Category: Politics

(WASHINGTON) — Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a key progressive member of the House whose district covers swaths of the Bronx and Queens, endorsed New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on Thursday for the city’s upcoming Democratic mayoral primary — one day after the candidate clashed with front-runner former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other candidates on the debate stage.

“Assemblymember Mamdani has demonstrated a real ability on the ground to put together a coalition of working-class New Yorkers that is strongest to lead the pack. In the final stretch of the race, we need to get very real about that,” Ocasio-Cortez told the New York Times in an interview published on Thursday.

“In 2018, A.O.C. shocked the world and changed our politics for the better with her historic victory. On June 24, we will do the same,” Mamdani told the Times in a statement.

Mamdani, a state assemblymember and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, has been steadily inching upward in the polls and fundraising. He is running on a progressive platform that includes a rent freeze for rent-stabilized apartments, eliminating fares for New York City buses and opening city-owned grocery stores. Mamdani envisions the latter two being funded by higher taxes on businesses and wealthy individuals; some have cautioned that he would need support from state government for those taxes.

Her announcement came the day after a chaotic two-hour debate punctuated by candidates shouting over an increasingly exasperated slate of moderators.

Nine Democrats who wish to be New York City’s next mayor sparred over how they’d interact with President Donald Trump, public safety, affordability and other topics.

Out of those who were onstage, Cuomo leads the pack in polling while Mamdani is slowly closing the gap in second place. The rest of the candidates have struggled to break through.

Each candidate was asked how they would work with — or charge against — Trump if elected mayor. Cuomo vowed that he is an adversary that Trump could not best.

“He can be beaten. But he has to know that he’s up against an adversary who can actually beat him. I am the last person on this stage that Mr. Trump wants to see as mayor, and that is why I should be the first choice for the people of the city to have as mayor,” Cuomo said.

Mamdani, answering the question, said, “I am Donald Trump’s worst nightmare, as a progressive Muslim immigrant who actually fights for the things that I believe in, and the difference between myself and Andrew Cuomo is that my campaign is not funded by the very billionaires who put Donald Trump in D.C. … I have to pick up the phone for the more than 20,000 New Yorkers who contributed an average donation of about $80 to break fundraising records and put our campaign in second place.”

Cuomo did not directly respond to Mamdani’s attack on the debate stage.

Some billionaires who have previously supported Trump, such as prominent hedge fund manager Bill Ackman and Home Depot founder Ken Langone, have donated to an independent group, the super PAC Fix the City, that supports Cuomo. Cuomo’s campaign is not allowed to coordinate with the group. In response to reporting on Cuomo’s wealthy supporters, Fix the City spokesperson Liz Benjamin told the New York Times that “donors have supported Fix the City because they know that Andrew Cuomo has the right experience and the right plans for New York City.”

Multiple controversies surrounding Cuomo — including accusations against him of sexual harassment, which he denies — came up during the debate.

Former state assemblymember Michael Blake, while answering a question on public safety, brought up the sexual harassment allegations against Cuomo: “The people who don’t feel safe are young women, mothers and grandmothers around Andrew Cuomo, that’s the greatest threat to public safety in New York City.”

Cuomo, later asked about the allegations — and if he would do anything differently given investigations that alleged his leadership fostered a toxic work environment — told the moderators, “Let’s just make sure we have the facts. A report was done four years ago making certain allegations. I said at the time that it was political and it was false.”

He added that five district attorneys found “nothing” and he was dropped from one case.

“I said at the time that if I offended anyone, it was unintentional, but I apologize, and I say that today.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Speaking to Al Arabiya English from the Delhi Airport lounge, Musk’s father, Errol Musk, said he urged his tech billionaire son to end the feud.

“I haven’t spoken to him, but I did send him a message, you know, telling him to make sure this fizzles out,” he said before saying who he thinks will come out of this battle victorious. “Trump, of course, will prevail, because he is has been voted in by the majority of the people in America.”

The elder Musk blamed “a great deal of stress” for his son’s actions on Thursday.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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(WASHINGTON) — Speaker Mike Johnson is working to keep the focus on the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” on Friday as all eyes remain on President Donald Trump and Elon Musk amid their bitter public feud.

Johnson is pushing the House-passed bill that advances Trump’s legislative agenda, which is being negotiated in the Senate. Musk has publicly criticized the bill, calling it a “disgusting abomination” and encouraging members of Congress to “kill the bill.”

Musk’s criticism reached a boiling point on Thursday — ending with an explosive spat between the president and the tech billionaire. On Friday morning, Trump told ABC News that Musk had “lost his mind.”

Johnson was once one of Musk’s most powerful boosters on Capitol Hill. Johnson met with Musk repeatedly and would even talk him through legislation by phone. Musk even addressed a meeting of House Republicans in March.

Asked by ABC News if it was a mistake to trust Musk, Johnson dismissed the question and turned the focus back to the bill.

“I’m not going to engage in this back-and-forth stuff. I don’t think the American people care much about Twitter wars. I think they care about us accomplishing our legislative agenda, and the ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill’ does that.”

Johnson reiterated Friday that he has a job to do — and it’s not to get involved in the Musk-Trump squabble. Still, Johnson engaged in the online battle Thursday, responding to a Musk post criticizing the speaker.

Several other House Republicans are weighing in on the dispute and whether Musk’s influence and strong opinions about the megabill could influence its passage.

“I think Elon probably did change the trajectory of this bill two or three days ago when he came out against it because people trust the guy who can land rockets backwards more than they do the politicians,” Republican Rep. Thomas Massie said. Massie was one of two House Republicans who opposed the bill when the House voted on it last month.

GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene sided with both Trump and Musk on different aspects of the bill — favoring Musk on the price tag. She said ultimately she thinks the focus should be on passing Trump’s agenda.

“I don’t think lashing out on the Internet is the way to handle any kind of disagreement, especially when you have each other’s cell phones,” Greene told reporters Friday. “I hope this gets worked out, but I will tell you right now that people are going to be focused on making sure that we get the agenda that we voted for.”

Republican Rep Troy Nehls, a staunch Trump ally, called for an end to the spat between the president and Musk, saying “enough is enough.”

Despite Musk publicly clashing with the head of their party — even seeming to suggest the House should impeach the president — some Republicans didn’t go out of their way to bad mouth the billionaire.

“Elon Musk can use his funds as he sees fit,” Republican Rep. Ralph Norman said when asked if he’s worried Musk would primary Republicans. “Again, he’s a patriot and if he disagrees, I respect the honesty, really.”

Republican Rep. Warren Davidson called for unity.

“I just hope that people that I care a lot about get along, that they mend, that they patch up their relationship,” he said. “It’s disappointing to see them arguing in public that way.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries capitalized on the clash, calling it a “welcome development.”

“To the extent that the developments of this week will make it more likely that we can kill the GOP tax scam, that’s a welcome development,” he said.

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(WASHINGTON) — Vice President JD Vance on Friday continued to stand by President Donald Trump during his public feud with Elon Musk, but is notably not criticizing the Tesla billionaire directly.

Vance first weighed in hours after the explosive exchange began on Thursday, offering only a brief post on X.

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

On Friday morning, Vance turned his attention to the news media while still staying silent on Musk’s accusations against the president.

“There are many lies the corporate media tells about President Trump. One of the most glaring is that he’s impulsive or short-tempered. Anyone who has seen him operate under pressure knows that’s ridiculous,” Vance wrote on X. Musk on Thursday had not made any claims about Trump being “impulsive” or “short-tempered.”

Musk lobbied for Vance to be Trump’s 2024 running mate. Back in late February, Musk had posted to X that Vance was the “Best VP ever and our future President.”

Tensions between Trump and Musk, largely stemming from Musk’s relentless criticism in recent days of Trump’s signature legislation, reached a fever pitch on Thursday.

Trump in the Oval Office offered his harshest words yet for his former close adviser, saying he was “disappointed” in Musk. Musk hit back in real time, going on a X rampage that included suggesting Trump would have lost the 2024 election without him and even claiming Trump was “in” the Epstein files regarding the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, charged in 2019 with sex trafficking of minors.

At one point, he agreed with one user calling for Trump to be impeached and replaced with Vance. Vance has not responded to that, either.

Trump hit back on his own conservative social media platform, claiming Musk had gone “CRAZY” and floated the possibility of ending Musk’s government contracts.

The president told ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jon Karl on Friday morning that Musk “has lost his mind” and that he was “not particularly” interested in talking to him right now.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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(WASHINGTON) — A war of words between Elon Musk and President Donald Trump erupted into a full meltdown Thursday, with Musk slamming Trump for “ingratitude” over the 2024 election, agreeing with a call for his impeachment, slamming the president’s signature legislation and even claiming Trump was in the Epstein files.

Trump, speaking on television from the Oval Office, had said he was “disappointed” in Musk following his criticism Wednesday of his “big, beautiful” megabill to fund his agenda, and then engaged in a mutual barrage of social media posts, at one point saying Musk had gone “CRAZY.”

As the exchanges grew progressively personal, Musk posted, without providing evidence, about Trump and alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, “Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!”

He followed that up with another post, saying, “Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.”

Trump has previously posted, “I was never on Epstein’s Plane, or at his ‘stupid’ Island,” and he has not publicly objected to the release of the files now under Justice Department review.

Trump’s previous association with Epstein and the appearance of his name in an address book and on flight logs of Epstein’s planes has been widely reported.

Epstein died by suicide in his prison cell in 2019.

The public rift between Musk and Trump began in earnest with Musk’s rampage against the president’s domestic megabill. Musk takes issue with the bill’s price tag and its estimated impact on the national debt.

Speaking to reporters at the White House earlier on Thursday, Trump pushed back on Musk in extensive remarks.

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

Musk responded in real time to Trump’s personal comments on X, swiping at the legislation and at Trump directly.

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

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

Later, he reposted a comment calling for Trump’s impeachment to be replaced by Vice President JD Vance. “Yes,” Musk wrote in response to the idea.

The back-and-forth only escalated as the day went on.

Trump countered on his own conservative social media platform: “Elon was ‘wearing thin,’ I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!”

Trump said the “easiest way to save money” would be to “terminate Elon’s governmental subsidies and contracts.”

Musk went on to criticize not only Trump’s bill but also his tariff policy — a cornerstone of the president’s economic agenda and a decades-long political goal. He claimed on X that the tariffs would cause a “recession in the second half of this year.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

Musk made similar comments on X toward Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson.

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

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

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

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

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

In another post, Musk wrote: “Whatever.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In another post, Musk wrote: “Whatever.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Musk’s effect on negotiations

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In another post, Musk wrote: “Whatever.”

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

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

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