Category Archives: Elon Musk

Musk and Trump put on lovefest in Sean Hannity interview

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Pair spoke about each other in glowing terms, rejecting accusations of the billionaire usurping the president’s limelight – and power

Donald Trump and his wealthiest backer, the multi-billionaire Elon Musk, expressed gushing admiration for each other in a Fox News interview in which each accused a critical media of trying to drive them apart.

Interviewed together in the White House, the pair spoke of each other in such warm terms that the interviewer, Sean Hannity, was moved to say: “I feel like I’m interviewing two brothers here.”

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Trump administration gives schools deadline to cut DEI or lose federal funds

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Education department gives ultimatum to stop using ‘racial preferences’ as factors in admissions or risk losing money

The Trump administration is giving the US’s schools and universities two weeks to eliminate diversity initiatives or risk losing federal money, raising the stakes in the president’s fight against “wokeness”.

In a memo on Friday, the education department gave an ultimatum to stop using “racial preferences” as a factor in admissions, financial aid, hiring or other areas. Schools are being given 14 days to end any practice that treats students or workers differently because of their race.

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Devon man jailed for sending ‘utterly deplorable’ email to Jess Phillips MP

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Jack Bennett, 39, given 28 weeks for message sent a day after criticism of minister by X owner Elon Musk

A 39-year-old man has been jailed for sending an “utterly deplorable” email to safeguarding minister Jess Phillips, one day after she was criticised by X owner Elon Musk.

Jack Bennett, from Seaton, Devon, pleaded guilty to sending malicious communications to three people between February 2024 and January 2025, including the Birmingham Yardley MP, at Exeter magistrates court on Tuesday.

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Acting social security head who denied access to Musk team leaves agency

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Michelle King opts to retire after 30 years rather than grant request by ‘department of government efficiency’

The acting head of the Social Security Administration (SSA) left the agency after she refused to give billionaire Elon Musk and the so-called ”department of government efficiency” (Doge) access to sensitive information about beneficiaries.

The SSA processes retirement and disability benefits for more than 71 million Americans – and it uses sensitive personal information, such as banking information and tax information, to do so.

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Trump administration firing hundreds of FAA employees despite four deadly crashes in four weeks

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President moves to cut Federal Aviation Administration workforce, including safety workers, as critics say public could be endangered

The Trump administration has begun firing hundreds of employees at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), including some who maintain critical air traffic control infrastructure, despite four deadly crashes since inauguration day.

According to the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (Pass) union, “several hundred” workers received termination notices on Friday.

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Trump under fire for likening himself to Napoleon amid attacks on judges

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President posted ‘he who saves his country does not violate any laws’ quote attributed to French emperor

Critics rounded on Donald Trump on Sunday for likening himself to Napoleon in a “dictatorial” social media post echoing the French emperor’s assertion that “he who saves his country does not violate any laws”.

The post came at the end of another tumultuous week early in Trump’s second presidency, during which acolytes questioned the legitimacy of judges making a succession of rulings to stall his administration’s aggressive seizure or dismantling of federal institutions and budgets.

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Protesters target Tesla showrooms in US over Elon Musk’s government cost-cutting

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Demonstrations across the US against tycoon’s ties to Trump highlight potential risks to firm’s reputation and sales

Protesters gathered outside Tesla dealerships across the US on Saturday in response to Elon Musk’s efforts to shred government spending under the president, Donald Trump.

Groups of demonstrators up to 100-strong gathered outside the electric carmaker’s showrooms in cities including New York, Seattle, Kansas City and across California. Organisers said the protests took place in dozens of locations.

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Elon Musk’s mass government cuts could make private companies millions

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Defense and tech firms – including Musk’s own – await potential contracts as Doge decimates US agencies

The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has vowed to oversee a radical hollowing out of government agencies, asserting this week that some should be “deleted entirely” as he defunds public programs and lays off federal workers. While the immense cuts are framed as a means of removing waste, they may also become a boon to private companies – including Musk’s own businesses – that the government increasingly relies on for many of its key initiatives.

Musk and his allies in the “department of government efficiency” (Doge), the unofficial committee acting as the operations arm of his cost-cutting efforts, have targeted a range of major government departments. They have moved to close the United States Agency for International Development, slashed the Department of Education and taken over the General Services Administration that controls federal IT structures. Doge staffers have also gained access to the treasury department, as well as set their sights on the Department of Defense, energy department, Environmental Protection Agency and at least a dozen others.

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OpenAI rejects $97.4bn Musk bid and says company is not for sale

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Maker of ChatGPT rebuffs consortium led by Tesla owner and rejects ‘latest attempt to disrupt his competition’

OpenAI on Friday rejected a $97.4bn bid from a consortium led by billionaire Elon Musk for the ChatGPT maker, saying the startup is not for sale.

The unsolicited approach is Musk’s latest attempt to block the startup he co-founded with CEO Sam Altman – but later left – from becoming a for-profit firm, as it looks to secure more capital and stay ahead in the AI race.

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Trump administration sparks outcry as it continues to gut federal workforce – US politics live

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Worker groups condemn moves to fire thousands of probationary employees as CDC and housing department also announce staff cuts

Donald Trump’s campaign to dismantle USAid faced a setback in court last night, after a judge blocked efforts to freeze funding to the agency and gave his administration five days to comply. Here’s more on the development, from the Associated Press:

A federal judge has ordered Donald Trump’s administration to temporarily lift a funding freeze that has shut down US humanitarian aid and development work around the world, and he has set a five-day deadline for the administration to prove it is complying.

The audit will also review the past two years of the system’s transactions as it relates to Musk’s assertion of ‘alleged fraudulent payments’, according to a letter from Loren J Sciurba, treasury’s deputy inspector general, that was obtained by the Associated Press.

The audit marks part of the broader effort led by Democratic lawmakers and federal employee unions to provide transparency and accountability about Doge’s activities under President Donald Trump’s Republican administration. The Musk team has pushed for access to the government’s computer systems and sought to remove tens of thousands of federal workers.

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Some federal workers given just 30 minutes to leave amid Trump layoffs

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As many as 200,000 US workers slated to be affected by mass terminations as Musk leads crusade to slash spending

Some federal employees who have been laid off under the Trump administration’s unprecedented plan to slash the federal workforce were reportedly given only 30 minutes to pack their belongings and vacate federal offices.

Federal agencies were ordered by Donald Trump to fire mostly probationary staff, with as many as 200,000 workers set to be affected and some made to rush off the premises, the Washington Post reported. More layoffs are expected on Friday, Reuters reported, as thousands of employees have already been terminated and the purge is widening.

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Elon Musk says he’ll drop his $97bn bid for OpenAI if it remains a non-profit

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Billionaire’s lawyers say offer will be withdrawn if firm he helped found a decade ago ‘preserves the charity’s mission’

Elon Musk says he will abandon his $97.4bn offer to buy the non-profit behind OpenAI if the ChatGPT maker drops its plan to convert into a for-profit company.

“If OpenAI, Inc’s Board is prepared to preserve the charity’s mission and stipulate to take the ‘for sale’ sign off its assets by halting its conversion, Musk will withdraw the bid,” lawyers for the billionaire said in a filing to a California court on Wednesday. “Otherwise, the charity must be compensated by what an arms-length buyer will pay for its assets.”

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X to pay Donald Trump $10m to settle lawsuit over Capitol attack – report

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President brought suit under X’s previous leadership after he was banned from platform following January 6 events

Elon Musk’s social media platform X will pay Donald Trump $10m to settle a lawsuit the president filed after he was banned from the platform following the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, according to a report.

The lawsuit was filed against X under the leadership of its previous CEO, Jack Dorsey. After Musk purchased X, reinstated Trump’s account, began developing a relationship with the president and spent $250m on his re-election campaign, Trump’s legal team considered abandoning the lawsuit, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the case.

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Elon Musk appears with Trump and tries to claim ‘Doge’ team is transparent

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Key presidential ally, whose agency has operated in secrecy, also makes claim – without evidence – of fraud at USAid

Elon Musk claimed in the Oval Office on Tuesday that his so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) was providing maximum transparency as it bulldozed its way through the federal government, remarks contradicted by the reality of how he has operated in deep secrecy.

The appearance from Musk was the first time he had taken questions from the news media since his arrival in Washington, and he used his time standing next to Donald Trump at the Resolute Desk to defend the aggressive cost-cutting measures the Doge team has pursued.

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Trump empowers Musk by ordering agencies to cooperate with Doge

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President’s order notes agency heads ‘will undertake plans for large-scale reductions in force’ with some exceptions

Donald Trump handed Elon Musk even more control over the federal government by preparing an executive order requiring agencies to cooperate with Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge), a team Trump has assembled, when told to cut their workforces and limit the hiring of replacements.

The White House order, titled Implementing The President’s “Department of Government Efficiency” Workforce Optimization Initiative, said the goal is to “restore accountability to the American public” and that “this order commences a critical transformation of the Federal bureaucracy. By eliminating waste, bloat, and insularity, my Administration will empower American families, workers, taxpayers, and our system of Government itself.”

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Top Republican condemns Elon Musk for ‘supplication’ to China in new book

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Exclusive: Tom Cotton, Senate intelligence chair, risks angering key Trump ally with harsh words for ‘tech titans’

In a new book, the Arkansas senator Tom Cotton condemns Elon Musk for “chasing Chinese dollars” and having “shamefully supplicated China’s Communist rulers”, in order to advance his own interests as chief executive of companies including Tesla and SpaceX.

It’s an explosive charge from the Republican chair of the powerful Senate intelligence committee, given that Musk, the world’s richest person, is a major donor and close adviser to Donald Trump, now working at the heart of the president’s administration to slash costs and reshape the federal government.

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First Thing: Musk-led group bids $97.4bn for control of OpenAI

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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the offer will not be accepted. Plus, $500m of food aid could spoil amid USAid cuts

Good morning.

Elon Musk leads a consortium of investors that on Monday submitted a bid of $97.4bn for “all assets” of the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, with Musk escalating his feud with OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman.

What did the bidders say? “If Sam Altman and the present OpenAI, Inc. board of directors are intent on becoming a fully for-profit corporation, it is vital that the charity be fairly compensated for what its leadership is taking away from it: control over the most transformative technology of our time,” said Marc Toberoff, the attorney representing the investors.

How did Altman respond? Altman posted on X: “no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74bn if you want.” Musk bought Twitter in 2022 for $44bn and renamed it X.

What are analysts saying now? “Now the election isn’t going to be about Trudeau,” said Éric Grenier, a political analyst at the Writ. “It will most likely be about the next four years – and who is best able to deal with Trump.”

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Key payment systems ‘under siege’ by Trump administration, experts warn

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Ex-treasury secretaries caution against administration’s subversion of checks and balances, specifically Musk

A group of five former US treasury secretaries are warning that the Trump administration has put the country’s key payment systems “under siege” and is undermining the checks and balances of the federal government.

The secretaries warned that the administration has compromised roles historically given to nonpartisan career civil servants and have replaced them with “political actors”, according to a New York Times op-ed published on Monday. The secretaries specifically called into question Elon Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency”, or Doge, and the appointees that Musk has installed within agencies, including the treasury department.

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Trump to announce 25% aluminum and steel tariffs in latest trade escalation

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US president accused of ‘shifting goalposts’ by premier of Ontario for adding further tariffs on top of existing metal duties

Donald Trump has said he will announce new 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the US on Monday that would affect “everybody’, including its largest trading partners Canada and Mexico, in another major escalation of his trade policy overhaul.

The US president, speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Sunday, also said he would announce reciprocal tariffs – raising US tariff rates to match those of trading partners – on Tuesday or Wednesday, which would take effect “almost immediately”. “And very simply, it’s, if they charge us, we charge them,” Trump said of the reciprocal tariff plan.

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Trump’s acting chief of federal financial watchdog orders staff to pause activity

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Russell Vought is now acting head of CFPB, created in wake of 2008 financial crash to supervise financial companies

Russell Vought, Donald Trump’s newly installed acting head of the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, announced on Saturday he had cut off the agency’s budget and reportedly instructed staff to suspend all activities including the supervision of companies overseen by the agency.

Reuters and NBC News reported that Vought wrote a memo to employees saying he had taken on the role of acting head of the agency, an independent watchdog that was founded in 2011 as an arm of the Federal Reserve to promote fairness in the financial sector.

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