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“I Wouldn’t Describe It as a Fistfight, I’d Call It a Disagreement” – Karoline Leavitt Questioned about Alleged White House Physical Altercation between Elon Musk and Secretary Bessent

June 8, 2025

On Sunday Morning Futures this morning, Maria Bartiromo grilled White House Press Secretary on the reported physical altercation between Elon Musk and Scott Bessent in the Trump White House.

Karoline Leavitt kept her cards to her chest and would not divulge much information on the incident.

Former Trump strategist and War Room host Steve Bannon claimed this week that tech billionaire Elon Musk and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent literally came to blows inside the White House over a heated disagreement regarding the future leadership of the IRS.

According to Bannon, the clash erupted just moments after both men exited the Oval Office in April following a tense meeting with President Trump about who should lead the IRS.

The dispute centered on Acting IRS Commissioner Gary Shapley—a key whistleblower in the Hunter Biden tax fraud cover-up—who had reportedly been installed at Musk’s request, bypassing Bessent’s approval entirely.

The Washington Post reported on the April incident earlier this week.

Musk and Bessent had gone into the Oval Office to make their respective cases about their preferences for acting IRS commissioner. Trump decided to support Bessent’s choice. That disagreement was first reported by the New York Times.

After Bessent and Musk exited the Oval Office and began walking down the hallway, the two men started to exchange insults, Bannon said, adding that Bessent brought up Musk’s claims that he would uncover more than $1 trillion in wasteful and fraudulent government spending, which Musk had not succeeded at doing.

“Scott said, ‘You’re a fraud. You’re a total fraud,’” Bannon said in an interview.

On Saturday Leavitt was confronted twice on the altercation, something she did not see since she was not there at the time.

Maria Bartiromo: The Washington Post reported after speaking with Steve Bannon that Elon Musk aggressively body-checked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in the White House. We’re all trying to figure out what happened here and how come this got to this level? What happened? Did he body check the Treasury Secretary in the White House?

Karoline Leavitt: Look, when this story originally broke, I said from the podium that there have definitely, there have been healthy disagreements amongst the cabinet and Elon Musk. There were times in which they got frustrated with one another. But I think that really speaks to the heart of this cabinet and the president’s team, that they can have these robust disagreements and then still come together to do what’s right for the people they are serving. You saw when President Trump graciously sent Elon Musk back to his companies, Secretary Bessent was there in the Oval Office, along with Secretary Lutnik and Steven Miller. I was there, the chief of staff was there, and we were all hoping for the best for Elon. I think it’s unfortunate that now that he’s gone back to his companies, he is lambasting this bill that he was very much supportive of, by all accounts. I mean, he never spoke out against it until he went back to his companies, and that’s okay. He has a right to speak for his companies. But the President and the Treasury Secretary and this whole cabinet are working on behalf of the country, so everyone is focused on moving forward now.

Maria Bartiromo:  But, Karoline, what, what I’m trying to understand here is how rough this got, because the President said that Elon Musk disrespected the office of the President. Now, we know that there was real disrespect in a lot of those ex-posts from Elon Musk, for sure. But did he actually get physical? Was there a fistfight that he body-checked the Treasury Secretary?

Karoline Leavitt:  I certainly wouldn’t describe it as a fistfight, Maria. It was definitely a disagreement. Although I was not there, I didn’t witness it with my own eyes. I heard about it through second-hand reporting. But again, we’ve moved on from that. The President has moved on from it, and the entire administration is focusing on passing this.

Here is the video via Midnight Rider and RedWave Press.

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