Eric Trump has dismissed reports of a potential breakdown in the relationship between his father’s incoming administration and Elon Musk as “lies”.
The businessman, who was visiting his family’s two golf courses in Scotland which he runs, said his father “loves” and “adores” Mr Musk, who he considers a “super genius”.
Mr Musk, one of the world’s richest men, is a vocal campaigner for Donald Trump and donated millions of pounds to his presidential campaign.
The billionaire owner of Tesla and X will co-head the US Department of Government Efficiency – nicknamed Doge after Mr Musk’s joke cryptocurrency – which is tasked with cutting business regulations and government spending.
US media reported that Mr Musk has been extremely close to the president-elect since his election win, attending phone calls with world leaders such as Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.
At one point, the president-elect joked, “I can’t get him out of here”, in a reference to Mr Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida where the SpaceX owner has been staying.
Reported also suggested Mr Musk had had a heated argument with one of Mr Trump’s most senior aides, and NBC news reported the tech tycoon “may already be overstaying his welcome in Trump’s orbit”.
He's going to the launch of Elon's newest rocket down in Texas, and they're going to go watch it blast into outer space together
Asked about the reports, Eric Trump told the PA news agency: “What media reports would even remotely suggest that? None that I’ve ever seen.
“I don’t know. All I can tell you is that I went to (mixed martial arts event) UFC 309 with Elon Musk the other night, and I was with my father and Elon, and we were eating cheeseburgers and we were laughing and we were having a great time in the green room.
“If there is any animosity, as a guy who’s around both of them a tremendous amount, I’ve never seen it once.
“Listen, the media spews a lot of nonsense. I can tell you, there’s no animosity between my father and Elon. My father loves Elon, and Elon loves my father.”
The president-elect’s son said he had “never seen somebody more excited” as Mr Musk is to co-head the Doge alongside fellow billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy.
He added: “I can tell you, there’s never been somebody who’s been more pumped up to achieve a mission of cutting the nonsense out of our government, cutting the wasteful spending out of our government, than Elon.
“My father loves him. He adores him. He thinks he’s a super genius. In fact, as we’re speaking, he’s going to the launch of Elon’s newest rocket down in Texas, and they’re going to go watch it blast into outer space together.
“So any media report that says they have been nothing but fast friends is just the media doing what the media normally does, which is, frankly, lie.”
