Donald Trump breaks silence on Elon Musk's White House exit with surprising remark amid reported 'break up'

Following Elon Musk's shock resignation from his top political position this week, Donald Trump has issued an equally blindsiding statement.

The US president bestowed the tech boss with his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) co-lead role upon his inauguration back in January, with Musk having funded a huge proportion of the Republican's election campaign.

Despite Trump, 78, previously supporting the billionaire's 'success' in the role - which saw him firing of thousands of federal employees and being accused of a 'hostile' takeover - in recent weeks, their relationship has seemingly become somewhat stunted.

And despite branding speculation of a potential 'step-back' from politics as 'fake news' last month, Musk announced his plans to leave the Trump administration on Wednesday (28 May).

Elon Musk resigned from his government role earlier this week (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

"As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending," he wrote in a statement on X (formerly Twitter).

"The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government."

Rumours subsequently began doing the rounds that a 'break-up' between Musk and Trump had prompted the decision - especially considering the former slammed the latter earlier this week for his 'disappointing' backing of a bill expected to increase the deficit by $3.8 trillion by 2034.

Days earlier, Musk also appeared to be throwing shade at Trump's overspending, telling Bloomberg's Mishal Husain: "I think, in terms of political spending, I’m going to do a lot less in the future. I think I've done enough."

As such, many spectators have been awaiting an official response from the president - and given how quickly Trump usually responds to unexpected updates in current affairs, he took a surprisingly long time to acknowledge his 'former friend's' resignation.

Trump heaped praise onto Musk (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

Hours after the news hit headlines around the world, Trump issued an official response on his own social media account, Truth Social, heaping a surprising amount of praise onto Musk.

Vowing to hold a press conference with the Tesla CEO in the Oval Office today (Friday 30 May), he wrote of his departure: "This will be his last day, but not really, because he will, always, be with us, helping all the way."

The President then went on to gush: "Elon is terrific!"

Trump's gushy statement also coincides with a number of tweets reposted by Musk following his resignation, several of which seemingly attempted to squash speculation of any beef with the right-wing leader.

Musk insisted that no fall out had occurred (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Shared by an account named @cb_doge, one message re-shared by the father-of-13 read: "In the coming days, legacy media will try to convince you that President Trump and Elon Musk are no longer friends and that’s why Musk left."

The statement continued: "What they won’t tell you is that Elon was a Special Government Employee, limited to 130 days of service and that term ends tomorrow."

Again, addressing rumours that his departure from DOGE was down to a 'falling out' with Trump, Musk retweeted another by @alx, which read: "Legacy media is trying to frame Elon’s departure from DOGE as the result of a falling out with Trump.

It went on to list: "Elon was a special govt employee. Special govt employees can serve 130 days. 130 days after January 20th is May 30th, this Friday."