Musk trashes Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" as rift with administration widens
Washington DC - Elon Musk criticized President Donald Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill" for increasing the national deficit in the latest sign of a growing rift between the far-right billionaire and the administration he is part of.

"I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing," Musk said in a newly released clip.
The statement came in the form of a teaser for a new sit-down interview with CBS News' Sunday Morning, which is set to be released this weekend.
"I think a bill can be big, or it can be beautiful," Musk said. "But I don't know if it can be both. My personal opinion."
Musk's comments directly contradict claims made over the weekend by top Trump aide Stephen Miller that the spending bill will not raise the national deficit and increase government debt.
Miller took to X on Sunday to complain about the "lie" that Trump's bill will increase the deficit, and called an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) that found tax changes in the bill would balloon the deficit by $3.8 trillion "an accounting gimmick."
"Leaving these income tax rates unchanged cannot add one penny to the deficit," Miller claimed. "The bill's spending cuts REDUCE the deficit against the current law baseline, which is the only correct baseline to use."
Musk latest comments adds fuel to the theory that a widening split has appeared between the Tesla CEO and the White House, with Musk also stepping back from duties at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
Cover photo: AFP/Jim Watson