York Times reported that the Pentagon intends to inform billionaire Elon Musk about the contingency plan in case of a war between the United States and China.
The NYT noted that the briefing on the war plan with China contains about 20-30 slides showing how the United States would compete in such a conflict.
The agency emphasized that access to the closely guarded military plan would mark a sharp expansion of the businessman's role as an adviser to President Donald Trump.
Trump's denial
On the same day, at 11 p.m., Trump reacted sharply to the news of the China briefing with Musk. He wrote on Truth Social that it was "fake news" from the "failing New York Times."
"China will not even be mentioned or discussed," Trump wrote.
Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth said in his post on X that the meeting would focus on innovation, efficiency, and smarter manufacturing.
On March 21, Musk did visit the Pentagon with Hegseth, but they did not discuss China.
Later, Elon Musk called for officials to be punished for spreading false information about his ties to the military. After that, the Pentagon initiated an investigation with a polygraph to detect the data leak.
