A report by The Washington Post claimed Donald Trump once offered to sell Truth Social to Elon Musk.

The unverified report cited two unnamed sources who reportedly said Trump made the suggestion last summer.

The alleged talks didn’t lead anywhere, the report claimed.

Per Forbes:

The talks came before the Securities and Exchange Commission approved a proposed merger in February between Trump Media & Technology Group, the mostly Trump-owned company that owns Truth Social, and blank check firm Digital World Acquisition Corp in a deal that would take the company public.

Trump was reportedly trying to sell the social network at the time, and SEC filings from 2023 revealed that Trump Media & Technology Group had lost over $31 million since it began operating Truth Social in 2021—only making a profit in 2022.

Elon Musk reinstated Donald Trump’s Twitter account in November 2022, but Trump has remained on Truth Social.

The report said Trump and Musk have been in contact more often than was previously known.

From Business Insider:

Trump confirmed he recently met with Musk in a CNBC interview. The former president said he didn’t know if Musk would endorse him.

Musk reinstated Trump’s Twitter account in November 2022 just weeks after he took control of the company in a $44 billion deal. Trump was kicked off Twitter following the deadly January 6, 2021 Capitol riot.

However, Trump has continued to prefer using Truth Social despite having far fewer followers there than on X.

Representatives for Musk and Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours. Neither responded to requests for comment from the Post.

According to multiple reports, Trump met with Musk and a “few wealthy Republican donors” in Florida.

Donald Trump Reportedly Meets With Elon Musk And GOP Donors

The New York Times said it spoke with three people briefed on the meeting who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

“Mr. Trump and his team are working to find additional major donors to shore up his finances as he heads into an expected general election against President Biden,” The New York Times wrote.

“Mr. Trump has praised Mr. Musk to allies and hopes to have a one-on-one meeting with the billionaire soon, according to a person who has discussed the matter with Mr. Trump,” the outlet added.

The New York Times reports:

It’s not yet clear whether Mr. Musk plans to spend any of his fortune on Mr. Trump’s behalf. But his recent social media posts suggest he thinks it’s essential that Mr. Biden be defeated in November — and people who have spoken to Mr. Musk privately confirmed that is indeed his view.

With a net worth of around $200 billion, according to Forbes, Mr. Musk could decide to throw his weight behind Mr. Trump and potentially, almost single-handedly, erase what is expected to be Mr. Biden and his allies’ huge financial advantage over the former president.

Aides to Mr. Trump did not respond to a request for comment. Mr. Musk did not respond to requests for comment.

Mr. Musk has long portrayed himself as independent-minded, and like many business leaders he has donated to candidates from both parties over the years. Unlike other U.S. billionaires, he has not spent heavily on a presidential election, and his donations have been fairly evenly split over the years between Democrats and Republicans. Mr. Musk’s businesses, Tesla and SpaceX, have benefited from federal government contracts and subsidies.

A person close to Mr. Musk said his relationship with the government had historically made him wary about identifying too closely with one political party over the other.

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