Tesla CEO Elon Musk slapped back at former President Donald Trump Monday, saying it was time for him to “hang up his hat and sail into the sunset.”
Musk also urged Democrats to “call off the attack” on Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 violent insurrection:
In another tweet Musk called Trump “too much drama”:
Trump complained about Musk during a political rally in Anchorage, Alaska, on Saturday. Trump cited Musk’s claims that he had voted for Democrats in the past, but would switch to Republican candidates the next election cycle. Trump even claimed that Musk said he’d voted for him.
“So he’s another bullshit artist,” Trump said:
Trump also bragged that he had predicted Musk would drop his deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion.
Musk’s Twitter deal ran into problems fairly quickly. Shortly after he expressed interest in the purchase last April, Musk started to bash the company and Twitter shares took a dive. In particular, Musk complained about Twitter’s accounting of spam accounts, even though the social media site had regularly reported its estimates.
On Friday, Musk announced he was terminating the deal, citing “material breach of multiple provisions” of the agreement and alleging Twitter failed to respond to multiple requests for information about fake or spam accounts.
The chair of Twitter’s board, Brett Taylor, said Friday that the board was “committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement.”
Musk could be on the hook for a $1 billion termination fee, even if he persuades a judge to let him back out of the deal.
Twitter shares were hammered again on Monday, down more than 11% in the first day of trading since Musk announced he was abandoning his deal.