Donald Trump just bought a Tesla to help his ally's ailing brand. But the Secret Service won't let him drive it

Donald Trump turned the White House lawn into a Tesla showroom on Tuesday as he attempted to buoy his ally's brand.

But a comment made by the president has some confused — can he even drive the car he ended up buying?

Here's what happened.

The Tesla ad

Flanked by Elon Musk and a media pack, Mr Trump shopped for a new car on the White House driveway on Tuesday.

The president arrived armed with leaflets of papers, which included price notes on each car model and a script spruiking the company's wares.

Tesla has been struggling on the stock market in recent weeks, down 45 per cent since the company's all-time high of $1.5 trillion in December on Tuesday.

Mr Trump told gathered reporters he wanted to "make a statement" by purchasing a vehicle from the company, because Mr Musk had been "treated unfairly".

"I'm going to buy, and I'm going to buy because, number one, it's a great product, as good as it gets, and number two, because this man has devoted his energy and his life to doing this.

"I think he's treated very unfairly by a very small group of people, and I just want people to know that you can't be penalised for being a patriot, and he's a great patriot."

On Truth Social, Mr Trump had earlier falsely claimed "Radical Left Lunatics" were "illegally boycotting" the electric vehicle company. 

He brushed off suggestions that buying a new car from the world's richest man would not play well with supporters struggling with the price surges caused by tariffs on trade partners. 

"Well, I think they're going to do great," he responded to a reporter. 

"I think we're, uh, our country had to do this, we had to go and do this, they've taken away, other countries have taken away our business, they've taken away our jobs."

The first amendment of the US constitution protects Americans' right to protest against private businesses. 

The president ultimately decided on a red Model S, which he said he would pay for by check.

"Everything's computer," he said as he looked at the dashboard. "That's beautiful, wow."

Why can't Donald Trump drive?

If you listened to Mr Trump's comments to the press, you may have noticed he made a seemingly contradictory comment: he may be buying a car, but he's not allowed to drive it.

"Now here's the bad news: I'm not allowed to drive, because, uh … I haven't driven in a long time, and I love to drive cars.

"But I'm going to have it at the White House, and I'm going to let my staff use it, I'm going to let people at the place use it, and they're all excited about that. I'm not allowed to use it, can you believe it?

"One of my great things in life is I can, you know, I love to drive cars, but I'm not allowed to."

That's not because he doesn't know how — it's actually part of the Secret Service security detail.

What are the rules around presidents driving?

US presidents, former presidents and vice-presidents are not allowed to operate vehicles on the open road.

Instead, they must be driven by their security team, who is trained in evasive and defensive driving manoeuvres.

The rule isn't an official law, but it's highly enforced and for the most part, presidents adhere.

It also doesn't extend to when they're on private property, however, so golf carts and ranches seem to be popular spots for car-loving presidents to get behind the wheel.

Have we seen presidents driving in the past?

It seems several former presidents share a love of cars, despite being limited to driving on private property. 

Appearing on the season three premiere of Jay Leno's Garage in 2017, George W Bush revealed he hadn't driven on a road in more than two decades when he took a Ford pick-up trick for a spin around his family ranch in Texas. 

Joe Biden is another Jay Leno's Garage alum, though he appeared on the show when he was still vice-president in the Obama administration.

He also made reference to the strict Secret Service detail, but said they'd made an exception to film with the comedian. He was filmed driving off with a burnout as Leno sat in the passenger seat. 

During the same administration, then-president Barack Obama fulfilled a "childhood dream" to drive a 1963 Corvette when he appeared on Jerry Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.

But the pair were confined to the White House grounds, with a guard telling Mr Obama he wasn't able to open the gates for them to leave. 

As for Mr Trump, his interest in cars has been documented a few times over the years.

A now notorious video uploaded to social media by his wife, Melania Trump, shows Mr Trump listening to Taylor Swift as he drove down a highway in 2014.

He's been known to own various luxury cars over the years, including a Rolls-Royce Phantom and Silver Cloud.

More recently, he briefly drove a garbage truck on an airport tarmac during the presidential campaign last year.