Musk calls Sen. Kelly a 'traitor' over trip to Ukraine, Kelly hits back. Elon Musk, the billionaire businessman and head of the Department of Government Efficiency, called Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly a "traitor" in a post on X after Kelly posted that he had visited Ukraine over the weekend. Kelly, in a thread on X Sunday night, posted photos of his visit to Ukraine and wrote that "Everyone wants this war to end, but any agreement has to protect Ukraine's security and can't be a giveaway to Putin." In a reply to the thread, Musk responded, "You are a traitor." Kelly, a former Navy pilot and astronaut, responded in a separate post on X. "Traitor? Elon, if you don't understand that defending freedom is a basic tenet of what makes America great and keeps us safe, maybe you should leave it to those of us who do," wrote Kelly, whose recent trip marked his third visit to Ukraine since 2023. he comments from Musk, one of President Donald Trump's closest advisers, comes weeks after an explosive meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office that devolved into a shouting match. During the stunning exchange, Trump and Vice President JD Vance rebuked Zelenskyy for his handling of the war, falsely blaming the Ukrainian leader for a conflict that began when Russia's Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion.