A Trump administration staffer is receiving warm words and calls for recognition after he was reportedly beaten in Washington, D.C., while protecting a woman from an attempted carjacking.
The staffer, Ed Coristine, 19, who once went by the moniker “Big Balls” online, works at the Social Security Administration and began his government service as a member of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project. President Donald Trump shared a photo on Tuesday of Coristine covered in blood after the attack and threatened to “federalize” D.C. over rampant crime.
“I have to say that somebody from DOGE was very badly hurt last night. You saw that – a young man who was beat up by a bunch of thugs in DC,” said Trump on Tuesday. “Either they&#8217;re going to straighten their act out in terms of government and in terms of protection, or we&#8217;re going to have to federalize and run it the way it&#8217;s supposed to be run.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>: &#8220;Somebody from <a href="https://twitter.com/DOGE?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DOGE</a> was very badly hurt last night&#8230; a young man who was beat up by a bunch of thugs in D.C. Either they&#8217;re going to straighten their act out&#8230; or we&#8217;re going to have to federalize and run it the way it&#8217;s supposed to be run.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/Z6Ywr9oYYX">https://t.co/Z6Ywr9oYYX</a> <a href="https://t.co/yhg9mRfDaF">pic.twitter.com/yhg9mRfDaF</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1952840166458195972?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ex-doge-staffer-edward-coristine-injured-in-attempted-carjacking-trump-federal-takeover-of-d-c/">According</a> to CBS News, the woman was Coristine&#8217;s &#8220;significant other.&#8221; The outlet reported that they were surrounded by about 10 teenagers, and the suspects made a comment about taking their vehicle. Coristine then pushed his significant other into the vehicle and turned to deal with the alleged attackers, the report said.
In a Truth Social <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114977985620971126">post</a>, the president said that crime in the nation’s capital is “totally out of control” and that the attack on Coristine was carried out by “local ‘youths’ and gang members.” Criminal teens are operating with impunity, “knowing that they will be almost immediately released.”
“The Law in D.C. must be changed to prosecute these ‘minors’ as adults, and lock them up for a long time, starting at age 14,” said Trump. &#8220;Washington, D.C., must be safe, clean, and beautiful for all Americans and, importantly, for the World to see.”
The attack reportedly happened on Sunday morning around 3 a.m. near Dupont Circle. Police arrested two 15-year-olds at the scene and charged them with unarmored carjacking, according to CBS News. Most of the teens fled when law enforcement arrived. A black iPhone 16 was stolen, according to the police report.
Tech titan Elon Musk, the former head of DOGE, backed the president’s call to take over Washington, D.C. Musk also said Coristine was attacked trying to assist a woman who was the initial target of “a gang of about a dozen young men.”
“A few days ago, a gang of about a dozen young men tried to assault a woman in her car at night in DC. A [DOGE] team member saw what was happening, ran to defend her and was severely beaten to the point of concussion, but he saved her. It is time to federalize DC,” Musk posted.
Coristine has been hailed for his bravery. GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah floated the idea of rewarding Coristine with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor.
“Big Balls for the Medal of Freedom. Who agrees?” Lee <a href="https://x.com/BasedMikeLee/status/1952877203919913290">posted</a> to X.
“WOW. The [DOGE] employee who was brutally beaten in DC for defending a woman has been identified as none other than ‘BIG BALLS,’” the popular account Libs of TikTok <a href="https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1952869965742158269">posted</a>. “Big Balls is a HERO!”

Police lights

Trump Admin Staffer ‘Big Balls’ Hailed As Hero After Musk Says He Saved Woman From ‘Gang’ In D.C.

Crime

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

Donald Trump

Elon Musk

Mike Lee

U.S.

Washington D.C.

White House

The GOP-led Senate narrowly passed a $9 billion rescissions package early on Thursday morning that seeks to eliminate <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dei-insect-powder-and-trans-resilience-trump-unveils-woke-spending-cuts-request" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;waste, fraud, and abuse&#8221;</a> identified by the Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative.
Senators voted <a href="https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1191/vote_119_1_00411.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">51-48</a> in favor of the measure, which aims to claw back funds allocated to foreign aid projects and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a funding source for NPR and PBS programs that many Republicans deem wasteful and ideologically driven. Now the rescissions package heads back to the House, which has only until Friday to pass it.
&#8220;This isn&#8217;t just about saving money. It&#8217;s about taking back control,&#8221; Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO), who spearheaded the effort to pass the package, <a href="https://x.com/Eric_Schmitt/status/1945556733230772231" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on X. &#8220;It&#8217;s time to remind the NGOs, the foreign lobbyists and their friends in the media that America is not a tax farm for global leftism. We&#8217;re a sovereign nation — and it&#8217;s time to start acting like one again.&#8221;
Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Susan Collins (R-ME) broke ranks and voted against the package along with Democrats and independents. They raised <a href="https://x.com/bresreports/status/1945297767649435793" target="_blank" rel="noopener">concerns</a> about how defunding public broadcasting could <a href="https://x.com/lisamurkowski/status/1945637668479479894" target="_blank" rel="noopener">diminish</a> helpful services to Americans and lamented the lack of clarity on the Trump administration&#8217;s plan to implement the cuts.
&#8220;The rescissions package has a big problem – nobody really knows what program reductions are in it,&#8221; Collins said in a <a href="https://x.com/AndrewDesiderio/status/1945292034920607994" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> on Tuesday evening. She added later, &#8220;To carry out our Constitutional responsibility, we should know exactly what programs are affected and the consequences of rescissions.&#8221;
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who had <a href="https://x.com/bresreports/status/1945297767649435793" target="_blank" rel="noopener">joined</a> Murkowski and Collins in voting against advancing the rescissions package on Tuesday, ultimately supported it. Passage came after the Senate worked through a lengthy &#8220;vote-a-rama&#8221; that included a flurry of amendments, mostly from Democrats.
The sole lawmaker to miss the final vote series was Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN). Her office <a href="https://x.com/SenTinaSmith/status/1945597468357329093" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> the Democrat would be staying overnight at George Washington University Hospital after she began to feel unwell at the Capitol.
Next, the rescissions package heads back to the House, which had already <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-passes-doge-cuts-targeting-foreign-aid-npr-and-pbs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passed</a> a $9.4 billion measure in mid-June. The lower chamber must vote again on the package after the Senate Republicans opted to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-republicans-drop-aids-relief-cuts-from-rescissions-package" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pull</a> $400 million in cuts to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program.
The White House <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5402273-white-house-accepts-pepfar-exemption/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> gave its blessing to remove the part of the package that defunded PEPFAR, as some members had voiced dismay with that part of the proposal.
Under the Impoundment Control Act, Congress was given 45 days to act on the Trump administration&#8217;s rescissions request in early June, and it requires only a simple majority in the House and Senate, meaning the filibuster threshold can be ignored.
Both chambers of Congress must pass a single version of the package by Friday, the deadline.
The Office of Management and Budget <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dei-insect-powder-and-trans-resilience-trump-unveils-woke-spending-cuts-request" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that its rescissions wishlist included getting rid of $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which Trump singled out in a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/05/ending-taxpayer-subsidization-of-biased-media/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">executive order</a> seeking to defund NPR and PBS amid claims they were biased, as well as money for various foreign aid programs such as “net zero cities” in Mexico, Iraqi “Sesame Street,” and global LGBTQ+ initiatives.
While sources on Capitol Hill and the White House have said they expect more requests to implement so-called DOGE cuts to follow, that is assuming the first package manages to pass through Congress.
Trump has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-warns-republican-senators-defund-npr-and-pbs-or-lose-my-endorsement" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warned</a> GOP lawmakers that there will be political consequences for opposing the effort.
“It is very important that all Republicans adhere to my Recissions [sic] Bill and, in particular, DEFUND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING (PBS and NPR), which is worse than CNN &amp; MSDNC put together,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social last week. “Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 17: Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-

‘Taking Back Control’: Senate Votes To Claw Back $9B From Foreign Aid, Public Broadcasting

Congress

Politics

Spending Bill

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

The Senate voted 51-50 on Tuesday to move forward a White House-backed $9 billion spending cut bill that would slash foreign aid and funding for the parent entity of NPR and PBS. 
The procedural vote moves the recissions package to the last debate and amendment stage before it receives a final vote. Vice President JD Vance broke the tie in the chamber after Republican Senators Mitch McConnell (KY), Lisa Murkowski (AK), and Susan Collins (ME) joined the Democrats to vote against the bill. 
The proposal will cut previously approved funding for international organizations, the Democracy Fund, migration and refugee assistance, the Clean Technology Fund, the U.S. Institute of Peace, USAID, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds NPR and PBS. The cuts were first proposed by the White House and the Department of Government Efficiency project in May. 
After meeting with Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, Senate Republicans <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-republicans-drop-aids-relief-cuts-from-rescissions-package?author=Daniel+Chaitin&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=7&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=Senate+Republicans+Drop+%E2%80%98AIDS+Relief%E2%80%99+Cuts+From+Rescissions+Package">are planning</a> to remove a provision from the House-backed version of the bill that cuts $400 million in funding for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). 
&#8220;There was a lot of interest among our members in doing something on the PEPFAR issue, and so that’s reflected in the substitute,&#8221; Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senate-republicans-shrink-trumps-spending-cut-package-ahead-key-vote-rcna218962">said</a>. &#8220;And we hope that if we can get this across the finish line in the Senate, that the House would accept that one small modification that ends up making the package still about a $9 billion rescissions package. A little less than what was sent over the House, but nonetheless a significant down payment on getting rid of waste, fraud, abuse in our government.&#8221;
The White House <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-says-media-pushing-fake-news-about-global-hiv-aids-funding?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=White+House+Says+Media+Pushing+Fake+News+About+Global+HIV%2FAIDS+Funding">also said</a> Tuesday that it would not be making wide-scale cuts to global AIDS/HIV funding. 
The recissions package has until Friday to make it to President Donald Trump’s desk, or the previously approved spending will begin to be distributed. Trump has threatened not to support or endorse any senator who votes against the spending cuts. 
“It is very important that all Republicans adhere to my Recissions Bill and, in particular, DEFUND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING (PBS and NPR), which is worse than CNN &amp; MSDNC put together,” he posted on Truth Social last week. “Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD), who was initially reported to be unsupportive of the bill due to concerns that American Indian public radio stations would lose funding, stated that he had reached an agreement with the Trump administration. He voted to advance the bill on Tuesday. 
&#8220;This is a direct agreement with OMB that they would transfer the funds over to the Department of the Interior. The Department of the Interior has agreed to accept it and to issue the grants,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We&#8217;ve told them very clearly what we want is those resources to be made available to these Native American radio stations.&#8221;

Republican Lawmakers Work To Pass Trump’s “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” On Capitol Hill

Senate Republicans Move Closer To Finalizing $9B DOGE Cuts Ahead Of Friday Deadline

JD Vance

John Thune

Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)

Russ Vought

Senate

Trump Administration

Senate Republicans are removing $400 million in proposed funding cuts to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program from a rescissions package ahead of a deadline at the end of this week.
The decision was announced after GOP senators met on Tuesday with White House Director Russell Vought regarding the measure designed to codify spending reductions in line with recommendations from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) <a href="https://x.com/cspan/status/1945193756086378516" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> reporters there was &#8220;a lot of interest among our members in doing something on the PEPFAR issue,&#8221; resulting in a &#8220;small modification&#8221; that leaves the rescissions package, which seeks to slash funds for programs Republicans deem to be wasteful and ideologically driven, at roughly $9 billion.
The GOP-led House narrowly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-passes-doge-cuts-targeting-foreign-aid-npr-and-pbs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passed</a> the rescissions package in June following a request by the Trump administration. It sought to claw back $9.4 billion in &#8220;reckless spending,&#8221; as House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) told The Daily Wire, by targeting foreign aid projects and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides funds to NPR and PBS.
Under the Impoundment Control Act, lawmakers in Congress were given 45 days to act on the request, and it requires only a simple majority in the House and Senate — meaning the filibuster threshold can be ignored. The deadline is Friday, meaning the Senate and the House must both pass the revised measure in the next couple of days.
House Republicans had been urging the Senate not to make any changes, but they could end up approving the slimmer version, particularly after the White House <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5402273-white-house-accepts-pepfar-exemption/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> gave the Senate its blessing to remove the PEPFAR section.
Rep. Mark Harris (R-NC) responded in particular to Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), who said she wanted to strike the PEPFAR cuts from the rescissions package, contending the program was a success in saving millions of lives.
&#8220;All of that spending” is a far cry from PEPFAR’s original mission, to combat &#8220;the AIDS epidemic in Africa when it first started,&#8221; Harris <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-republicans-urge-senate-colleagues-to-pass-rescissions-package-with-sense-of-urgency" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> The Daily Wire.
In addition, a senior Trump administration official told The Daily Wire on Tuesday that &#8220;limited&#8221; program cuts to PEPFAR took aim at &#8220;LGBTQ education and capacity building — not core life-saving care.&#8221;
Democrat senators and the independents who caucus with them are likely to vote in unison against passing the measure, leaving Republicans and their <a href="https://www.senate.gov/history/partydiv.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">slim</a> majority unable to afford more than a couple GOP defectors. Vice President JD Vance might be needed for a tie-breaker.
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) <a href="https://x.com/SenatorRounds/status/1945145431916233064" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> on Monday that he came around on the rescissions package after the Trump administration helped find money that could be reallocated to continue grants for tribal broadcast services that offer &#8220;potentially lifesaving emergency alerts&#8221; in his state.

Senate Majority Leader Sen. John Thune

Senate Republicans Drop ‘AIDS Relief’ Cuts From Rescissions Package

AIDS

Foreign Funding

National Public Radio (NPR)

WASHINGTON—As Congress gears up for a fight over the rescissions package that would make permanent many of the Department of Government Efficiency&#8217;s cuts, House Republicans are encouraging their colleagues to seize the moment.
“If we can pass this with some sense of urgency, then that invites the White House to send more rescission packages up to Capitol Hill,” Congressman Mark Harris (R-NC) Harris told The Daily Wire on Monday. “That&#8217;s the way I&#8217;ve been describing it back in the Eighth District of North Carolina to my people, because they want to see some action, and this is the way we&#8217;re going to see it done.”
The bill, which the Office of Management and Budget <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dei-insect-powder-and-trans-resilience-trump-unveils-woke-spending-cuts-request">sent</a> to Congress in early June, contains many of the cuts that were revealed by Elon Musk’s DOGE initiative. Examples highlighted by the OMB include funding for NPR and PBS, “Being LGBTI in the Caribbean,” and “training women in gender equity.”
The rescissions package also includes cuts to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program, which OMB reported hid payments for programs like “transgender people, sex workers and their clients and sexual networks” in Nepal, “resilience of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans gender, intersex, and queer global movements,” and circumcision, vasectomies, and condoms in Zambia.
Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) has spoken out against cutting PEPFAR from the budget, which was intended to assist those affected by HIV and AIDS.
“I want to strike the rescission of funds for PEPFAR, which has an enormous record of success, having saved some 26 million lives over the course of the program, as well as preventing nearly 8 million infants from receiving AIDS from their infected mothers,” Collins <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5399409-senate-to-vote-on-rescissions-package/">said</a>. “So I can’t imagine why we would want to terminate that program.”
Harris, who voted to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-passes-doge-cuts-targeting-foreign-aid-npr-and-pbs">pass</a> the rescissions package through the House, commented about Collins’ gripes about the bill.
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<div class="p-rich_text_section">Harris said “all of that spending” is a far cry from PEPFAR’s original mission, to combat “the AIDS epidemic in Africa when it first started.”</div>
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“We&#8217;ve got to remember we are $37 trillion in debt,” Harris continued. “We have got to take care of America first. … And if we&#8217;re not maintaining our own economic health — if we&#8217;re not maintaining our own economic future &#8212; we&#8217;re not going to be any good to anybody on any continent.”
Holdout Republican members are not only in the crosshairs of the Senate whips, but of the president as well.
Recently, President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-warns-republican-senators-defund-npr-and-pbs-or-lose-my-endorsement?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=Trump+Warns+Republican+Senators%3A+Defund+NPR+And+PBS+Or+Lose+My+Endorsement">posted</a> about the rescissions package that “any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement.&#8221;
It is unclear how Collins, who is expected to campaign to keep her seat during the midterm elections, would be affected by Trump’s lack of endorsement.
The rescissions package must arrive on Trump’s desk by Friday, or it would expire, causing the payments exposed by DOGE to continue.
“We&#8217;ve all been supportive of the work that DOGE has done, and this has been just the start,&#8221; Harris said. &#8220;It&#8217;s time for us to make sure that we are taking the congressional action that we need to take.”

US-POLITICS-TRUMP-CONGRESS

House Republicans Urge Senate Colleagues To Pass Rescissions Package With ‘Sense Of Urgency’

A PBS affiliate appears to be running political ads targeting Senate Republicans, and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr wants answers.
PBS Kansas recently ran an ad urging viewers to &#8220;call your senators today&#8221; and &#8220;tell them to vote no&#8221; on the Trump administration&#8217;s rescissions bill, which <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-rescissions-package-would-end-billions-in-woke-wasteful-spending-congressman-says">targets</a> funding for PBS and NPR.
The ad included photos of the state&#8217;s two Republican senators, Roger Marshall and Jerry Moran, along with their office phone numbers.
The PBS channel also asked viewers to &#8220;donate today!&#8221; to PBS Kansas.
The FCC chairman stated that the agency is investigating the situation, since PBS is barred from airing certain political ads.
&#8220;Federal law prohibits noncommercial stations — including PBS ones — from accepting money in exchange for airing political issue ads,&#8221; Carr wrote in a post on X. &#8220;I’ve asked the FCC’s enforcement team to determine whether or not that happened here.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Federal law prohibits noncommercial stations—including PBS ones—from accepting money in exchange for airing political issue ads.
I’ve asked the FCC’s enforcement team to determine whether or not that happened here.
I would encourage PBS &amp; NPR to focus more on how they managed… <a href="https://t.co/hRhm3IGeED">pic.twitter.com/hRhm3IGeED</a>
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrendanCarrFCC/status/1943466263100997826?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;I would encourage PBS &amp; NPR to focus more on how they managed to lose America’s trust. That is their problem, not Congress’s work to ensure good stewardship of taxpayer dollars,&#8221; Carr said.
Brendan Jaspers, political director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which works to elect Senate Republicans, also slammed the ads.
&#8220;The Progressive Bias Syndicate (PBS) is running issue ads against Senate Republicans using taxpayer dollars — to request MORE taxpayer dollars,&#8221; Jaspers posted on X.
&#8220;It’s an egregious effort by PBS to prop up the failed Democrats who fund their propaganda. Pull the ads immediately,&#8221; Jaspers said.
The Trump administration&#8217;s recessions bill would codify the Department of Government Efficiency project&#8217;s proposed roughly $9 billion in spending cuts.
Besides PBS and NPR, the spending cuts package also targets funding for USAID, which has disbursed tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid, and the U.S. Institute of Peace, which is supposed to promote conflict resolution worldwide.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump warned that he would withhold his endorsement from any Republican who votes against the cuts.
He emphasized defunding PBS.
&#8220;It is very important that all Republicans adhere to my Recissions Bill and, in particular, DEFUND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING (PBS and NPR), which is worse than CNN &amp; MSDNC put together,&#8221; Trump posted on Truth Social.
&#8220;Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement,&#8221; Trump said.

US-POLITICS-MEDIA-PROTEST

PBS Runs Ads Targeting Republicans, FCC Chairman Demands Answers

PBS Runs Political Ads Targeting Republicans, FCC Chairman Demands Answers

DOGE

Media

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way on Tuesday for President Donald Trump to resume his plans to cut the federal workforce and restructure agencies, a key promise he made on the campaign trail to hack away at the size of the federal government.
The justices lifted San Francisco-based U.S. District Judge Susan Illston&#8217;s May 22 order that had blocked large-scale federal layoffs called &#8220;reductions in force&#8221; affecting potentially hundreds of thousands of jobs, while litigation in the case proceeds.
Trump in February announced &#8220;a critical transformation of the federal bureaucracy&#8221; in an executive order directing agencies to prepare for a government overhaul aimed at significantly reducing the federal workforce and gutting offices and programs opposed by the administration.
Workforce reductions were planned at the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Health and Human Services, State, Treasury, Veterans Affairs, and more than a dozen other agencies.
The Supreme Court, in a brief unsigned order, said Trump&#8217;s administration was &#8220;likely to succeed on its argument that the executive order&#8221; and a memorandum implementing his order were lawful. The court said it was not assessing the legality of any specific plans for layoffs at federal agencies.
Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the sole member of the nine-person court to publicly dissent from the decision. Jackson wrote that Illston&#8217;s &#8220;temporary, practical, harm-reducing preservation of the status quo was no match for this court&#8217;s demonstrated enthusiasm for greenlighting this president’s legally dubious actions in an emergency posture.&#8221;
Illston wrote in her ruling that Trump had exceeded his authority in ordering the downsizing, siding with a group of unions, non-profits, and local governments that challenged the administration.
&#8220;As history demonstrates, the president may broadly restructure federal agencies only when authorized by Congress,&#8221; Illston wrote.
The judge blocked the agencies from carrying out mass layoffs and limited their ability to cut or overhaul federal programs. Illston also ordered the reinstatement of workers who had lost their jobs, though she delayed implementing this portion of her ruling while the appeals process plays out.
Illston&#8217;s ruling was the broadest of its kind against the government overhaul being pursued by Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency, a key player in the Republican president&#8217;s drive to slash the federal workforce.
Formerly spearheaded by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, DOGE has sought to eliminate federal jobs, shrink and reshape the U.S. government, and root out wasteful spending and fraud. Musk formally ended his government work on May 30 and subsequently had a public falling out with Trump.
The Left-leaning San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 ruling on May 30, denied the administration&#8217;s request to halt the judge&#8217;s ruling.
The 9th Circuit said the administration had not shown that it would suffer an irreparable injury if the judge&#8217;s order remained in place and that the plaintiffs were likely to prevail in their lawsuit.
&#8220;The executive order at issue here far exceeds the president&#8217;s supervisory powers under the Constitution,&#8221; the 9th Circuit wrote, calling the administration&#8217;s actions &#8220;an unprecedented attempted restructuring of the federal government and its operations.&#8221;
The 9th Circuit&#8217;s ruling prompted the Justice Department&#8217;s June 2 emergency request to the Supreme Court to halt Illston&#8217;s order.
Controlling the personnel of federal agencies &#8220;lies at the heartland&#8221; of the president&#8217;s executive branch authority, the Justice Department said in its filing to the Supreme Court.
&#8220;The Constitution does not erect a presumption against presidential control of agency staffing, and the president does not need special permission from Congress to exercise core Article II powers,&#8221; the filing said, referring to the constitution&#8217;s section delineating presidential authority.
The plaintiffs urged the Supreme Court to deny the Justice Department&#8217;s request. Allowing the Trump administration to move forward with its &#8220;breakneck reorganization,&#8221; they wrote, would mean that &#8220;programs, offices and functions across the federal government will be abolished, agencies will be radically downsized from what Congress authorized, critical government services will be lost and hundreds of thousands of federal employees will lose their jobs.&#8221;
The Supreme Court in recent months has sided with Trump in some major cases that were acted upon on an emergency basis since he returned to office in January.
It cleared the way for Trump&#8217;s administration to resume deporting migrants to countries other than their own. In two cases, it let the administration end temporary legal status previously granted on humanitarian grounds to hundreds of thousands of migrants.
It also allowed Trump to implement his ban on trans-identifying people in the U.S. military, blocked a judge&#8217;s order for the administration to rehire thousands of fired employees, and twice sided with his Department of Government Efficiency.
In addition, the court curbed the power of federal judges to impose nationwide rulings impeding presidential policies.
(Reporting by John Kruzel; Additional reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham)

Trump Wins At SCOTUS Again: Court Says Admin Can Resume Mass Layoffs Of Federal Workers

Federal Government

Supreme Court

As Texas battled floods over the weekend, some politicians and commentators rushed to blame the Trump administration for the ensuing devastation.
Around 1:00 p.m. CT Thursday, a flash flood watch was issued for Kerr County. At approximately 4:00 a.m. CT Friday, the warning level was elevated to a flash flood emergency, according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-floods-hill-country-weather-warnings-238d4325bb58f0b410015f74684738b6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Associated Press</a>.
The death toll from the floods, which began Thursday night, has risen to at least 82 people. The search <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/search-for-missing-texas-flood-victims-intensifies-as-death-toll-rises?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=Search+For+Missing+Texas+Flood+Victims+Intensifies+As+Death+Toll+Rises" target="_blank" rel="noopener">continues</a> for 10 girls still missing from Camp Mystic, a Christian girls&#8217; summer camp that was at the center of the flooding.
In a post on X, Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/1941571878105297216" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suggested</a> that President Donald Trump&#8217;s Department of Government Efficiency could have exacerbated the crisis in Texas by cutting staff and funding from federal weather agencies.
&#8220;Accurate weather forecasting helps avoid fatal disasters,&#8221; Murphy wrote. &#8220;There are consequences to Trump&#8217;s brainless attacks on public workers, like meteorologists.&#8221;
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) echoed Murphy&#8217;s claims in a <a href="https://x.com/RossOKeefe2/status/1942180517396336816/photo/1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> urging the Commerce Department&#8217;s Inspector General to investigate whether <a href="https://www.weather.gov/ewx/about" target="_blank" rel="noopener">staffing shortages</a> hindered local officials&#8217; response times. CNN host Dana Bash <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dana-bash-blames-climate-change-donald-trumps-administration-for-texas-floods?author=Virginia+Kruta&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=4&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=Dana+Bash+Blames+Climate+Change%2C+Donald+Trump%E2%80%99s+Administration+For+Texas+Floods" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suggested</a> the same in an interview with Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX), who said, &#8220;I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s helpful to have missing key personnel from the National Weather Service not in place to help prevent these tragedies.&#8221;
But meteorologists have largely concluded that local officials performed their jobs to the best of their ability, and that they were not hindered by federal cuts. They say the floods were simply the result of a rare confluence of circumstances — a true worst-case scenario.
&#8220;There is little evidence that any of the recent cuts to NOAA/NWS negatively impacted services for this event, regardless of what may be being said on social media,&#8221; Alan Gerard, a former director of the Analysis and Understanding Branch in the National Severe Storms Laboratory at NOAA, <a href="https://balancedweather.substack.com/p/balancedwx-special-tragic-flash-flooding" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said.</a>
&#8220;Obviously, having both of these positions vacant for a prolonged time is not optimal, and certainly could have had negative impacts at some level,&#8221; Gerard <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/national-weather-service-nws-staff-cuts-trump-budget-texas-floods-rcna217139" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &#8220;However, just looking at the actual warning services that NWS provided during the event, they were solid and provided the level of warning and alerts that the public should expect to receive for an event such as this.&#8221;
Matt Lanza, a Houston-based meteorologist, <a href="https://theeyewall.com/making-sense-of-the-weather-that-led-to-a-horrible-texas-flooding-tragedy-plus-tropical-storm-chantal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> in a blog post, &#8220;In this particular case, we have seen absolutely nothing to suggest that current staffing or budget issues within NOAA and the NWS played any role at all in this event. Anyone using this event to claim that is being dishonest.&#8221;
In response to the claim that staffing vacancies at the National Weather Service&#8217;s local Weather Forecast Offices exacerbated the disaster, Tom Fahy, the legislative director for the agency&#8217;s labor union, noted that there were employees acting in vacant leadership roles.
&#8220;The WFOs [weather forecasting offices] had adequate staffing and resources as they issued timely forecasts and warnings leading up to the storm,&#8221; Fahy <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/national-weather-service-nws-staff-cuts-trump-budget-texas-floods-rcna217139">said</a> on Saturday, per NBC News.
Rather than blaming DOGE cuts, most meteorologists say the devastation can be explained by the difficulties of predicting flash flooding in such a specific area.
Chris Vagasky, a meteorologist from Wisconsin, noted that &#8220;Quantitative precipitation forecasting, called QPF, is one of the hardest things meteorologists have to do.&#8221;
&#8220;The reality is that the state of the science does not allow us to know that a small location like the south fork of the Guadalupe River is going to get 8&#8243; of rain in a 3 hour period even a couple of hours ahead of time,&#8221; Gerard continued.
&#8220;This was truly a low probability, worst case scenario where the absolute maximum in rainfall happened to coincide with the headwaters of a particularly flash flood prone river with a lot of human beings along it. In this case it also happened in the middle of the night on the 4th of July, exacerbating the human toll.&#8221;
At Camp Mystic, campers likely wouldn&#8217;t have seen the warnings to move to higher ground, since the program did not allow them to bring their electronic devices, KXAN <a href="https://www.kxan.com/investigations/kerrville-didnt-have-weather-sirens-used-by-other-cities/">reported</a>.

Death Toll Rises After Flash Floods In Texas Hill Country

There’s No Evidence To Suggest DOGE Cuts Caused Texas Flood Devastation, Meteorologists Say

Floods

National Weather Service

Texas

The GOP-led House moved on Thursday to cut billions in funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting, aligning with the Department of Government Efficiency&#8217;s (DOGE) recommendations to cut programs Republicans deem to be wasteful and ideologically driven.
A <a href="https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20250609/SCALIS_004_xml[6].pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rescissions bill</a> that seeks to take back $9.4 billion in discretionary spending allocated toward foreign aid projects and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides funds to NPR and PBS, passed in a <a href="https://x.com/HouseDailyPress/status/1933251522961313997" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vote</a> of 214-212 <a href="https://x.com/CraigCaplan/status/1933254246561935683" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mostly along</a> party lines.
&#8220;President Trump promised to root out waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government, and today House Republicans took a strong step in delivering on that promise,&#8221; House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) told The Daily Wire. &#8220;By solidifying savings found by DOGE, we’re reining in reckless spending and getting our fiscal house in order.&#8221;
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) <a href="https://www.majorityleader.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=4551" target="_blank" rel="noopener">introduced</a> the bill after President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dei-insect-powder-and-trans-resilience-trump-unveils-woke-spending-cuts-request" target="_blank" rel="noopener">submitted</a> a rescissions package seeking the cuts last week. Under the Impoundment Control Act, lawmakers have 45 days to act on the request, and it requires only a simple majority in the House and Senate — meaning the filibuster threshold can be ignored.
The legislation proposes cutting $8.3 billion from U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department programs, including funding for &#8220;Net Zero Cities&#8221; in Mexico, Iraqi &#8220;Sesame Street,&#8221; and global LGBTQ+ initiatives, and $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, targeting NPR and PBS following choices such as <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/news/npr-ceo-admits-outlet-was-mistaken-in-refusing-to-cover-hunter-biden-laptop-story/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ignoring</a> the Hunter Biden laptop story and trans-focused programming.
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While the House debated the bill, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) <a href="https://x.com/DailyCaller/status/1933236626433716523" target="_blank" rel="noopener">held up</a> a doll of Elmo from &#8220;Sesame Street.&#8221; He bemoaned how lawmakers were debating legislation that &#8220;targets Elmo, and Big Bird, and Daniel Tiger, and &#8216;Sesame Street'&#8221; rather than a bill &#8220;designed to make this country and our economy more affordable.&#8221; Scalise <a href="https://x.com/search?q=jeffries%20elmo&amp;src=typed_query&amp;f=top" target="_blank" rel="noopener">delivered</a> a rebuttal in which he affirmed &#8220;Sesame Street&#8221; is &#8220;doing just fine&#8221; after being <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/19/business/media/sesame-street-netflix-pbs.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">picked up</a> by Netflix. &#8220;What will go away is some of the far-Left, radical views that are being espoused,&#8221; he added.
A continuation of the cuts is possible if they make it into fiscal 2026 legislation. Sources on Capitol Hill and the White House expect more requests to implement the so-called DOGE cuts to follow, assuming the first bill manages to pass through both chambers of Congress. It&#8217;s part of a wider effort to reduce the deficit, including income from tariffs and reining in the budget with the &#8220;One Big, Beautiful Bill&#8221; and the appropriations process.
In a post on Truth Social before the vote, Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114671982391481893" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called</a> the rescissions bill a &#8220;NO BRAINER&#8221; and encouraged Republicans to vote for it to &#8220;&#8216;claw back&#8217; $9.4 BILLION DOLLARS in funding for wasteful Foreign Aid, used for Radical &#8216;DEI&#8217; and the Green New SCAM, and the &#8216;Corporation for Public Broadcasting,&#8217; which funds the highly biased NPR and PBS.&#8221;

House Republicans, including Mike Johnson, Steve Scalise, and Tom Emmer

House Passes DOGE Cuts Targeting Foreign Aid, NPR, And PBS

Hakeem Jeffries

Steve Scalise

USAID

A Washington, D.C., judge on Tuesday threw out a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump&#8217;s control of the African Development Foundation, a small federal agency that locked its doors to prevent Trump&#8217;s staff from entering and had to be physically taken over by U.S. Marshals.
The suit was brought by Ward Brehm, a former member of the agency&#8217;s board of directors, which is appointed by the president. On February 24, the White House notified Brehm that he was fired. But Brehm later insisted he was not just on the board, but had become president of the agency — not Pete Marocco, the architect of the USAID demolition, who Trump also named as president of the similar African aid group.
Senior Judge Richard J. Leon <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.278118/gov.uscourts.dcd.278118.41.0_1.pdf">ruled</a> that Brehm &#8220;never lawfully held the position, and the Court is not at liberty to unilaterally install him as president. The Court therefore finds that summary judgment is warranted for the defendants.&#8221;
&#8220;The &#8216;President may remove anyone he appoints,&#8217; unless Congress &#8216;wishes to restrict the President&#8217;s removal power,&#8217; which it &#8216;must make clear in a statute,'&#8221; he wrote, citing precedent.
The White House removed all five board members on the same day, but ADF staff would not share contact info for the board members with Trump staff, and notifications to members besides Brehm were sent to invalid email addresses.
On February 28, the White House wrote to the African Development Foundation&#8217;s Chief Financial Officer, Mathieu Zahiu, that the agency had become &#8220;Board-less&#8221; and Trump had temporarily appointed Marocco as acting chair.
Zahui consulted with the fired board members, then told the White House that agency staff would not recognize Marocco as their boss because &#8220;a board nomination requires Senate confirmation.&#8221;
On March 3, the old board held a meeting that purported to appoint Brehm as the chair. They notified Congress that they had seen the February 28 email, but that Brehm was the new president.
Marocco then held a board meeting with only himself and terminated Brehm. &#8220;Since then, both Brehm and Marocco claim to be USADF&#8217;s president,&#8221; the judge wrote.
Judge Leon, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote that Brehm could not be president of the agency because he had been fired from the board before it supposedly elected him president. Even the other board members, whose emailed termination notices were bungled, knew they had been fired, he said.
&#8220;President Trump removed the board prior to Brehm&#8217;s appointment, and thus Brehm was not lawfully appointed! Brehm&#8217;s removal claims must therefore fail.&#8221;
He noted that chief financial officer Zahui consulted with the previous board members before refusing the accept the White House&#8217;s appointee, and that &#8220;Zahui effectively notified the Board members of their terminations.&#8221;
A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/this-foreign-aid-agency-locked-its-doors-to-keep-doge-out-now-we-know-why">Daily Wire investigation</a> found that, according to the USAID Inspector General, Zahui received secret payments to his personal bank account after improperly steering contracts to a friend. One of the contracts was for travel during COVID, when no one was traveling. A search warrant was executed on Zahui&#8217;s phone in November, but as of now, he has not been criminally charged.
The Daily Wire&#8217;s investigation found that the African Development Foundation affirmed many of the fears that critics expressed about USAID, particularly that money advertised as going to poor people in third-world countries was being rerouted to D.C. bureaucrats and their friends.
The African Development Foundation sent &#8220;grants&#8221; to African groups on the condition that they send part of the money to American groups affiliated with agency officials and even wire money directly to the personal bank accounts of Foundation employees in Washington, the investigation found.
By law, the group is only permitted to give aid to African groups, and the maneuvering allowed Congress to think it was a low-overhead charity sending the bulk of its money to Africans, when in reality, it was essentially cooking the books.
“The grant was provided to an African organization … a grant can pay for people,” Zahiu told the Daily Wire about one instance of the agency forcing an African group to use part of its grant to pay the salaries of D.C. staff. “Yeah, granted, they were in D.C.” He also said that after DOGE changed the office&#8217;s locks, he gained access through a back door.
One longtime employee said the agency&#8217;s staff locked DOGE out because “the contracts don’t make sense, and they know [DOGE] will find lots of wrongdoing and illegal activity.”
“I’m not a fan of DOGE, but some of the things they’re doing need to be done. They have been operating like this for years, and no one did anything about it,” she said.
Another employee, program manager Kate Ristroph, explained in a videotaped internal investigative interview obtained by The Daily Wire how an agency official gave a grant to an African group on the condition that it route some of the money to his former employer in D.C. “We’re in that murky territory of like, is this legal?” she said.
Mateo Dunne, the agency&#8217;s former lawyer, said he was summarily removed from his job by CEO Travis Adkins after sounding the alarm about lawbreaking.
One piece of misconduct he raised involved one of the now-fired board members, John Agwunobi.
Agwunobi was the CEO of Herbalife, a company accused of being a pyramid scheme, and used the federal agency to push the multi-level marketing firm in Africa months after it paid a $122 million settlement to the Department of Justice to settle charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. ADF misrepresented the partnership as being with a nonprofit when it was actually with the for-profit company, and connected Africans with the company&#8217;s reps, he said.
Adkins also bragged about concealing operations from Brehm and other board members, saying “them white motherf***ers, they don’t need to know … I don’t think I should tell them s***,” his former assistant told The Daily Wire.
The assistant, who is black, said in a sworn affidavit that “On at least three occasions, Mr. Adkins told me that he wanted his entire team (to include the General Counsel) to consist only of Black people. He wanted all of his direct reports to be Black.”
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/this-foreign-aid-agency-locked-its-doors-to-keep-doge-out-now-we-know-why">This Foreign Aid Agency Locked Its Doors To Keep DOGE Out. Now We Know Why.</a>

African Development Foundation locked the doors when DOGE tried to gain access

D.C. Judge Sides With Trump In Lawsuit Over Control Of Corrupt Foreign Aid Agency

Courts

President Donald Trump on Friday night took numerous questions from the press about the rift with billionaire Elon Musk, who recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musk-goes-after-trump-over-epstein-files-time-to-drop-the-really-big-bomb" target="_blank" rel="noopener">attacked</a> Trump on his social media platform, X.
The president repeatedly said he hopes Musk&#8217;s company Tesla does well and praised Musk&#8217;s brainchild, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), but said he&#8217;s &#8220;not really interested&#8221; in working toward reconciliation.
&#8220;There are efforts &#8212; I&#8217;ve been asked about it,&#8221; Trump said of outsiders trying to get the pair back together. &#8220;But I&#8217;m not really interested in it. I&#8217;m really interested in the country and solving problems, including war problems in very far away lands.&#8221;
Trump also said he&#8217;ll look at potentially canceling government contracts with Musk&#8217;s companies, only if it&#8217;s &#8220;fair.&#8221;
&#8220;We’ll take a look at everything. He gets a lot of subsidy, so we&#8217;ll take a look at that — only if it’s fair for him, and for the country, I would certainly think about it, yeah. But it has to be fair,&#8221; the president said. “I hope he does well with Tesla. I just wish him well.&#8221;
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Trump made a similar statement on Truth Social, <a href="https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-decommission-dragon-spacecraft-in-response-to-pres-trump-war-of-words-elon-musk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writing</a>, &#8220;The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!”
On reports of Musk&#8217;s alleged drug use, POTUS took to hitting the media. “I don’t want to comment on his drug use, I don&#8217;t know what his status is,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I read an article in The New York Times &#8212; I thought it was, frankly, it sounded very unfair to me.”
This past week, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Musk’s statements on Trump were a reaction to not getting what he wanted in the reconciliation bill.
“This is an unfortunate episode from Elon,” she said in a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-responds-to-elon-musk-epstein-claims-an-unfortunate-episode-from-elon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement to The Daily Wire</a>, “who is unhappy with the One Big, Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted.”
“The president is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again,” Leavitt added.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Trump just answered a lot of questions tonight about Elon, as well as his companies. Here were his responses to each question:
Trump tonight on Elon Musk: “I hope he does well with Tesla. I just wish him well.”
Trump on if he will cancel Elon’s companies government contracts:… <a href="https://t.co/2jnaYtmQXj">pic.twitter.com/2jnaYtmQXj</a>
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) <a href="https://twitter.com/SawyerMerritt/status/1931170672706760942?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 7, 2025</a></blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-responds-to-elon-musk-epstein-claims-an-unfortunate-episode-from-elon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">White House Responds To Elon Musk Epstein Claims: ‘An Unfortunate Episode From Elon’</a>

Donald Trump and Elon Musk

‘Not Really Interested’: Trump Talks Elon Rift, Drug Use, And Possible Reconciliation

Executive

SpaceX

Tesla

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk polled his followers on Thursday, asking if there should be a &#8220;new political party in America&#8221; as he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-says-hes-very-disappointed-with-elon-musk-fires-back?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=Trump+Says+He%E2%80%99s+%E2%80%98Very+Disappointed+With+Elon%E2%80%99%3B+Musk+Fires+Back">sparred</a> with President Donald Trump over the &#8220;Big, Beautiful Bill.&#8221;
&#8220;Is it time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle?&#8221; Musk asked his 220 million followers on X, the platform he owns.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Is it time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1930685402631053403?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Musk, who took a step back from his White House role last week, has been increasingly critical of Trump&#8217;s signature piece of legislation. The former senior Trump adviser and brainchild behind the Department of Government Efficiency project argues that the president&#8217;s bill doesn&#8217;t do enough to cut waste and fraud in the federal government and is concerned about it adding to the federal deficit.
While Trump remained quiet on Musk&#8217;s criticism for days, the president finally addressed Musk&#8217;s comments, telling reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday that he was &#8220;very disappointed&#8221; with Musk &#8220;because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here.&#8221; Trump also said he &#8220;would have won Pennsylvania regardless of Elon,&#8221; sparking the ire of Musk, who donated hundreds of millions of dollars in 2024 to help elect Trump and other Republicans and appeared on stage with Trump at some of his rallies.
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“Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,&#8221; Musk <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1930667528696828120">shot back</a>.
&#8220;Such ingratitude,&#8221; he added.
Musk <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ive-done-enough-musk-says-he-will-spend-a-lot-less-on-future-political-campaigns">said</a> last month that he was “going to do a lot less in the future” in regards to political donations, but left the door open.
“I think I’ve done enough,” Musk said at Bloomberg’s Qatar Economic Forum, adding, “If I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it. I do not currently see a reason.”
Musk also dug up old tweets from Trump, such as when Trump called out Republicans in 2012 and 2013 for neglecting fiscal responsibility.
&#8220;Where is the man who wrote these words?&#8221; Musk asked. &#8220;Was he replaced by a body double!?&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Where is the man who wrote these words?
Was he replaced by a body double!? <a href="https://t.co/N4Mliip5U4">https://t.co/N4Mliip5U4</a>
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1930683435280167193?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Musk Floats Creating ‘A New Political Party’ Amid Fallout With Trump

Celebrities

Republican Party

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