Trump secretary sets the record straight after being ‘body-checked’ by Elon Musk

By VICTORIA CHURCHILL, U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

Published: 05:09 BST, 12 June 2025 | Updated: 09:00 BST, 12 June 2025

Trump’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent faced an unusual line of questioning on Wednesday when he testified on Capitol Hill.

During a hearing on his department’s budget before the Ways and Means Committee, Bessent was grilled about whether he really tackled Elon Musk in the White House last month. 

‘Mr. Secretary, how are you doing?’ Representative Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) said innocuously. 

‘So far, so good,’ Bessent quipped back. 

‘Okay. I was just curious because I know Elon Musk body checked you at the White House. No animosity to Elon Musk, right?’ Gomez continued. 

‘You know that?’ Bessent asked about the sparring event. 

‘That’s what I heard,’ Gomez responded.

Bessent had been partaking in three days of trade negotiations in London and had not yet been questioned about the story. 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testifies before the House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 11, 2025

Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

‘So you believe, you believe what you read on Breitbart is what you are telling us, Congressman,’ Bessent pressed.

‘I didn’t know … If it’s too sensitive for you I won’t ask that question, but let me move’ Gomez flubbed. 

‘I will take South Carolina over South Africa any day’, Bessent replied, referring to his home state versus Musk’s nation of birth. 

Musk was spotted with a black eye as he delivered a sort of farewell address in the Oval Office upon departing from his role as a ‘special government employee’ heading up Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency DOGE).

At the time, Musk claimed that the black eye was the result of roughhousing with his young son, X ÿ A-12, who is more commonly know as X. 

But speculation grew as more was revealed about his tense standoff with Bessent. 

Elon Musk is seen with a bruised eye that Musk claimed he received at the hands of his son, X ÿ A-12, as he attends a press conference with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 30, 2025

Elon Musk attends news conference with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, May 30, 2025, in Washington

Former Chief Strategist Steve Bannon told DailyMail.com in May that Musk’s turbulent time in the White House was marred when he was confronted over wild promises to save the administration ‘a trillion dollars’.

That’s when an irate Musk physically ‘shoved’ 62-year-old Bessent.

‘Scott Bessent called him out and said, “You promised us a trillion dollars (in cuts), and now you’re at like $100 billion, and nobody can find anything, what are you doing?”‘ Bannon revealed.

And that’s when Elon got physical. It’s a sore subject with him.

‘It wasn’t an argument, it was a physical confrontation. Elon basically shoved him.’

Bannon said the physical altercation came as the two billionaires moved from the Oval Office to outside Chief of Staff Susie Wiles’ office, and then outside the office of the then National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz.

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Trump secretary sets the record straight after being ‘body-checked’ by Elon Musk

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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk