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Musk's father says his son's row with Trump needs to stop

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He says the row followed months of intense stress

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Errol Musk says the row will end very soon

(Recasts headline and lead with Errol Musk's remarks to Reuters

in paragraphs 1, 3-6 and 10-12)

By Guy Faulconbridge

MOSCOW, June 9 (Reuters) - The row between Donald Trump

and Elon Musk was triggered by months of intense stress on both

sides, and the public battle between the U.S. president and the

billionaire donor needs to stop, Musk's father told Reuters on

Monday.

Trump and Musk began exchanging insults last week on social

media, with the Tesla and SpaceX CEO describing the

president's sweeping tax and spending bill as a "disgusting

abomination".

Asked whether he thought his son had made a mistake by

engaging in a public row with the president, Errol Musk said

people were sometimes unable to think as clearly as they should

"in the heat of the moment."

"They've had five months of intense stress," Musk told

Reuters at a conference in Moscow organised by conservative

Russian tycoons.

"With all the opposition cleared and two people left in the

arena, all they have ever done is get rid of everything and now

they are trying to get rid of each other - well that has to

stop."

Asked how it would end, he said: "Oh, it will end on a good

note - very soon."

Neither the White House nor Musk could be reached for

comment outside normal U.S. business hours.

Trump said on Saturday his relationship with Musk was over

and that there would be "serious consequences" if the world's

richest man decided to fund U.S. Democrats running against

Republicans who vote for the tax and spending bill.

Musk bankrolled a large part of Trump's 2024 presidential

campaign. Trump named Musk to head an effort to downsize the

federal workforce and slash spending.

Musk's father told reporters he was standing by his son.

"Elon is sticking to his principles but you cannot

always stick to your principles in the real world," Musk's

father said. "Sometimes you have to give and take."

Speaking beside sanctioned Russian businessman Konstantin

Malofeyev, Musk's father praised President Vladimir Putin as a

"very stable and pleasant man." He accused "fake media" in the

West of projecting "complete nonsense" about Russia and for

casting it as an enemy.