Trump says Musk was at Pentagon for DOGE and reveals Boeing will build F-47 jets for Air Force: Live updates
President attacks New York Times over reporting as backlash over billonaire’s role in administration grows
Donald Trump has awarded the sixth-generation F-47 fighter jet program contract to Boeing, a much-needed win for the troubled aviation giant.
In an Oval Office announcement alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the president also again denied claims in a report that Elon Musk was to receive a briefing about the U.S. military’s top-secret plans for combating aggression from China, saying he was at the Pentagon on Friday morning for DOGE.
Earlier on Truth Social, he raged: “The Fake News is at it again, this time the Failing New York Times. They said, incorrectly, that Elon Musk is going to the Pentagon tomorrow to be briefed on any potential ‘war with China,’” he said, adding: “How ridiculous?”
On Thursday, the president signed an executive order directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “begin eliminating” the Department of Education in favor of leaving decision-making up to individual states.
Trump said on Friday that special needs and nutrition programs will now come under the health department and student loans will become the remit of the Small Business Administration.
Gen Z women quit social media in droves over online misogyny linked to Trump
Trump story about ‘surrounded’ Ukraine troops contradicted by his own intelligence, report reveals
Zelensky defies Trump, warning: Hands off my nuclear power stations
Trump administration is seeking to deport Indian academic at Georgetown as part of State Department crackdown
Is the Democratic Party having its Tea Party moment?
Progressive Democrats Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez staged a rally in Tempe, Arizona, on Thursday, attacking the new “oligarchy” running the government but also marking a significant break with their own party at a time when Chuck Schumer’s leadership is under fire.
AOC and Bernie hit the road: Is the Democratic Party having its Tea Party moment?
Top law firm offers $40m in legal services to Trump to escape order
The Trump administration and a Democrat-affiliated law firm have reached an agreement for the White House to drop an executive order targeting the firm in exchange for the company doing tens of millions of dollars in free legal work to support administration initiatives.
The unusual development marks a new chapter in the White House’s retribution campaign against law firms it deems to have opposed its agenda or unfairly targeted Donald Trump.
Under the agreement, Trump will drop his executive order last week aimed at the firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. The order suspended the firm’s security clearances, barred it from federal buildings and threatened government contractors that did business with the firm.
In exchange for dropping the order, Paul, Weiss agreed to represent clients from “the full spectrum of political viewpoints,” commit to not using diversity hiring, and offer $40 million in pro bono legal services to support administration initiatives in areas like aiding veterans, promoting fairness in the justice system and combating antisemitism.
The president announced the deal on social media last night and singled out Mark Pomerantz, a former Paul, Weiss partner who later helped the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office build a criminal case against Trump.
Josh Marcus reports.
Top law firm offers $40m in legal services to Trump to escape executive order
Jimmy Kimmel mocks Elon Musk again following billionaire’s response to Tesla attacks
The late night host has fired back at the world’s richest man after the latter branded the comic an “unfunny jerk“ for jokes he made about Tesla.
Earlier this week, Kimmel poked fun at Musk and Tesla as protests and arson attacks against the electric car company continue in the United States.
Musk responded to the protesters by calling them “deranged” during a Fox News interview but Kimmel had little sympathy for the tech entrepreneur.
“Well, let me see if I can explain it for you: When you pull out a chainsaw to celebrate firing thousands of people, they get mad,” he joked.
“My god. I mean, this poor guy. You do one, maybe two Nazi salutes, everybody gets all bent out of shape!”
Here’s Greg Evans on the latest round.
Jimmy Kimmel mocks Elon Musk again following billionaire’s response to Tesla attacks
House Democrats call for investigation into commerce secretary telling Fox viewers to ‘buy Tesla’ stock
Members of the lower chamber’s Oversight Committee are demanding a probe into Howard Lutnick after he implored views of the conservative cable news network to buy up shares in Elon Musk’s electric vehicle brand, writing to the Department of Commerce’s acting general counsel John K Guenther on what congressman Gerry Connolly said was “just the latest example of the Trump administration “using taxpayer resources to enrich the president’s inner circle.”
Trump threatens to send Tesla vandals to El Salvador prisons
The president’s first posts of the day find him picking up exactly where he left off last night: attacking the New York Times and Maggie Haberman (or “Maggot Hagerman”), threatening to send Tesla vandals to prison, perhaps in El Salvador, and rebuking judges for thwarting his agenda.
He’s also continuing to push April 2, when his reciprocal tariffs come into effect, as “Liberation Day”.
Here’s Alex Woodward on Trump previously talking up the prospect of deporting American citizens to Central America.
Trump pushes 'incredibly illegal' idea to imprison U.S. citizens in El Salvador
Fox anchor invents wild hypothetical about Tesla vandals and death penalty
Fox News host Harris Faulkner invented a bizarre situation in order to ask White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt if those who vandalize Teslas could receive the death penalty.
In Faulkner’s wild hypothetical, she brought up a possibility “that no one’s talking about.”
Ariana Baio has the story.
Fox anchor invents wild hypothetical about Tesla vandals and death penalty
Meet the cost-cutting engineer who runs the day-to-day operations of DOGE
While Elon Musk is the face and public figure leading DOGE, its de-facto leader is actually the man who has been the tech mogul’s right-hand man for decades, according to a report.
Steve Davis, a 45-year-old engineer, has taken the lead in several of DOGE’s controversial cost-cutting moves, according to The New York Times.
Gustaf Kilander reports from Washington, D.C.
Meet the cost-cutting engineer who runs the day-to-day operations of DOGE
Elon Musk responds to reports that he will be briefed on potential war with China
Here’s James Liddell on how the embattled tech boss responded to the NYT’s reporting on his attendance at a top Pentagon meeting.
Elon Musk responds to reports that he will be briefed on potential war with China
Analysis: Trump shutters the Dept of Education from a mock classroom
Trump created a mock classroom in the White House to dismantle the Dept of Education
Zelensky defies Trump, warning: Hands off my nuclear power stations
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has insisted that “all nuclear power plants belong to the people of Ukraine” after reports that Trump said an American takeover of the country’s nuclear power would offer the “best protection” for it.
In their first conversation since the American angrily rebuked Zelensky in the Oval Office, the U.S. president reportedly suggested Washington take ownership of his country’s energy infrastructure.
But Kyiv says the discussions referred only to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is under Russian occupation.
Jane Dalton reports.
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