Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump participated in a two-hour interview with Elon Musk on social media platform X, Reuters reports.
The event was delayed by over 40 minutes due to technical issues, which Musk attributed to a distributed denial-of-service attack. Trump turned the situation into a positive, noting the high number of listeners, which peaked at 1.3 million. The interview mirrored a similar technical mishap during Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s campaign launch on X in May 2023.
During the interview, Musk and Trump exchanged praise, with Musk commending Trump’s bravery for the attempt on his life last month and Trump applauding Musk’s handling of employee strikes. Musk endorsed Trump after a recent assassination attempt on Trump, despite previously supporting Biden in 2020. Trump discussed various topics, including his grievances and false claims, which Musk did not challenge. Trump criticized Harris while also praising her looks, and expressed frustration over her replacing Biden on the Democratic ticket. The Trump campaign did not address comments on his speech, where he seemed to have a lisp.
The interview marked Trump’s return to X, where his account had been previously suspended following the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack. He still frequently posts on his smaller platform Truth Social. Musk, who supports Trump, has formed a super PAC for his campaign, which is now under investigation in Michigan.
