Hours after a public fallout between Elon Musk and Donald Trump, a former close aide of the US President questioned the immigration status of the Tesla CEO. Steve Bannon, a former White House strategist, called Musk "an illegal alien" who should be deported. He also urged the US government to seize the tech billionaire's company, SpaceX.
Speaking with The New York Times, Bannon, one of Musk's most vocal critics, said, "They [US government] should initiate a formal investigation of his immigration status because I am of the strong belief that he is an illegal alien, and he should be deported from the country immediately."
His statement came after Musk threatened to shut down SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft that carries astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS). Bannon argued this could be a serious threat to the country, so Trump should sign an order under the Defense Production Act to take over SpaceX immediately.
The Defense Production Act, a law from the time of the Korean War, gives the President the power to mandate private businesses to prioritise and accept government contracts for certain products such as weapons and medical supplies.
On his podcast "War Room," Bannon said, "The action that President Trump should be taking immediately, I think, is when [Musk] threatens to take one of the big programs out of Space X, President Trump tonight should sign an executive order calling for the Defense Production Act to be called in on SpaceX and seize SpaceX tonight, before midnight."
He didn't stop there. The former executive chairman of the right-wing Breitbart News website urged the US government to look into Musk's alleged drug use. He alleged the Tesla CEO tried to get secret information from the Pentagon about China.
He further asked the Trump administration to put Musk's security clearance on hold and cancel all contracts with his companies.
On Thursday, tensions peaked between Musk and Trump escalated after the billionaire's criticism of Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill."
Trump responded, saying he once had a good relationship with Musk, but now he was unsure if it would continue the same way.
Musk fired back, accusing the Trump administration of withholding records related to Jeffrey Epstein, claiming the President's name was there.
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