Elon Musk called Trump before conveying his ‘regret’ for some of his posts about him, sources say
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(WASHINGTON) — Elon Musk called President Donald Trump on Monday night, two sources familiar with the conversation told ABC News, after their bitter public feud last week.
Musk posted on X early Wednesday morning, “I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far.”
Musk, however, did not not clarify which posts he was referring to in his statement. The posts included slamming Trump for “ingratitude” over the 2024 election, agreeing with a call for Trump’s impeachment, knocking the president’s “big, beautiful bill” signature legislation, and even claiming Trump was in the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Musk’s call with Trump came after Vice President JD Vance and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles spoke with the billionaire late last week and urged him to end the feud, sources familiar with the call told ABC News.
The president had previously told Vance to speak diplomatically when asked about Musk publicly, according to a White House official.
The White House declined to comment.
In her press briefing on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt would not comment on whether the relationship would be reconciled.
“The president acknowledged the statement that Elon put out this morning and he is appreciative of it. And we are continuing to focus on the business of the American people,” Leavitt said.
Last Friday, Trump told ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl that Musk was a “man who has lost his mind.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld government regulation of self-assemble firearm kits that produce untraceable weapons known as “ghost guns.”
The 7-2 decision came from Justice Neil Gorsuch. Justices Thomas Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented.
“The Gun Control Act embraces, and thus permits ATF to regulate, some weapon parts kits and unfinished frames or receivers, including those we have discussed. Because the court of appeals held otherwise, its judgment is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion,” Gorsuch wrote.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the phone Thursday amid a trade war between the two countries — and during the call, Trump said Xi invited him to visit China.
In a social media post, Trump said the leaders discussed “some of the intricacies of our recently made, and agreed to, Trade Deal.” Trump said 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 added 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.
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.
On Wednesday, Trump wrote on his conservative social media platform: “I like President XI of China, always have, and always will, but he is VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH!!!”
This is the first confirmed time the leaders have spoken since Trump returned to the White House in January. 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 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%.
“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.”
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.
(WASHINGTON) — Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s special envoy and lead negotiator tasked with ending the war in Ukraine, has attracted criticism in Europe and Ukraine after an interview where he appeared to back a number of well-known Kremlin talking points on the conflict.
The comments, in which Witkoff seemed to accept the results of sham referenda Russia has previously held in Ukraine to justify its seizure of land there — including Crimea, will likely feed fears among European allies that the Trump administration is leaning too far toward the Kremlin’s vision.
In the interview for “The Tucker Carlson Show,” posted online on Friday, Witkoff talked about his efforts to negotiate with President Vladimir Putin, speaking warmly of the Russian leader. Witkoff said he believed the heart of the conflict was Russia’s desire to control four regions of Ukraine it partially occupied and has claimed annexed since 2022: Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
Talking about Putin’s claims to the regions in eastern and southern Ukraine, Witkoff suggested Russia had a right to them because they were majority Russian-speaking and repeated a false Kremlin claim that fair referenda there showed residents wanted to be absorbed by Russia.
“They are Russian-speaking, and there have been referendums where the overwhelming majority of the people have indicated that they want to be under Russian rule,” Witkoff told Carlson.
However, Witkoff did not acknowledge that the supposed referenda held in those territories — whether in 2014 in the case of Crimea or 2022 in the other regions — were widely dismissed by Western powers, human rights organizations and international bodies as fraudulent and illegitimate.
Russia conducted referenda in the areas it occupied in Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in the fall of 2022, several months after seizing them with its full-scale invasion launched in February that year. Putin used the referenda to justify Russia’s subsequent annexation of the regions. Russia also held a similar referendum in Crimea in 2014 following its occupation of the Ukrainian peninsula.
The referenda were staged after Russia’s invasion had already forced hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians to flee, and while Russian security forces were abducting and torturing anyone expressing opposition to its takeover. In some areas, Russian soldiers were filmed accompanying vote collectors as they went from house to house.
No legitimate independent international observers monitored the referenda and they were widely dismissed as shams, including by the United States. The United Nations General Assembly rejected the referenda as illegal and violating the U.N. Charter.
In September 2022, then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. “does not, and will never, recognize any of the Kremlin’s claims to sovereignty over parts of Ukraine that it’s seized by force and now purports to incorporate into Russia.”
Witkoff made the remarks on the Russian referenda a day before a new round of talks between the U.S. and Russia in Saudi Arabia aimed at trying to make progress toward ending the war. His portrayal of the referenda as legitimate triggered some fierce criticism in Europe.
“Witkoff’s repeating of Kremlin lies about ‘russian-speakers’ [sic] wanting to ‘join Russia’ is truly chilling,” Lithuania’s former foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, wrote on X. “Hearing Americans talk like this should be an electric shock for Europe, not a wakeup call.”
Some Ukrainian members of parliament also condemned Witkoff’s comments.
Oleksandr Merezhko, head of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that the statements were “shocking.”
“I don’t understand what this is about — ignorance, naivety, unprofessionalism?” said Merezhko, who suggested Witkoff should be removed from his negotiating role. “Because we are talking about a representative of the president, who should professionally understand this issue and know some basic things. And he doesn’t know this. He is relaying Russian propaganda.”
In the interview with Carlson, Witkoff appeared to struggle to remember the names of the Ukrainian regions. “Donbas, Crimea. You know the names,” he told the conservative media personality, who prompted him to say “Lugansk” — the Russian transliteration for Luhansk. “Lugansk, and there’s two others,” Witkoff replied.
Although Putin declared he had annexed the four regions, his troops still do not fully control most of the area. Much of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, including their regional capitals, remain unoccupied.
A wealthy real estate developer, Witkoff has emerged as the lead negotiator for Trump’s effort to end the war, twice now traveling to Moscow, where he has said he spent several hours talking with Putin.
In his interview on Carlson, Witkoff was effusive in his praise for Putin, calling him a “very smart guy” and noting Putin told him he had prayed for Trump after the assassination attempt against him during last year’s presidential campaign. Witkoff added that Putin had given him a portrait of Trump which he says the Russian leader had commissioned from a famous Russian artist.
“This is the kind of connection that we’ve been able to reestablish through a simple word called communication, which many people would say I shouldn’t have had because Putin is a bad guy. I don’t regard Putin as a bad guy,” Witkoff said.
Witkoff also told Carlson he believed Russia “does not need to absorb Ukraine,” saying, “They’ve gotten what they want. So why do they need more?” He also said he “100%” believes Russia does not want to invade Europe, saying he took Putin “at his word” on that.
Witkoff also repeated an unsupported claim made by Putin that Russian forces have surrounded a significant number of Ukrainian troops in Russia’s Kursk region. Although Ukraine was forced to retreat from Kursk earlier this month, no evidence has emerged to suggest many Ukrainian soldiers are encircled, and both independent researchers and Ukrainian officials have said it is false.
“Witkoff uncritically amplified a number of Russian demands, claims and justifications,” the Washington D.C.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) wrote.
Witkoff’s comments could feed deep unease in Europe that the Trump administration, which is moving fast to restore relations with Russia, is more aligned with the Kremlin than NATO allies over the war in Ukraine. European officials and observers have also warned the administration, in its hurry to reach a deal, is vulnerable to manipulation by Putin.
The White House has argued its reengagement with Russia brings peace closer, but critics point out that the Kremlin has, so far, yet to make any significant concessions. Trump has claimed he isn’t “aligned” with Putin. “I’m not aligned with Putin. I’m not aligned with anybody. I’m aligned with the United States of America, and for the good of the world,” Trump said last month.
Vice President JD Vance on Monday defended Witkoff, writing on X he was doing an “incredible job.”
