Donald Trump and Elon Musk reunite, and appear to reconcile, at memorial for Charlie Kirk
Months after breaking out into a full-blown feud, President Donald Trump and his biggest donor Elon Musk reunited at Charlie Kirk’s memorial.
Billionaire Elon Musk has been spotted in the crowd at a memorial service for the American conservative activist Charlie Kirk, sitting alongside US President Donald Trump.
It was a sign of reconciliation between the pair after Mr Musk’s quite acrimonious exit from the Trump administration several months ago.
Mr Kirk, 31, was killed while speaking at Utah Valley University on September 10. The man accused of shooting him, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, has been charged with murder.
The activist and broadcaster was best known for founding Turning Point USA, an organisation aimed at promoting conservatism among young Americans.
He leaves behind his wife, Erika, and two young children.
A high profile memorial, for Mr Kirk, was held today at a packed stadium in Glendale, Arizona, with Mr Trump and most of his cabinet in attendance.
Ahead of his own speech, the President watched from a private box, behind bulletproof glass with an entourage. At one point, Mr Musk was seen joining him.
Footage of the moment was shared by the White House’s “Rapid Response 47” account on social media, with love heart and handshake emojis. The number is a reference to Mr Trump being America’s 47th president.
Mr Musk donated hundreds of millions of US dollars to help get Mr Trump elected last year, and was then appointed to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, whose goal was to cut federal government spending.
But he and the President went through something of a bad-tempered break-up when he left the White House in May.
Mr Musk was deeply opposed to Mr Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill”, which was eventually passed by the Republican-controlled Congress, mostly due to its effect on the federal debt, which is projected to balloon by trillions of dollars as a result of the bill’s passage.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination,” Mr Musk wrote in June.
He subsequently took to social media to claim the Epstein files had not been made public because Mr Trump was in them.
“Time to drop the really big bomb: Donald Trump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!” he wrote.
It was unclear how Mr Musk could even claim to know that; his responsibilities at DOGE would have given him no reason to have access to the FBI’s files.
But the Tesla and SpaceX boss is known to be friends with senior administration, like Vice President J.D. Vance and FBI Director Kash Patel, who would have access.
It subsequently emerged, through media reporting, that the Department of Justice had combed through the Epstein files for mentions of Mr Trump and other high profile people, and that Mr Trump was subsequently briefed that he featured in them multiple times.
We should note, as always when that fact comes up, that being in the files does not implicate Mr Trump in any wrongdoing. We don’t know the context of those mentions.
Mr Musk later deleted his tweet with the Epstein files claim.
There have been signs, in recent weeks, of a thawing in his relationship with the President.
Today’s images with Mr Trump suggest they’re, if not back together, back on cordial terms.
Towards the end of the memorial, Mr Musk shared one of the photos on Twitter, with the simple caption: “For Charlie.”
