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Said "Former"

Did Fox News refer to President Donald Trump as "Former president" on their website? Yes, that's true: The phrase appeared in the subheading of a breaking news story about the allegations Elon Musk had been making against Trump. The subheader read "Former president reveals he asked billionaire to leave position after months of tension".

It appeared in an article (archived here) published on the Fox News website on June 5, 2025 titled "Musk unleashes wild Epstein claim against Trump after being booted from DOGE" which opened:

Billionaire Elon Musk dropped a serious bomb on social media on Thursday when he made allegations that President Donald Trump was in the Jeffrey Epstein file.

"@RealDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files," Musk wrote on X on Thursday afternoon. "That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!"

Musk followed the post with another, saying, "Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out."

The story did not refer to any other presidents, living or dead, and indeed ended with a quote from President Trump asking Elon Musk to "leave":

"Elon was 'wearing thin,' I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!" Trump said on Truth Social.

This is a screenshot of the subheader in question, which can also be viewed on the Internet Archive:

(Source: screenshot of https://www.foxnews.com/politics/musk-unleashes-wild-epstein-claim-against-trump-booted-doge)

Shortly after publication of this story the article was updated to remove the word "Former".

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