Trump’s advisor Navarro escalates war of words, launches fresh attack on Musk

New Delhi, Sep 8 US President Donald Trump’s Trade Advisor Peter Navarro on Monday launched a sharp attack on Elon Musk’s social media platform X and criticised India for buying Russian oil, calling it "blood money".

In a post, Navarro used an expletive and claimed that India did not purchase Russian oil in large quantities before the Ukraine war.

"Fact: India didn't buy Russian oil in large quantities before Russia invaded Ukraine. It's blood money and people are dying," he wrote.

This comes after a heated exchange between Navarro and Musk on X.

Navarro had earlier accused India of buying Russian oil “purely to profit” and criticised the Indian government’s stance, saying: "Stop killing Ukrainians. Stop taking American jobs."

He also slammed Musk for allowing what he called “crap notes” on X after his comments were flagged by Community Notes as misleading.

Responding to the attack, Musk had said: "On this platform, the people decide the narrative… You hear all sides of an argument. Community Notes corrects everyone, no exceptions. Notes data & code is public source. Grok provides further fact-checking."

India’s Ministry of External Affairs also dismissed Navarro’s allegations, calling them "inaccurate and misleading statements".

Navarro had earlier criticised India’s foreign policy, questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s engagements with Russian and Chinese leaders at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin. He had said that “India needs to be with us, not Russia.”

Meanwhile, Trump has repeatedly praised the India-US partnership, describing it as a "very special relationship".

While he had earlier remarked about “losing” India to China, he later clarified, "I’ll always be friends" with Prime Minister Modi.

PM Modi too reciprocated the sentiment, saying he appreciates and fully reciprocates President Trump’s words.

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