Spaceship Withdrawal, Sex Crime Allegations... Bombshells Musk Threw at Trump

Korea Economic Daily

Summary

It was reported that President Trump's announcement of cutting off federal government contracts with Musk's SpaceX and others has attracted considerable investor attention.
It was stated that concerns have arisen over the suggestion of a Dragon spacecraft withdrawal by Musk, which could greatly hinder the United States' space program and military intelligence gathering.
It was emphasized that SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft is the only American spaceship certified by authorities, and its current contract size amounts to 4.9 billion dollars.

Trump Hints at Retaliatory Measures Against Musk

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, who is in an ongoing public dispute with U.S. President Donald Trump, has hinted at withdrawing spaceships and has even brought up allegations of Trump’s sex scandals, delivering bombshell statements throughout the day.

On the 5th (local time), President Trump threatened via his own social networking service (SNS), Truth Social, stating, "The easiest way to save billions of dollars from our budget is to cut off Elon’s government subsidies and contracts," indicating he would terminate federal government contracts with Musk-owned businesses, including SpaceX.

That day, President Trump also met with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office of the White House, where he expressed his "great disappointment" at Musk's criticism of the tax cut bill, citing as reasons the elimination of electric vehicle subsidies and the withdrawal of the NASA administrator nomination, whom Musk had supported.

In turn, Musk immediately responded on his own SNS platform X (formerly Twitter), saying, "In response to the President's comments about contract termination, SpaceX will begin the immediate withdrawal of the Dragon spacecraft."

Musk also touched on President Trump's sex scandal. He stated, "It’s time to drop a real big bomb. The Epstein documents contain Trump’s name, and that’s the reason the documents aren’t being released," adding "Trump, have a nice day." As of 11 a.m. that morning, the post recorded 126.93 million views.

The Epstein documents relate to sex trafficking, sexual exploitation of minors, and prostitution committed by billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, who died in prison while being detained. The full documents have not yet been disclosed.

Musk also fired back at a video of Trump claiming that he could have won in Pennsylvania in the last election even without Musk's help, saying, "Without me, Trump would have lost the election, the Democratic Party would have taken control of the House, and the Republican Party would have been 51-49 in the Senate," and strongly criticized Trump as "extremely ungrateful."

In response to Musk’s actions, Trump counterattacked on Truth Social by saying, "He just went CRAZY!"

Currently, there is speculation in U.S. political circles that the Trump administration may take retaliatory actions against Musk. If SpaceX's spaceships actually withdraw, it is expected to seriously impact U.S. space programs and military intelligence gathering, as alternatives to fill SpaceX’s gap are inadequate.

According to AFP, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft is currently the only American spaceship certified by authorities to transport astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). The current contract is worth 4.9 billion dollars (about ₩6.6 trillion).

Since the debut of SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft in 2020, the United States has regained the capacity to send astronauts to the ISS independently. However, if the spacecraft is retired immediately as Musk has declared, the U.S. would be forced to rely on Russia.

Min Hyung Lee, Hankyung.com Reporter meaning@hankyung.com