Trump Reacts to Report on Musk Drug Use

UPDATE May 31, 2025 11:00 AM CDT

If President Trump is bothered by allegations of drug use and erratic behavior by DOGE creator Elon Musk, he isn't showing it. Trump reacted on Friday night to the New York Times report on the matter, essentially shrugging it off, per CNN. "I think he's fantastic," Trump told reporters on Friday evening. "I think Elon is a fantastic guy, and I'm not troubled by anything with Elon. I think he's fantastic." Musk, meanwhile, was asked about the report as well on Friday during an Oval Office event. His response with Trump by his side was to attack the Times for its coverage of Russian interference in the 2016 election and to assert, "Let's move on" without getting into the drugs question, per USA Today.

May 30, 2025 8:30 AM CDT

As Elon Musk formally steps away from his duties in the Trump administration, the New York Times is out with a report sure to rile the world's richest person. The investigation by Kirsten Grind and Megan Twohey asserts that Musk was using drugs far more than previously known when he became a fixture at campaign rallies for Donald Trump.

• "Musk's drug consumption went well beyond occasional use. He told people he was taking so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that it was affecting his bladder, a known effect of chronic use. He took Ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms. And he traveled with a daily medication box that held about 20 pills, including ones with the markings of the stimulant Adderall, according to a photo of the box and people who have seen it."

The report says it's not clear whether Musk continued his drug use at those levels after Trump's election when he created the Department of Government Efficiency, but the reporters cite evidence of "erratic behavior," including insults issued to Cabinet members, garbled public answers, and his delivery of something akin to a Nazi salute. The report, based on anonymous sources described as "people familiar with his activities," also says Musk's "increasingly tumultuous" personal life—particularly his push to have ever more children with ever more women—contributed to the frenzied atmosphere around him. No response yet from Musk or Trump to the allegations. (Read the full story, which notes that Musk has previously acknowledged taking prescribed ketamine for depression.)