Politics
Who Are Elon Musk’s Friends, Investors and Family?
A look at the people who influence the world’s richest man, and those who stand to gain from their association with him now.
Elon Musk occupies a rare place at the center of American power.
As the “first buddy,” he has won the ear of President-elect Donald J. Trump, having spent over $250 million in the final months of 2024 to help him get elected. Mr. Musk has appeared in family photos at Mar-a-Lago and joined Mr. Trump on calls with world leaders and chief executives.
Mr. Musk has never had more influence over business, global politics and the American democratic system. He helped kill bipartisan legislation in Congress to avoid a government shutdown, though a bill was later passed.
Where does he go from here?
These are the people who influence Mr. Musk right now, and those whom he influences in turn. They are longtime friends, investors, staff members or party buddies — and sometimes, those boundaries blur.
They shape how Mr. Musk operates and views the world. Many have propped him up, in the good times and the bad, and some now stand to gain from his new position in U.S. politics.
These people have fueled Mr. Musk and his businesses. Over the years, they’ve invested millions of dollars in SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink, the Boring Company, X and xAI. Some have gained board seats or become close friends with Mr. Musk for their loyalty.
Steve Jurvetson
Mr. Jurvetson is a longtime Silicon Valley venture capitalist and was an early investor in Mr. Musk’s SpaceX, where he is a board member. He is also a superfan of Mr. Musk’s. On a podcast in 2020, he praised the billionaire for being “the greatest gift of the American dream living right now.”
Marc Andreessen
The venture capitalist is one of Mr. Musk’s big financial supporters in Silicon Valley: His firm, Andreessen Horowitz, has backed SpaceX, X and xAI.
Shaun Maguire
A partner at Sequoia Capital, Mr. Maguire led the firm’s deals into Mr. Musk’s SpaceX, X, xAI and Boring Company, a tunneling venture. He has played a big role in Mr. Musk’s work during the presidential transition.
John Hering
Mr. Hering, a venture capitalist, invests in Mr. Musk’s companies and has become a trusted adviser. Recently, Mr. Hering has spent time in Palm Beach, Fla., helping with the presidential transition.
Peter Thiel
Mr. Thiel and Mr. Musk are members of the so-called PayPal Mafia, a group of founders and early employees of the payments company. While Mr. Thiel helped oust Mr. Musk from the company decades ago, he has recently become a political ally and supporter. Vice President-elect JD Vance once worked for Mr. Thiel’s venture capital firm, and Mr. Thiel was the one who introduced the running mates.
Roelof Botha
A fellow South African, Mr. Botha was a member of the PayPal Mafia. Now, as the managing partner of Sequoia Capital, he oversees the venture firm’s various investments into Mr. Musk’s companies, including X and xAI.
Larry Ellison
Mr. Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle, is a self-described good friend of Mr. Musk’s and has taken part in some Trump transition meetings. When Mr. Musk bought Twitter in 2022, Mr. Ellison committed $1 billion to the deal.
Mr. Musk’s friends come from different areas of his life. Some started as colleagues or investors, but later developed personal relationships with the billionaire — to the point where they’ve attended Burning Man or vacationed together.
Mr. Musk has also grown close with a number of figures in the tech scene around Austin, where he has been relocating some of his companies’ operations to, away from the San Francisco area.
Antonio Gracias
Mr. Gracias is one of Mr. Musk’s oldest friends; he was an early investor in SpaceX, Tesla and other companies, and he helped fund a pro-Trump super PAC started by Mr. Musk.
Ken Howery
A co-founder of PayPal, Mr. Howery is very involved in Republican politics. He and Mr. Musk are part of the same social circles in Austin.
Michael Kives
Mr. Musk has sometimes stayed with Mr. Kives, a Hollywood agent and Democratic financier, when he is in Los Angeles.
Luke Nosek
A close friend in Texas now and active in conservative politics, Mr. Nosek is one of the several entrepreneurs who helped start PayPal.
David Sacks
A PayPal Mafia associate, Mr. Sacks is a longtime friend who has grown closer to Mr. Musk after the acquisition of Twitter and his rightward political shift. Mr. Sacks has been picked to a tech position in Mr. Trump’s White House.
Sriram Krishnan
A former venture capitalist at Andreessen Horowitz, Mr. Krishnan was part of the crew that took over Twitter after Mr. Musk bought it. President-elect Trump recently tapped him to work with Mr. Sacks on artificial intelligence initiatives.
Joe Lonsdale
A co-founder of the software company Palantir, which has numerous Defense Department contracts, Mr. Lonsdale provided guidance to Mr. Musk’s pro-Trump super PAC and has helped advise the world’s richest man on the presidential transition.
Rupert Murdoch
Mr. Musk dined at Mr. Murdoch’s apartment just before Election Day. The media mogul has remained close with Mr. Musk even as his flagship newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, has reported critically on him.
James Murdoch
A current Tesla board member, as well as a SpaceX investor and a son of Rupert Murdoch’s, James Murdoch and Mr. Musk are friends who have vacationed together.
Joe Gebbia
A former Airbnb executive, Mr. Gebbia sits on Tesla’s board and is also part of the crowd that Mr. Musk hangs out with in Austin.
Jason Calacanis
A start-up investor and podcaster, Mr. Calacanis has been a longtime supporter of Mr. Musk’s from the early days at Tesla. He has attended Burning Man with Mr. Musk and most recently advised the billionaire during the takeover of Twitter.
Michael Dell
The billionaires have become closer as Mr. Musk has made Austin his home base. Mr. Dell has voiced his support of the government efficiency department and is developing computing infrastructure to help power Mr. Musk’s xAI.
Ari Emanuel
The Hollywood media mogul has grown close to Mr. Musk, who once sat on the board of his company, Endeavor. The SpaceX chief has vacationed with Mr. Emanuel and attended his wedding. Endeavor has also invested in X.
Robin Ren
Mr. Ren attended the University of Pennsylvania with Mr. Musk, who considered him to be better at physics during that time. Mr. Ren went on to work at Tesla as a vice president of business development and, for a time, led the company’s expansion into China. He also invested in Mr. Musk’s Twitter takeover.
Joe Rogan
The popular podcaster has hung out with Mr. Musk in Austin. Mr. Musk has appeared on his show five times in the last six years.
Mr. Musk has a large, complicated family. He has fathered at least 12 children with three different partners. He sometimes mixes business with family matters. His brother has sat on the boards of his companies, while his mother and young son have sat in on meetings for his companies and for his newly formed Department of Government Efficiency.
Kimbal Musk
Kimbal, Mr. Musk’s brother, has been a close confidant for years. He runs a restaurant business in Denver, but has long been involved in Elon’s companies: He was an early SpaceX and Tesla board member, in addition to advising on smaller endeavors.
James Musk
Mr. Musk’s younger cousin James now works as a trust engineer at X, after following Mr. Musk from company to company.
Errol Musk
Mr. Musk told a biographer that he and his father, Errol, are sometimes estranged, but Errol has said the two are in frequent contact. He has visited his son in Texas.
Tosca Musk
Mr. Musk’s sister, Tosca, is the head of a production company that focuses on adapting romance novels and erotic fan fiction. She has been a big Democratic donor, and helped host a fund-raiser for Stacey Abrams, the 2022 Democratic gubernatorial candidate for Georgia.
Grimes
The pop singer, born Claire Boucher, is the mother of three of Mr. Musk’s children and has been engaged in custody battles wtih him.
X Æ A-12 Musk
Mr. Musk’s eldest son with Grimes, the four-year-old X, as he is commonly known, has been a frequent presence with his father at his companies’ various offices and at Mar-a-Lago.
Justine Wilson Musk
Mr. Musk’s first wife and the mother of five of his eldest children, she helps parent some of those children with him. (Though one of the children, Vivian, has cut off ties with her father.)
Talulah Riley
Ms. Riley, an actress, is Mr. Musk’s second wife, having married and divorced him twice. They remain in contact.
Shivon Zilis
A former venture capitalist and current executive at Neuralink, Ms. Zilis is the mother of at least three children with Mr. Musk. She has been spotted at Mar-a-Lago after the election.
Maye Musk
Mr. Musk’s mother, a model and dietitian, frequently attends social and political events with her son.
With Mr. Musk leading six different companies, he’s kept a small circle of trusted advisers and deputies across those organizations to maintain operations. Some of these men and women have worked with Mr. Musk for more than a decade and joined Tesla or SpaceX in the early days, when neither company was a guaranteed success. Some of these lieutenants move from job to job with Mr. Musk as he deploys them on the latest issue he’s deemed important.
Alex Spiro
Mr. Spiro, an attorney with high-profile clients, notably defended Mr. Musk in a defamation lawsuit after the billionaire called a British cave explorer a “pedo guy” on Twitter in 2018. Recently, Mr. Spiro has become Mr. Musk’s attack dog against government regulators.
Chris Young
Mr. Young, a top Republican field operative, was hired to be Mr. Musk’s political adviser earlier this year. They did not know each other before the election, but Mr. Young has led Mr. Musk’s tactical work in Republican politics.
Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy
Mr. O’Shaughnessy, a retired Air Force general known as “Shags,” is one of Mr. Musk’s top lieutenants at SpaceX. He was recently pushed as a candidate for a Defense Department job.
Mark Juncosa
As the vice president of vehicle engineering at SpaceX, Mr. Juncosa has worked his way up the ranks in his more than 13 years at the company. He is one of Mr. Musk’s most trusted engineers.
Omead Afshar
Mr. Afshar, one of Mr. Musk’s right-hand men, previously oversaw the construction of Tesla’s factory in Austin, and is now involved with the production of the Starship rocket at SpaceX.
Tim Hughes
As a senior government affairs executive at SpaceX, Mr. Hughes has become vital to Mr. Musk as the company has looked to spread its influence and its satellite internet service, Starlink, outside the United States. Mr. Musk has put forth Mr. Hughes as a potential hire for the Department of Defense.
Ira Ehrenpreis
A current Tesla board member, Mr. Ehrenpreis helped push through a controversial pay package at Tesla that helped make Mr. Musk the richest man in the world.
Jared Birchall
Mr. Birchall, a former wealth manager at Morgan Stanley, is the longtime head of Mr. Musk’s family office, as well as of the Musk Foundation. He has also been advising the presidential transition.
Jehn Balajadia
Though she has the title of “operations coordinator” at the Boring Company, Ms. Balajadia is effectively Mr. Musk’s secretary, helping him with day-to-day tasks and scheduling. She often follows him as he travels, and was ever-present during his acqusition of Twitter.
Linda Yaccarino
A former executive at NBCUniversal, Ms. Yaccarino is the chief executive of X — and often parrots his political views and talking points.
Robyn Denholm
As the chair of Tesla’s board, the Australian business executive has exerted little oversight over Mr. Musk, who had to step down from his role as chairman after his fight with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2018.
Tom Zhu
A senior vice preisdent at Tesla who oversees much of the company’s operations in China, an increasingly important market for the electric automaker.
Franz von Holzhausen
The lead designer at Tesla, he has been known to appear onstage with Mr. Musk during launch events. He has worked at the company for nearly 16 years and is one of Tesla’s longest-serving employees.
Ross Nordeen
One of Musk’s most trusted engineers, he has moved from Tesla to X and now to xAI. He has worked closely with Mr. Musk’s cousin James.
Steve Davis
Few people on this list have earned Mr. Musk’s trust more than Mr. Davis, who is often called upon to help with special situations. Mr. Davis, who by day is an executive at the Boring Company, has effectively led Mr. Musk’s work on the presidential transition.
Gwynne Shotwell
The second most powerful person at SpaceX, she has overseen the day-to-day operations of the rocket company as it has grown to be a major contractor of NASA and the Defense Department.
Mr. Musk’s introduction into the MAGA world has been swift, after his public endorsement of Mr. Trump’s candidacy in July. Since the election, Mr. Musk has become almost inseparable from the president-elect, building fast friendships not only with Mr. Trump, but also with some of his closest advisers. These alliances will become even more important, as Mr. Musk has said he will push to slash federal spending with his government efficiency organization.
Alex Lorusso
A business partner of Benny Johnson’s, the conservative media personality, Mr. Lorusso was a paid consultant for Mr. Musk’s super PAC. Mr. Lorusso is one of the several-high profile conservative voices who was once barred on Twitter and later reinstated by Mr. Musk.
Tucker Carlson
Before leaving Fox News, Mr. Carlson interviewed Mr. Musk for one of his last shows. Since then, the pair have bonded. Mr. Carlson posts episodes of his new online show on X, and has become one of Mr. Musk’s biggest defenders in media.
Vivek Ramaswamy
Leading up to the election, the pharmaceutical entrepreneur turned Republican presidential candidate was frequently cited online by Mr. Musk. Now, the two will be the co-leaders of the government efficiency department in an attempt to slash $2 trillion from the federal budget.
Stephen Miller
Mr. Musk has backed some of Mr. Miller’s prior political work. And the Trump senior adviser, known for his vocal stances on immigration issues that Mr. Musk cares deeply about, has worked side-by-side with the billionaire during the transition.
Nelson Peltz
Mr. Peltz has described himself as the “matchmaker” between Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk. Mr. Peltz, an activist investor, hosted a dinner at his home in Palm Beach this February where Mr. Musk first voiced his desire to become involved with the election.
Donald Trump
Though they did not know each other well six months ago, the two have appeared insperable since the election. Mr. Trump tapped Mr. Musk to be the co-head of the new effort to downsize government, and publicly, they often seem to be mesmerized by each other.
By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Gilad Thaler, Jon Miller, Stephanie Swart, Rafaela Balster, Whitney Shefte and Nikolay Nikolov
May 29, 2026
Politics
Federal judge orders Trump’s name removed from Kennedy Center, says only Congress can rename it
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A federal judge on Friday ordered that President Donald Trump’s name be removed from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, an Obama appointee, said the iconic venue cannot be renamed without an act of Congress, ruling that the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees overstepped its “statutory bounds by unilaterally renaming” the building.
As part of his ruling, the Trump administration will be required to take down all physical signage bearing Trump’s name and eliminate any references to a “Trump-Kennedy Center” from official materials.
TRUMP KENNEDY CENTER’S BOARD VOTES UNANIMOUSLY TO APPROVE $257M RENOVATIONS AND TWO-YEAR CLOSURE
A sign is displayed on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts building. (Getty Images)
“The Kennedy Center’s organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so,” Cooper wrote. “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.”
Roma Daravi, the Trump Kennedy Center vice president of public relations, said the board plans to appeal the decision.
“We will review the decision carefully though the reality remains — the Center requires an urgent and significant restoration – a truth that even the plaintiff acknowledges,” Daravi said. “With $257 million secured by President Trump and approved by Congress, the resources are in place and we remain committed to pursuing every lawful avenue to ensure the Trump Kennedy Center is restored as a national cultural landmark for all Americans to enjoy.”
The ruling was part of a lawsuit filed by U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
BOARD VOTES KENNEDY CENTER TO BE RENAMED ‘TRUMP-KENNEDY CENTER,’ LEAVITT SAYS
President Donald Trump stands in the presidential box during a tour of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., on March 17, 2025. On Friday, a federal judge ruled that Trump’s name must be removed from he iconic venue. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)
Cooper previously denied a request for a preliminary injunction filed by a preservation group to block the planned two-year closure of the Kennedy Center for a rehabilitation project.
Trump secured $257 million from Congress as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to address disrepair and deferred maintenance of the Kennedy Center, which critics say has been neglected and mismanaged before Trump intervened.
The funds appropriated by Congress are spent on maintenance, repairs, security, and capital projects related to the building and site.
Beatty, who serves as an ex officio member of the board, praised Friday’s ruling.
“Today’s ruling rightly affirms that this administration’s efforts to rename and close the Center have no basis in law,” Beatty said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. “The Kennedy Center is an institution that belongs to the American people, not to Donald Trump. He has desecrated this sacred memorial for his own vanity. I am proud to have fought for the rule of law and to protect this sacred institution.”
Workers install Donald J. Trump signage above the existing Kennedy Center sign in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 19, 2025. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
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Trump’s name was added to the venue last December following a unanimous decision by the board. In February 2025, Trump was elected chairman of the Kennedy Center board after removing 18 trustees appointed by former President Joe Biden.
WASHINGTON — A framework agreement to end the U.S. war with Iran is all but settled, pending sign-off from the presidents of the two warring sides, President Trump said Friday, projecting optimism that a deal could finally be at hand.
Yet doubt cast a shadow over the diplomatic process entering the weekend as Trump faced a politically fraught decision to enter an agreement that would invariably require significant concessions to Tehran.
The negotiations have faced severe headwinds in recent days, with both sides accusing the other of violating a fragile ceasefire that has largely stopped the fighting since April.
On his Truth Social site, Trump said he had summoned his top aides to the White House Situation Room to decide on the deal.
The agreement would see an end to the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports and the removal of Iranian mines from the Strait of Hormuz, an international waterway through which 20% of the world’s energy supply passes each day. The strait, Trump wrote, will reopen with “no tolls” for “unrestricted shipping traffic, in both directions.”
And “Iran must agree that they will never have a Nuclear Weapon or Bomb,” Trump wrote, noting that Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, the key ingredient for nuclear weapons, “will be unearthed by the United States (which, it is agreed, is the only Country, along with China, with the mechanical capability of doing so!), in close coordination and conjunction with the Islamic Republic of Iran, plus the International Atomic Energy Agency, and DESTROYED.”
“No money will be exchanged, until further notice,” he added.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also said the deal would require Iran to disavow the continuation of its domestic nuclear program — a diplomatic feat never before achieved throughout a quarter-century of international negotiations over Iran’s nuclear work.
It is unclear whether Tehran would go that far. And Iran’s negotiators expressed defiance on Friday, stating that there was “no trust in guarantees or words” from the American side.
“No step will be taken before the other side acts first,” said Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament. “We do not gain concessions through dialogue, but through missiles.”
It remains unclear when the Trump administration would ease sanctions on Iran, how extensive that relief would be, or what form it would take — questions that fueled Republican criticism of the Obama-era nuclear deal more than a decade ago.
The working diplomatic document would formally extend the existing ceasefire for 60 days, allowing for a more detailed negotiation to take place over Iran’s nuclear program. But the truce as it currently stands is on perilous ground. Iran launched a ballistic missile on Thursday at Kuwait, a close U.S. ally, after American forces took “defensive” actions against Iranian missile launchers and mine-laying boats it had launched in the strait.
The war has proved historically unpopular with the American public, and has seen oil prices soar since the U.S. military, in partnership with Israel, launched its first strikes against Iran in February.
Bessent said he is hopeful that oil prices would drop quickly once an agreement is signed. But industry analysts say the effects of the war on the oil market could last for months, if not years, with the stability of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz now in question for commercial shippers.
While oil has dropped to under $100 a barrel, markets appeared skittish on Friday over the prospects for a deal, with mixed messages appearing to emerge out of the region.
It is also unclear whether a U.S. agreement with Iran would in any way bind Israel’s hands in its military operations, either in Iran or in Lebanon, where an Iranian proxy militia, Hezbollah, has vowed to keep up the fight.
Israel has ramped up strikes against Hezbollah targets in recent days, jeopardizing a delicate ceasefire negotiated with the Lebanese government, a deal encouraged by the Trump administration in order to grease the wheels for its talks with Tehran.
Trump has been uncharacteristically silent on the prospects of an agreement in recent days, expressing cautious optimism in limited exchanges with reporters.
“It’s hard to say exactly when or if the president’s going to sign,” Vice President JD Vance, who has led the U.S. diplomatic team, told reporters, noting that “the nuclear stuff” is still subject to negotiation. “We’re going back and forth on a couple of language points.”
“I do think that we’ve made a lot of progress here,” Vance added. “Hopefully we’ll continue to make progress, and the president will be in a position where he can endorse the agreement. But obviously, that’s still TBD.”
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