Politics

(WASHINGTON) — In a phone interview Friday morning, hours after his blistering exchange with Elon Musk, President Donald Trump sounded remarkably unconcerned about their feud, as if it weren’t even the most interesting thing that happened Thursday.

Speaking on a phone call Friday morning shortly before 7 a.m., ABC News asked him about reports he had a call scheduled with Musk for later in the day..

“You mean the man who has lost his mind?” he asked, saying he was “not particularly” interested in talking to him right now.

He said Musk wants to talk to him, but he’s not ready to talk to Musk.

Trump then talked for a couple of minutes about other things — referring to inflation (down), foreign investment (up) and his plans for a visit to China (huge).

People close to Trump have described him as more sad than angry at Musk. One adviser who was with Trump on Thursday night said he seemed “bummed” about the breakup. And that’s the way he sounded on Friday morning.

Trump is considering either giving away or selling the red Tesla he purchased to support Musk, a senior administration official told ABC News’ Rachel Scott Friday morning. The Tesla was parked just on West Executive Avenue on Thursday. Trump made a show of checking out Tesla models at the White House in March as Musk’s company took a hit as he arrived in Washington.

The war of words on Thursday, stemming from Musk’s criticism of Trump’s signature tax and immigration bill, had Musk suggesting Trump would have lost the 2024 election without him, backing calls for Trump’s impeachment and even claiming Trump was “in” the Epstein files regarding the investigation into the accused sex trafficker.

“That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!” Musk posted.

Trump, in turn, had said Musk had gone “CRAZY” and suggested terminating Musk’s government contracts and subsidies.

Vice President JD Vance expressed his support for Trump amid the public dispute in a brief post to X — albeit hours after the back-and-forth between Trump and Musk began. The post didn’t directly weigh in on Musk’s attacks or criticize the Tesla billionaire, with whom Vance has his own history with that predates his time as Trump’s running mate and vice president.

“President Trump has done more than anyone in my lifetime to earn the trust of the movement he leads. I am proud to stand beside him,” Vance wrote on social media.

Vance still hadn’t directly responded to Musk’s accusations against Trump when he posted again on Friday morning.

“There are many lies the corporate media tells about President Trump. One of the most glaring is that he’s impulsive or short-tempered. Anyone who has seen him operate under pressure knows that’s ridiculous,” Vance wrote, focusing his fury on the media.

The White House called the public feud between Trump and Elon Musk “an unfortunate episode from Elon, who doesn’t like the One Big Beautiful Bill because it doesn’t include his policies.”

“The President is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

Just hours after accusing Trump, without evidence, of appearing in the Epstein files, Musk showed some signs of trying to soften his tone — even appearing to agree with a post on X calling for the two to “make peace.”

The first sign Musk was starting to walk things back came thanks to an account with just over 141 followers on X who suggested to “cool off” and “take a step back.”

The post from the seemingly random user led Musk to reverse his threat to decommission the spacecraft used to transport astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station, a threat Musk had made just hours earlier.

“Good advice,” Musk responded to the user. “Ok, we won’t decommission Dragon.”

ABC News’ Will Steakin and Lalee Ibssa contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump hit back on Elon Musk following Musk’s rampage against his domestic megabill, saying on Thursday he’s “very disappointed” in the Tesla billionaire.

“Look, Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore,” Trump said.

Musk responded in kind to the personal comments in real time on X, where he continued to swipe at the legislation and at Trump directly.

At one point, Musk responded to a user: “Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate.”

“Such ingratitude,” Musk added. Musk spent more than $270 million to back Trump and other Republicans during the 2024 election cycle.

Musk and Trump had not spoken as of Thursday morning, according to two sources familiar with the president’s conversations.

Multiple administration officials have attempted to reach out to Musk and his representatives personally, but their calls and texts have not been returned, several sources tell ABC News.

President Trump was asked about Musk’s relentless criticisms of the tax and immigration bill while taking reporter questions alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office.

“He hasn’t said anything about me that’s bad. I’d rather have him criticize me than the bill, because the bill is incredible,” Trump said of Musk.

The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” passed the House last month by a single vote. The measure would extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and boost spending for the military and border security, while making some cuts to Medicaid, SNAP and other assistance programs.

It now faces headwinds in the Senate, specifically among a small group of Republican fiscal hawks.

Musk has said the the legislation, estimated by the nonpartisan budget office to add $3 trillion to the deficit over the next decade, would undermine the Department of Government Efficiency’s goal to reduce government spending and trim the national debt.

“Where is this guy today??” Musk wrote as he reupped another user’s compilation of past Trump tweets criticizing high deficits, unbalanced budgets and more.

Trump contended on Thursday that Musk, the CEO of Tesla, was really “upset” because the legislation would remove tax credits for electric vehicles.

“But I’m very disappointed because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here, better than you people,” Trump said. “He knew everything about it. He had no problem with it. All of a sudden, he had a problem.”

Before speaking out publicly against the bill, Musk personally pushed some lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, to keep the tax credits for electric vehicles in the bill, according to two people familiar with conversations.

Musk pushed back on X and suggested Trump was not telling the truth.

“False, this bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it!” he wrote.

In another post, Musk wrote: “Whatever.”

“Keep the EV/solar incentive cuts in the bill, even though no oil & gas subsidies are touched (very unfair!!), but ditch the MOUNTAIN of DISGUSTING PORK in the bill,” the post read.

“In the entire history of civilization, there has never been legislation that both big and beautiful,” Musk added. “Everyone knows this! Either you get a big and ugly bill or a slim and beautiful bill. Slim and beautiful is the way.”

As of now, the Tesla that President Trump bought to show support for Elon Musk is still on the White House complex, according to two sources.

The White House declined to comment. A representative for Musk has not yet returned request for comment.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the phone Thursday amid trade tensions between the two countries — and during the call, Trump said Xi invited him to visit China.

In a social media post, Trump said they discussed “some of the intricacies of our recently made, and agreed to, Trade Deal.” The call lasted about one and a half hours, and the leaders exclusively talked trade.

Trump added that it “resulted in a very positive conclusion for both Countries.” He said that U.S. and Chinese negotiating teams “will be meeting shortly at a location to be determined.”

The president said that Xi invited him to visit China and Trump extended an invitation for Xi to visit the U.S.

“So, I will be going there with the first lady at a certain point, and he’ll be coming here hopefully with the first lady of China,” Trump later told reporters in the Oval Office.

The call happened at Trump’s request, Chinese State News Agency Xinhua had reported.

It was the first confirmed time the leaders have spoken since Trump returned to the White House. Trump has alluded to a previous call with Xi, but he nor the White House have ever confirmed if that took place since he took office in January.

Their conversation is a significant development amid a trade standoff between the U.S. and China, the world’s two largest economies.

It came after Trump last week accused China of violating a deal negotiated by top officials in Geneva last month to roll back high tariff rates for 90 days. The agreement saw the U.S. drop the rate on Chinese goods coming to the U.S. from over 145% to 30%. China lowered its levy on U.S. goods from 125% to 10%.

White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said China was slow-walking approval of export licenses for rare earth materials, which was also a part of the Geneva agreement.

Beijing pushed back on Monday, saying it “firmly rejects unreasonable accusations” and that it was the U.S. that “unilaterally provoked new economic and trade frictions.”

Chinese leaders said they had their own concerns about U.S. restrictions on tech exports and the Trump administration’s attempt to revoke Chinese student visas.

Trump on Thursday, following his call with Xi, told reporters he believed they “straightened out any complexity” regarding the agreement.

“I think we’re in very good shape with China and the trade deal,” Trump said. “We have a trade deal with China, as you know, but we were straightening out some of the points having to do mostly with rare earths, magnets and some other things.”

Trump also said it was “no problem” to have Chinese students come the U.S., despite the administration announcement it would “aggressively” revoke the visas.

“It’s an honor to have them, frankly,” he said, before turning his attention to Harvard University. The administration has demanded information on all the school’s international students, including names and coursework.

“Look, we want to have — we want to have foreign students, but we want them to be checked,” Trump said. “You know, in the case of Harvard and Columbia and others, all we want to do is see their list. There is no problem with that.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Senate Republican Leader John Thune reiterated that “failure is not an option” as he works to get GOP holdouts on the megabill advancing President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda in line — especially amid Elon Musk’s efforts to tank the bill.

“This is a team effort, and everybody is going to be rowing in the same direction to get this across the finish line. Failure is not an option, and we intend to deliver, along with the president for the American people on the things that he committed to do and that we committed to do in terms of the agenda,” Thune told reporters after he left a meeting with Trump at the White House on Thursday.

As things currently stand, Thune can afford to lose only three of his GOP members to pass the package, and right now, he has more members than that expressing serious doubts about the bill.

The House-passed legislation extends the Trump 2017 tax cuts, boosts spending for the military and border security — while making some cuts to Medicaid, SNAP and other assistance programs. It could also add $3 trillion to the deficit over the next decade, according to an analysis out Wednesday from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

As the Senate weighs possible changes to the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap as part of the tax portion of the bill, House Republicans from blue states are already threatening to derail the bill’s prospects.

Thune signaled changes could be coming to the SALT deal that was struck in the House, but the details are still unclear.

“It would be very, very hard to get the Senate to vote for what the House did,” Thune told reporters. “We’ve just got some people that feel really strongly on this.”

Speaker Mike Johnson said he spoke to the SALT caucus on the floor during House votes Wednesday and plans to “communicate” their red line with Senate leaders.

The SALT deal is “a very delicate thing and we have to maintain the equilibrium point that we reached in the House, and it took us almost a year… so I don’t think we can toss that,” Johnson said.

Musk’s effect on negotiations

Not helping Thune’s endeavor to sway the defectors are frequent posts from Musk targeting the bill — and on Thursday targeting the president.

Musk on Thursday quoted a 2013 post from Trump criticizing Republicans for extending the debt ceiling, with Musk writing, “Wise words.”

Earlier, Musk slammed the bill, calling it a “disgusting abomination” and later urged all members of Congress to “kill the bill.”

Trump touted the bill from the White House on Thursday — brushing off the scathing criticism from Musk.

“I’m very disappointed because Elon knew the inner-workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here better than you people. He knew everything about it. He had no problem with it. All of a sudden he had a problem,” Trump said.

Johnson said he plans to speak directly to Musk on Thursday, a day after the speaker said the billionaire was “flat wrong” in his criticism of the bill. Multiple administration officials have attempted to reach out to Musk and his representatives personally, but their calls and texts have not been returned, several sources tell ABC News.

Before speaking out publicly against the bill, Musk personally pushed some lawmakers, including Johnson, to keep the tax credits for electric vehicles in the bill, according to two people familiar with conversations.

Still, Johnson said Musk “seems pretty dug in right now. and I can’t quite understand the motivation behind it.”

“But I would tell you that what we’re delivering in this bill is not only historic tax cuts, but historic savings as well. He seems to miss that,” Johnson added.

Thune said Wednesday that although he can’t speak to Musk’s motivations for his opposition, he will continue to push for the bill’s success in the Senate.

Musk’s public bashing of the bill came up in senators’ meeting with Trump on Thursday, said Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, describing it as a “laughing conversation for 30 seconds.”

“It was very much in jest and laughing, and I think he said something positive about Elon appreciating what he did for the country,” Marshall said.

ABC News’ Will Steakin, Rachel Scott Mary Bruce, Molly Nagle and Kelsey Walsh contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — A large part of funding for President Donald Trump’s second-term agenda would come from cuts to safety net programs like Medicaid, the health care program for lower-income Americans and those with disabilities, and SNAP, which helps millions of lower-income Americans buy groceries every month.

The bill passed by the House makes around $600 billion in cuts to Medicaid. About 10.9 million people could lose their coverage over the next 10 years, according to Wednesday’s estimate by the Congressional Budget Office.

The SNAP cuts total an estimated $230 billion over 10 years.

Republicans say their goal is reducing “waste, fraud, and abuse” in these programs to save hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade and to pay for Trump’s tax cuts and increased funding for the border and defense.

Here’s a breakdown of those cuts in the current form of the bill:

Medicaid cuts

Work requirements: The bill imposes new 80-hours per month work requirements on able-bodied Medicaid recipients aged 19 to 64 who don’t have dependents. These requirements include working or other approved activities such as volunteering.

Under the bill’s current text, these work requirements won’t kick in until 2026.

Increased eligibility checks: The bill also requires states to conduct eligibility redeterminations at least every six months for all recipients instead of the current 12 months.

Undocumented migrants: The legislation seeks to prohibit states from using their funds to cover undocumented immigrants. Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for Medicaid, but 14 states and the District of Columbia have opted to use their own funds to cover those individuals. This bill would penalize them by reducing Medicaid funding. The White House estimates approximately 1.4 million undocumented migrants would lose coverage.

Increased copays: The bill increases copays for Medicaid recipients who make more than the federal poverty level of just over $15,500 for single beneficiaries. They would be required to pay an extra $35 dollar copay in some visits.

Income and residency verification: Required Medicaid paperwork for income and residency verification will increase as lawmakers look to crack down on people who are “double-dipping” in multiple jurisdictions. The additional steps are expected to especially impact seniors and others who can’t promptly respond.

Prohibits funds for abortion providers and gender transition care: The legislation would ban Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood as long as the organization provides abortions and abortion services.

The legislation also prohibits Medicaid funds from going to gender transition care, including puberty blockers, hormone treatments and surgery. In the initial text of the bill, this language applied only to children, but it was expanded to include adults shortly before the House vote.

Obamacare enrollment: The bill ends open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act a month earlier. Most states hold open enrollment from Nov. 1 to Jan. 15. The House bill requires open enrollment to end on Dec. 15. An analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation found in 2025 that roughly 40% of enrollees, or about 10 million people, selected plans after Dec. 15.

The legislation also eliminates a Biden-era policy that allows year-round ACA enrollment for the poorest Americans — those who make up to 150% of the poverty level, or around $22,600 a year. Americans will still be able to enroll year-round if they’ve had a “change in circumstances or the occurrence of a specific event.”

These changes would codify a rule proposed in March by the Trump administration’s Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

SNAP cuts

The bill tightens eligibility requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which used to be called the “food stamp” program, which helped roughly 42 million low-income people buy groceries per month in 2024.

Work requirements: The bill raises the age for work requirements from 54 to 64. A similar bill introduced in the House in 2023 would have reduced rolls by between 3 million and 3.5 million people, according to the CBO. It would also require parents with children older than 6 to meet the work requirement. There is currently no work requirement for SNAP beneficiaries with dependent children at home.

Shifting costs to states: SNAP is currently 100% federally funded. The bill requires states to share in at least 5% of SNAP benefit costs starting in 2028.

Indirect effects: The changes could have an impact on school lunch programs, requiring some previously eligible families to apply for access and on federal reimbursement payments for some school districts.

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(NEW YORK) — Former President Bill Clinton, on ABC’s “The View” on Thursday, said he didn’t have concerns about former President Joe Biden’s mental sharpness amid a slate of reports that allege a decline in Biden’s acuity during the 2024 campaign and at the end of his presidency.

“Well, I think you have to pay attention to them,” Clinton said when asked about the accounts. “But all I can say is whenever I was around him, his mind was clear, his judgment was good and he was on top of his brief.”

Clinton went on to question decisions made by the White House in the lead-up to the CNN debate in June 2024 between Biden and Donald Trump, including Biden’s overseas travel in the days prior to his standoff with Trump on stage.

“He was 80 years old. What the heck is he doing that for?” Clinton said. “Why was that allowed to happen?”

“There’s a lot of questions. I don’t know,” Clinton continued. “All I know is I think we should think less about that, more about the future.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday in favor of U.S. gun manufacturers and blocked a liability lawsuit brought by the government of Mexico, which sought to hold the companies accountable for the trafficking of their weapons south of the border to fuel violence by the cartels.

The government argued in its historic lawsuit that American firearms manufacturers including Smith & Wesson, Glock, Beretta and Colt, were “aiding and abetting” the illicit flow of weapons across the border.

Mexico sought $10 billion in damages, court-mandated safety mechanisms and sales restrictions for U.S.-made guns.

The high court had not taken up the issue of the sweeping gunmaker immunity found in a 2005 federal law aimed at protecting the industry.

In her opinion, Justice Elena Kagan ruled that the Mexican government’s complaint “sets a high bar.”

“The complaint does not pinpoint, as most aiding-and-abetting claims do, any specific criminal transactions that the defendants (allegedly) assisted. It does not say, for example, that a given manufacturer aided a given firearms dealer, at a particular time and place, in selling guns to a given Mexican trafficker not legally permitted to buy them under a specified statute,” she wrote.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously ruled in favor of an Ohio woman who wants to bring an employment discrimination claim against the state, alleging she was passed over for a job on the basis of her heterosexual orientation.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson delivered the opinion.

The plaintiff, Marlean Ames, alleges her employer, the Ohio Department of Youth Services, denied her a promotion and later demoted her, in both cases selecting gay candidates instead who were less qualified. Her supervisor at the time was also gay.

Ames had worked for the Department for more than 15 years and received sterling performance reviews.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex and sexual orientation.

In order to bring a case in federal court, plaintiffs must initially present a prima facie case — Latin for “on the face of it” — a legal term to indicate that there are sufficient facts to support a claim.

Justice Jackson, writing for the court, said that Ames had been unfairly held to a higher legal standard as a member of a majority group.

“The question in this case is whether, to satisfy that prima facie burden, a plaintiff who is a member of a majority group must also show ‘background circumstances to support the suspicion that the defendant is that unusual employer who discriminates against the majority,'” Jackson wrote, quoting the decision from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

“We hold that this additional ‘background circumstances’ requirement is not consistent with Title VII’s text or our case law construing the statute. Accordingly, we vacate the judgment below and remand for application of the proper prima facie standard.”

The ruling means Ames’ lawsuit can move forward, but it does not necessarily mean she will succeed in her case against her former employer.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the phone Thursday amid a trade war between the two countries, according to Chinese state media.

The call happened at Trump’s request, Chinese State News Agency Xinhua reported.

Their conversation is a significant development amid the trade war between the U.S. and China, the world’s two largest economies.

It comes after Trump accused China of violating a deal negotiated by top officials in Geneva last month to roll back high tariff rates for 90 days. The agreement saw the U.S. drop the rate on Chinese goods coming to the U.S. from over 145% to 30%. China lowered its levy on U.S. goods from 125% to 10%.

Trump, last Friday, said China had breached the temporary truce though didn’t provide details.

“So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!” he wrote on his conservative social media platform.

Beijing pushed back on Monday, saying it “firmly rejects unreasonable accusations” and that it was the U.S. that “unilaterally provoked new economic and trade frictions.”

White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, had said the expectation was for Trump and China’s Xi to talk this week.

Hassett said “the two of them will talk about the Geneva agreement, which we’re all very favorably inclined towards, thinking this is a huge step forward. But then what happened is that people had to — in China — had to give us licenses for things, and the licenses, we believe, have been slow rolled is something that the presidents want to talk about this week.”

Hassett also said that U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer’s team and their counterparts in China are “talking every day trying to move the ball forward on this matter.”

Greer said on CNBC last week that China was slow-walking approval of export licenses for rare earth materials, which was also a part of the Geneva agreement.

Meanwhile, Chinese leaders said recently that they have their own concerns about U.S. restrictions on tech exports and the Trump administration’s attempt to revoke Chinese student visas.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(CAMBRIDGE, Mass.) — Harvard University is calling President Donald Trump’s proclamation to block foreign students from attending the university another “illegal retaliatory step.”

“This is yet another illegal retaliatory step taken by the administration in violation of Harvard’s First Amendment rights,” Harvard said in a statement. “Harvard will continue to protect its international students.”

Trump signed the proclamation on Wednesday afternoon, invoking the Immigration and Nationality Act to prohibit the entry of noncitizens from entering the U.S. to study at Harvard for at least six months. Trump argued the institution is “no longer a trustworthy steward” of international students.

The proclamation also directed the secretary of state to consider revoking the visas of foreign students already in the U.S. to study at Harvard.

“I have determined that the entry of the class of foreign nationals described above is detrimental to the interests of the United States because, in my judgment, Harvard’s conduct has rendered it an unsuitable destination for foreign students and researchers,” the proclamation said.

Last month, the Department of Homeland Security tried to revoke Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program — which allows the school to sponsor foreign students – but a federal judge issued a temporary order blocking the move.

Trump justified the sudden move Wednesday by claiming Harvard has refused to provide information about international students, has “extensive entanglements with foreign countries,” and has discriminated in their admissions practices. The proclamation also claimed crime rates have “drastically risen” at the school and requires the government to probe the potential misconduct of foreign students.

“These concerns have compelled the Federal Government to conclude that Harvard University is no longer a trustworthy steward of international student and exchange visitor programs,” the proclamation said.

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