President Trump hosted an exclusive car show at the White House on Tuesday afternoon.
The only company represented: Tesla. The only purpose: helping Elon Musk.
With Tesla facing a backlash over Mr. Musk’s role in the Trump administration, the president said he wanted to buy one of the company’s electric vehicles. But Mr. Trump, always a salesman, did not just want to purchase a car. He wanted to hawk it and help out his friend, who also happens to be Tesla’s chief executive.
The 30-minute confab was part news conference, part car commercial as Mr. Trump oscillated between answering questions — about the stock market, Canadian tariffs and the war in Ukraine — and trying out five different Tesla cars.
“The one I like is that one,” Mr. Trump said, pointing at a bright red Model S, which costs roughly $80,000. “And I want that same color.” (Mr. Musk, who was standing beside the president, seemingly tried to sell him on a Cybertruck, saying: “This is bulletproof.”)
It was an extraordinary scene of a president using the backdrop of the White House to boost sales for a friend and top donor. And it came as Mr. Musk has signaled to Trump advisers in recent days that he wants to put $100 million into groups controlled by the Trump political operation, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The event was made all the more surreal because Mr. Trump has for years bashed electric vehicles. On Christmas Day in 2023, he posted on social media that electric cars should “ROT IN HELL.”
He has said the cars cost too much and cannot drive far enough without needing to be charged. But the second point should not be a problem now for Mr. Trump, who said on Tuesday that the Secret Service would not allow him to drive the car.
“I haven’t driven a car in a long time, and I love to drive cars,” he told reporters. “But I’m going to have it at the White House, and I’m going to let my staff use it.”
Mr. Trump said he would pay with a check and that he did not want a discount.
Most presidents avoid promoting or endorsing products because executive branch employees are prohibited from doing so on behalf of friends and relatives. In Mr. Trump’s first term, one of his advisers, Kellyanne Conway, was reprimanded for violating those rules when she urged people to buy Ivanka Trump’s fashion products.
But those rules do not apply to the president. Shares of Tesla rose slightly on Tuesday, though they remain down overall since December.
Mr. Trump said he simply wanted to help Mr. Musk, who’s leading his campaign to slash the federal work force.
“I think he’s been treated very unfairly by a very small group of people,” Mr. Trump said. “And I just want people to know that he can’t be penalized for being a patriot.”
Theodore Schleifer and Maggie Haberman contributed reporting.