White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles lamented in a new interview that Elon Musk's relationship with President Donald Trump and the administration came to a "troublesome ending."
"It seemed almost as if he had a sort of fatherly fixation with Donald Trump that I guess inevitably was going to blow up at some point. How did you see that relationship?" New York Post columnist Miranda Devine asked Wiles after they both agreed there was a "hiccup" with the former head of DOGE.
Wiles sat for a conversation on Devine's "Pod Force One" podcast, which was released on Wednesday. Musk exited his role with the Trump administration in May.
"Similar, the president was very, very kind to him. And Elon had so much to offer us. He knew things we didn't know, he knew people and technologies that we didn't know. It was a great thing when it was a great thing, and then it had a very troublesome ending," Wiles said.
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Musk and Trump have traded barbs over the Trump-backed "Big, Beautiful Bill" as the former DOGE chief has since launched another political party - the "America Party."
The new party, according to Musk's posts, will target a few key seats in Congress. The goal is to create a swing bloc powerful enough to hold the balance of power and stop what Musk sees as the worst excesses of both Republicans and Democrats.
Musk called the bill a "disgusting abomination."
"I don't understand it. I don't know," Wiles told Devine of the pair's fallout. "I enjoyed working with Elon. I think he's a fascinating person and sees the world differently. And I think that's probably what the president saw, too, just a little bit different than the average Joe, but certainly, came to not a good ending."
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The president reacted to Musk's third-party announcement on Monday.
"I think it's ridiculous to start a third party," Trump told reporters before boarding Air Force One in Bedminster, N.J. "We have a tremendous success with the Republican Party. The Democrats have lost their way, but it's always been a two-party system, and I think starting a third party just adds to confusion."
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"It really seems to have been developed for two parties," the president continued. "Third parties have never worked. So, he can have fun with it, but I think it's ridiculous."
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