(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) New reporting has shed light on President Donald Trump’s decision to oust Elon Musk from the White House, including an alleged physical altercation between the tech mogul and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Following a meeting in the Oval Office about who should lead the IRS, Musk rammed his shoulder into Bessent’s rib cage “like a rugby player,” triggering a physical scuffle that unsettled Trump.
Bessent struck back as the two exchanged insults in the hallway outside the Oval Office.
Steve Bannon recounted the April brawl in a Saturday interview with The Washington Post.
“President Trump heard about it and said, ‘This is too much,’” Bannon told the paper.
Bannon, a former White House advisor and populist podcaster, said the confrontation occurred after Musk and Bessent made their respective cases for the next IRS chief.
Musk had reportedly pushed for Gary Shapley—the IRS whistleblower who exposed the Biden criminal probe scandal—to lead the agency as interim chief.
Bessent opposed the move, calling on Trump to appoint his deputy instead.
After the meeting concluded, Bessent and Musk began insulting each other, with Bessent accusing Musk of failing to uncover more than $1 trillion in fraud, as promised by the tech mogul.
“Scott said, ‘You’re a fraud. You’re a total fraud,” Bannon recalled. That remark allegedly triggered Musk’s assault.
The White House dismissed the Post’s reporting in remarks to the media, affirming the administration is focused on rooting out waste.
“President Trump and the entire Administration will continue the important mission of cutting waste, fraud, and abuse from our federal government on behalf of taxpayers, and the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill is critical to helping accomplish that mission,” said Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
