Elon Musk embroiled in 'WWE-style' row with US Treasury secretary over IRS appointment
Elon Musk and US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent are said to have been embroiled in a 'WWE-style' row over who should lead the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
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Witnesses claimed the pair squared up to each other "chest to chest" within view of Donald Trump at the White House.
"Elon was shouting and rambling and Scott just wasn’t putting up with it," a source told Axios.
"It was two… middle-aged men thinking it was WWE in the hall of the West Wing."
They added: "They were not physical in the Oval [Office], but the president saw it, and then they carried it down the hall, and that’s when they did it again."
A second witness said: "It was quite a scene. It was loud. And I mean, loud."
Bessent is said to have complained to Trump about Musk going around him to bring in Gary Shapley as acting commissioner of the IRS.
The president later agreed to replace Shapley with Michael Faulkender - a deputy of Bessent's at the Treasury.
The clash is just the latest row to erupt between Musk and Trump's cabinet.
Transport secretary Sean Duffy and veterans affairs secretary Doug Collins previously branded him a "liar" in a fiery exchange, according to the Telegraph.
Asked about the confrontation between the Tesla boss and Bessent on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did not dispute the claims.
She said disagreements were "part of the healthy debate process".
"There are disagreements amongst the president’s staff and cabinet sometimes … everybody knows that, ultimately, President Trump is the decision-maker," she said.