- President Donald Trump said he plans to buy a Tesla to support Elon Musk.
- Trump praised Tesla’s quality and Musk’s dedication at a White House event.
- A photographer captured an image of a note with Tesla prices.
A photo from a White House event Tuesday captured President Donald Trump with a list of prices for Teslas that were parked on the south lawn of the White House.
Prior to the event, Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that he wanted to buy one of the company’s electric vehicles as a show of support for Elon Musk. At a media event Tuesday afternoon, Trump saddled up to a red Model S.
“That’s beautiful,” he said, later adding that he would write a check for the car. The Model S retails for about $80,000.
Trump also said he would gift his 17-year-old granddaughter, Kai, a Cybertruck — another Tesla vehicle with a starting price of nearly $80,000.
Attached to a copy of Trump’s speech was a handwritten note that included prices for the cars, which read like a sales pitch.
A photographer captured an image of the note, which read in part, “Teslas can be purchased as low as $299/month or $35K.”
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
The White House did not respond to a request for comment from BI about the list.
Trump has increasingly stepped up his support for Tesla as a show of support to Musk, who is closely tied with the White House’s new DOGE office, amid growing protests against the EV company.
Protesters across the US and in Europe have demonstrated against Tesla, denouncing Musk’s politics, while others vandalized local Tesla showrooms.
The company’s stock has also taken a beating in recent months amid declining global sales and concerns that its leader is spending too much time focused on his White House role rather than his companies.
Tesla stock plunged 55% from record highs in mid-December. Company shares closed Tuesday at $230.58.
Trump said at the Tuesday White House event that he’s going to buy a Tesla “because, number one it’s a great product, as good as it gets, and number two,” he said, pointing to Musk, “because this man has devoted his energy and his life to doing this and I think he’s been treated very unfairly by a very small group of people.”
The president said he actually won’t be allowed to drive it and “hasn’t driven a car in a very long time,” but staff at the White House will be able to.
Trump has not always been a fan of electric cars. In the summer of 2024, while speaking in Chicago at the National Association of Black Journalists, he said he was “against everybody having an electric car,” despite Musk’s endorsement.
