President Donald Trump allegedly enlisted the help of senior staff within his administration to prevent his close ally Elon Musk from attending a classified briefing about China after it was leaked to the press.
Following these developments, the briefing was canceled entirely. An anonymous source told Axios that this decision was not made by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth or Musk, but by Trump himself.
"What the f**k is Elon doing there? Make sure he doesn't go," Trump said of the briefing, the anonymous official told the outlet.
Two Pentagon officials, Dan Caldwell and Darin Selnick, were suspended from their positions by Hegseth for potentially leaking the news of the briefing.
It has been reported that Musk has irritated many senior staff members within the Trump administration due to his constant presence at the White House and desire to be involved in official business that may not concern him.
"POTUS still very much loves Elon, but there are some red lines," an official said. "Elon has a lot of business in China and he has good relations there, and this briefing just wasn't the right thing."
Trump reacted to a March report by the New York Times that Musk would be traveling to the Pentagon to receive a briefing on China. The plans for Musk's briefing were then altered, with Musk attending a different briefing unrelated to China at the Pentagon the following day.
"They said, incorrectly, that Elon Musk is going to the Pentagon tomorrow to be briefed on any potential 'war with China,'" Trump wrote to Truth Social at the time. "How ridiculous? China will not even be mentioned or discussed. How disgraceful it is that the discredited media can make up such lies. Anyway, the story is completely untrue!!!"
"I look forward to the prosecutions of those at the Pentagon who are leaking maliciously false information to NYT. They will be found," Musk said in a post to X.
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