Elon Musk accuses Biden of ignoring Tesla, says he would ‘do the

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, in an email exchange with CNBC on Tuesday, accused President Joe Biden of ignoring his electric vehicle company in favor of paying more attention to legacy auto makers.

But he also sought to assure White House officials who are concerned that he would do or say something embarrassing if he were invited to speak at a White House event.

“They have nothing to worry about,” Musk said. “I would do the right thing.”

Musk’s comments came after CNBC contacted him regarding fresh reporting that Biden and the White House have no immediate plans to invite Musk to potential upcoming meetings with corporate leaders. The people who spoke to CNBC about how the White House regards Musk declined to be named in order to speak freely about private conversations.

“The notion of a feud is not quite right. Biden has pointedly ignored Tesla at every turn and falsely stated to the public that GM leads the electric car industry, when in fact Tesla produced over 300,000 electric vehicles last quarter and GM produced 26,” Musk said in the email.

Tesla announced in January that it produced and delivered over 300,000 vehicles globally in the fourth quarter. General Motors reported U.S. sales of 26 electric vehicles, including one Hummer pickup and 25 Bolt EV models during the fourth quarter.

GM recently announced it was extending its production halt of their Chevrolet Bolt EV until early April but it plans to resume retail sales soon. The company has said that it plans to spend $35 billion on electric and autonomous vehicles by 2025.

For the first time in his presidency, Biden in February acknowledged Tesla’s status as the nation’s largest producer of electric vehicles.

Musk and the White House have been at odds since the start of the Biden administration as the president pushes for infrastructure reform and tries to encourage vehicle companies to go green.

GM CEO Mary Barra said, standing next to Biden in January, said the company wants to invest $7 billion into Michigan to “further our EV manufacturing.” GM is headquartered in Detroit. Musk at the time responded to Barra and Biden’s comments by tweeting, “Starts with a T, Ends with an A, ESL in the middle.”

“It got to the point, hilariously, where no one in the administration was even allowed to say the word ‘Tesla’! The public outrage and media pressure about that statement forced him to admit that Tesla does in fact lead the EV industry. I wouldn’t exactly call that ‘praise,'” Musk said in the Tuesday email.

A White House spokesperson praised Tesla on Tuesday in an email to CNBC: “Tesla has done extraordinary things for electric vehicles and that’s a big part of why the whole industry now knows EVs are the future.”

The White House representative also took aim at Musk. “Tesla also benefited greatly from past EV tax credits, but unfortunately, their CEO has suggested an opposition to new EV tax credits,” the…