U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly tipped off The New York Times about Elon Musk’s alleged drug use.
Michael Wolff, a writer and biographer who has followed Trump closely and written books about him, told The Daily Beast Podcast that Trump was the one who informed the publication.
He said that Trump made several phone calls recently, where he talked about Musk.
Highlights
- Michael Wolff revealed Trump claimed he tipped off The New York Times about Elon Musk's alleged drug use.
- The Times reported Musk used drugs like ketamine, Adderall, ecstasy, and psychedelic mushrooms.
- Trump repeatedly discussed Musk’s drug use during calls amid their ongoing social media feud.
Donald Trump reportedly tipped off The New York Times about Elon Musk's possible drug abuse
Image credits: The White House/ Flickr
Trump told people on these calls that he believed Musk was using drugs, and boasted that it had been reported by The New York Times, Wolff said.
“Actually, we dropped a dime to The New York Times ... on Elon’s drug taking,” Trump confessed, according to Wolff.
In May, The New York Times published a report saying Musk had used drugs such as ketamine, Adderall, ecstasy, and psychedelic mushrooms. They reported Musk’s alleged drug abuse was also around the time that he was spending millions to support Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.
“I was tracking some Trump phone calls on Monday night. And it’s sort of worth explaining here that over a long period of time, I’ve gotten to know and cultivated a lot of people who Trump regularly speaks to,” Wolff told host and Daily Beast Chief Creative and Content Officer Joanna Coles.
Wolff recalled that during the calls, Trump kept repeating the same story to different people.
Image credits: The White House/ Flickr
“Trump speaks to them, and then they speak to other people,” he said, adding, “Whoever he calls, he says the same thing to everybody. So you know exactly what is on his mind.”
This Monday, there was one thing on Trump’s mind: Elon Musk. This was following another social media spat between the two.
On Monday, Musk vowed to start his own political party and back challengers to nearly every Republican if Trump’s domestic spending bill, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, was passed.
In retaliation, Trump threatened a DODGE investigation into Musk and even deportation.
On Monday, Trump was supposedly calling people, asking, “Do you think Elon is crazy?’" Wolff said of Trump.
“In one of these phone calls—many of them—he was on about, you know, how many drugs he takes,” he continued. “‘He takes drugs all the time. You know that, don’t you? You know, The New York Times wrote about it. They said, he takes drugs.’”
Trump then reportedly claimed he was the source of the story.
However, Wolff said he does not know for sure if Trump really gave the information, but “he is just claiming credit for that now.”
Wolff claims Trump complained to people on the phone about Musk
Image credits: The White House/ Flickr
Musk has denied The Times allegations that he traveled with a daily medication box with 20 pills, including Adderall.
The Times also reported that Trump’s response to the drug allegations was: “I’m not troubled by anything with Elon. I think he’s fantastic.”
The Times has since told The Daily Beast that the story was based on more than a dozen interviews with people who had worked with Musk or knew him personally, as well as private messages.
The White House has not made any official comments about the claims made by Wolff.
But Trump’s spokesperson, Steven Cheung, previously told The Daily Beast that Wolff is a “lying sack of s**t” who “fabricates stories.”
Earlier in the conversation, Wolff said that Musk and Trump’s fallout had entered “blood score” territory.
Image credits: The White House/ Flickr
Wolff has written several books on Trump, including Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House and All or Nothing: How Trump Recaptured America.
Wolff made headlines in June after the first major Musk-Trump fallout. In a now-deleted Tweet, Musk had alleged that Trump is mentioned in unreleased files related to Jeffrey Epstein.
Soon after, audio from Wolff’s 2017 Epstein interviews resurfaced. Epstein alleges in the interviews that Trump first slept with his now-wife, Melania, aboard Epstein’s private jet, dubbed ‘Lolita Express.’