Elon Musk said reports that President Donald Trump’s budget proposal would drastically cut NASA’s science funding were “troubling,” the latest public break between the president and his close adviser.
Musk’s Friday morning comments mark his second major public split with Trump in areas that impact the entrepreneur’s companies, amid reports that Musk will soon step back from his role at the Department of Government Efficiency.
The billionaire has also appeared to diverge from the party line on tariffs — repeatedly targeting Peter Navarro, one of the public faces of Trump’s trade agenda — as the administration launched sweeping duties on global trading partners, causing major market volatility and resulting in billions of dollars of losses for Musk’s Tesla.
Musk’s latest swipe at the administration’s policies comes as reports of cuts to NASA funding surfaced Friday. Musk’s SpaceX is one of the agency’s largest contractors.
The SpaceX CEO replied to a report from technology news outlet Ars Technica that the Office of Management and Budget’s draft budget proposal for NASA would cut roughly 20 percent of the agency’s overall budget, and 50 percent of its science agency funding, calling the news “troubling.”
“I am very much in favor of science, but unfortunately cannot participate in NASA budget discussions, due to SpaceX being a major contractor to NASA,” he added.
POLITICO has not independently confirmed the OMB’s budget numbers. A spokesperson for NASA told POLITICO that the agency had seen the administration’s 2026 budget passback and had “begun the deliberative process,” but declined further comment on the budget details or Musk’s remarks.
Trump has vowed to slash the size of the federal government, tapping Musk to lead the charge to abolish “waste, fraud and abuse.” Musk’s DOGE has followed through on its directive, making dramatic cuts to funding and staff across federal agencies.
While Musk may be removed from the agency’s budget conversations, he has a long-standing relationship with Trump’s pick for NASA administrator, Jared Isaacman, whose payment processing company Shift4 has invested in Musk’s SpaceX. But Isaacman sought to distance himself from the SpaceX CEO during his Senate confirmation hearing this week, refusing to directly confirm whether Musk was in the room for his initial job interview with the president.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story, but White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday brushed off Musk’s earlier jabs at Navarro, whom he has branded as a “moron” and dubbed “Peter Retarrdo,” telling reporters at a briefing: “Boys will be boys, and we will let their public sparring continue.”
Trump has also continued to praise Musk’s work with DOGE, telling him at a Cabinet meeting Thursday: “Your people are fantastic. Hopefully they will stay around for the long haul, we’d like to keep as many as we can.”
The administration has also moved to make significant cuts to research funding elsewhere, including canceling funding for the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which produces the congressionally mandated National Climate Assessment.
The proposal to slash NASA’s funding is likely to face pushback from Congress, which is tasked with finalizing the budget before handing it off for the president to sign into law.
Some legislators have already come out against reports of the proposed cuts. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) on Friday slammed the NASA cuts as “shortsighted” and “dangerous” and vowed to fight them.
“This is a wholly unserious budget proposal. In my role on the Appropriations CJS Subcommittee, I will fight tooth and nail against these cuts and to protect the critical work being done at NASA Goddard,” Van Hollen said.
Sam Skove contributed to this report.