In a flurry of furious posts of social media, Elon Musk has suggested that without him, Donald Trump would not have won the US election last year.
Musk donated about $290 million to Donald Trump's campaign and other Republican candidates in 2024.
In that election, Republicans won the trifecta: the White House, the US House of Representatives and the US Senate.
Earlier today, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he would have won without the financial cushion from the world's richest man.
"I think I would have won, Susie [Wiles] would say I would have won Pennsylvania easily anyway," Trump said referring to his campaign manager and now chief of staff.
Musk's money paid for thousands of volunteers in key swing states that delivered Trump the presidency.
In the electorally significant Pennsylvania, Musk held a lottery during which he gave people $1m (£740,000) a day for signing onto Republican causes.
He also appeared alongside Trump at several rallies.
"Without me, Trump would have lost the election, [Democrats] would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate," he says on X. "Such ingratitude."
US President Donald Trump says he was "very surprised" and "disappointed" with former ally Elon Musk's criticisms of his centrepiece budget bill - we'll bring you more on this in a moment.
"Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if we will anymore," Trump told reporters in the White House on Thursday.
Now, Musk has aggressively pushed back.
In response, Musk doubled down on X and accused the president of "Such ingratitude", adding: "Without me, Trump would have lost the election".
Musk left his post at the Department of Government Efficiency last week after 129 days on the job, and Trump presented him with a with a golden key during a congratulatory news conference on 30 May.
But in the days since, he has repeatedly criticised Trump's budget bill currently working its way through Congress, calling it a "disgusting abomination" and posting "Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong."
