Americans searching for the cause behind Thursday’s explosive clash between President Donald Trump and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk got some clarity from a news report published Friday.
In an in-depth article, the New York Post offered a behind-the-scenes look at the White House, pointing to a senior Trump staffer who had been “fanning the flames” of tension between the two.
According to the report, Musk and the staffer had been at odds for months.
Citing interviews with five anonymous sources described as being “inside or close to the White House,” The Post reported that Sergio Gor, director of presidential personnel, had been engaged in a long-running feud with Elon Musk that began even before President Trump’s inauguration in January.
During the transition period, Musk reportedly referred to Gor as “sleazy” and expressed skepticism over his staffing choices, according to the outlet.
During a cabinet meeting on March 6, Musk criticized Gor in front of the president.
“Elon was always telling the president, ‘Sergio’s not moving fast enough to hire people. He’s not the right guy for the job,’” one source told the Post. “In front of the entire cabinet, he said that. It’s not just humiliating, but the president starts looking at him like, ‘Why aren’t you doing your f***ing job?’”
Gor also reportedly played a key role in the president’s decision last week to withdraw the nomination of Jared Isaacman, a close friend of Musk, to lead NASA.
What began as a policy disagreement quickly erupted into a public exchange of insults, The Post reported.
“Isaacman’s donations to Democrats — including $100,000 in 2021 to a PAC linked to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) — would disqualify most nominees under Gor’s standard vetting process. But Isaacman wasn’t pulled by Trump until hours after Musk left his unpaid White House role, at Gor’s urging,” The Post reported.
“Musk was Trump’s top financial backer in the 2024 election, and this week’s clash has put the president’s legislative agenda at risk — and even threatens long-term political damage after Musk endorsed Trump’s potential impeachment,” the outlet added.
Tensions between Musk and Gor date back to before Trump returned to office on January 20. During the transition, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO reportedly referred to Gor as “sleazy” and criticized his personnel choices. Despite their friction, Musk maintained a close relationship with President Trump and continued to have his ear up until last week, said The Post.
“He was bragging to other people that he was going to get one last shot at Elon out the door. He was going to get Elon back for making him look bad,” one source told The Post.
Another told the Post: “Sergio was upset about Elon dressing him down at the meeting and said he was going to ‘get him’. [Isaacman’s nomination being pulled] was the modern-day equivalent of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. Sure, Sergio got a scalp, but what did [Trump] get?”
Three sources said Gor’s deep personal animosity toward Elon Musk was evident in his repeated celebrations whenever Tesla’s stock took a significant hit.
“He’d go around showing Tesla stock prices going down and laugh about it, like he was responsible for taking the Tesla stock down,” one source told the outlet.
The source added that Gor would “randomly” bring up the stock drop in conversations around the West Wing and even in the Oval Office—often pulling up the “Stocks” app on his phone to highlight declines in Tesla’s share price.
Gor denied to The Post that he ever sought revenge against Musk, dismissing claims that he celebrated drops in Tesla’s stock price as entirely false.
“I fully support President Donald Trump’s decision to remove this nominee,” he said in a statement, referring to the Isaacman pick. “Those who actively supported Democrats in the last cycle have no place in this administration.”
“This was never about Elon, it’s about someone who doesn’t agree with America First Principles,” he added.
