Steve Bannon calls on Trump to deport Elon Musk and ‘seize’ SpaceX: ‘Strong belief that he is an illegal alien’
Former White House official Steve Bannon urged President Trump on Thursday to investigate Elon Musk’s immigration status, deport him “immediately” and “seize” his company SpaceX, amid the war of words between the world’s richest man and the commander-in-chief.
Bannon urged the president to immediately invoke the Defense Production Act to take control of Musk’s rocket company in response to the billionaire entrepreneur’s declaration that he would decommission the SpaceX craft used to shuttle astronauts back and forth from the International Space Station (ISS).
“The action that President Trump should be taking immediately, I think, is when [Musk] threatens to take one of the big programs out of Space X, President Trump tonight should sign an executive order calling for the Defense Production Act to be called in on SpaceX and seize SpaceX tonight, before midnight,” Bannon said on his “War Room” podcast.
The Defense Production Act, a Korean War-era provision, grants the president the authority to require private companies to accept and prioritize government contracts for the manufacture of goods needed for national defense.
It was invoked by Trump in his first term in order to compel businesses to make ventilators and test swabs early in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Defense Production Act, however, does not explicitly give presidents the power to seize private companies.
Musk appeared to back off his threat to take SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft offline late Thursday.
Bannon, suspecting Musk is in the US illegally, also demanded a federal investigation into his immigration status.
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“They should initiate a formal investigation of his immigration status, because I am of the strong belief that he is an illegal alien, and he should be deported from the country immediately,” Bannon, who served as Trump’s chief strategist during the president’s first term, told the New York Times.
Bannon added that the Trump administration should also probe Musk’s alleged drug use and his claims that the South Africa native attempted to get a classified Pentagon briefing on China.
Musk’s security clearance should be suspended while the investigation is conducted and contracts that his various companies have with the federal government should also be canceled, Bannon advised.
Musk, who served as head of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency and was one of the president’s top advisers, has had a public falling out with the commander-in-chief over his support of the “big, beautiful” bill making its way through Congress.
The breakup has unfolded in real time on social media and escalated after Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Thursday that he was “disappointed” in the ex-DOGE chief, noting, “I’ve helped Elon a lot.”
“Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore,” Trump said. “He hasn’t said bad about me personally, but I’m sure that’ll be next.”
Musk proceeded to lash out against the president on X, accusing the Trump administration of withholding documents related to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein because the president would be mentioned in them.
The SpaceX and Tesla founder has also signaled support for impeaching Trump and replacing him with Vice President JD Vance.
For his part, Trump charged that Musk has gone “crazy” and he’s threatened to cancel the “Billions and Billions” of dollars in contracts and subsidies the entrepreneur receives from the federal government.
Bannon has long been critical of Musk and his involvement in Trump’s campaign and presidency.
He referred to Musk as “a parasitic illegal immigrant” in an interview with a British news site earlier this year.
“He wants to impose his freak experiments and play-act as God without any respect for the country’s history, values or traditions,” Bannon said in an interview with UnHerd in February.
On his “War Room” podcast Thursday, Bannon argued that Trump “empowered [Musk] more than anyone has ever been empowered in this government,” but that the billionaire has been “working for himself.”
“As soon as [Musk] didn’t think he ran the deal or got the adoration … he turned on President Trump. He turned on MAGA. But most importantly, he turned on the country and the American people,” Bannon said.
“If those progressives rub up on him and say, ‘Hey, they’re never going to buy the Teslas, we’re going to buy the Teslas’ … He’ll write a $500 million check for [House Minority Leader] Hakeem Jeffries. He’ll be looking to impeach President Trump, looking to help steal the … election, looking to imprison President Trump. So here’s my point — let’s get ahead of it.”
