Trump checks out Teslas at White House as Musk’s auto company stock sinks
Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — As Tesla’s bottom line continues to slide downward, Elon Musk on Tuesday received maybe an unsurprising endorsement from a potential new owner of one of his EVs: President Donald Trump.
Musk, joined by his 4-year-old son X, delivered five Tesla models, including a Cybertruck, to the White House Tuesday afternoon, just hours after Trump, who does not currently drive, vowed to buy one to support Musk.
“I just want people to know that you can’t be penalized for being a patriot,” Trump told reporters during a photo op with the cars and Musk. “People should be going wild, and they love the product.”
The president got into the seat of one the cars and claimed that he was going to buy one of the cars and leave it at the White House for his staff to use.
“I’m going to let people at the place use it, and they are all excited about that I’m not allowed to use it,” he said.
Trump’s announcement came as Tesla has been taking a massive hit over the last two months, including recent protests and slumping sales overseas.
Stock in the company has dropped every week since Musk went to Washington, wiping out more than $700 billion in market value. And Musk’s personal net worth has dropped $148 billion since Inauguration Day, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index.
“This means a lot, and also thank everyone out there who is supporting Tesla,” Musk said.
Trump previously criticized EVs, claiming that they are too costly, inefficient and not in demand.
However, he admitted in August on the campaign trail that he had to change his tune after Musk endorsed his candidacy.
“I’m for electric cars. I have to be because Elon endorsed me very strongly,” he told a crowd at a rally.
However, since taking office Trump has vowed to end federal incentives for EV purchases and signed an executive order that undid President Joe Biden’s goal to have half of all cars sold in 2030 be an EV.
It is an unspoken rule that current and former presidents aren’t allowed to drive on open roads.
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Government Efficiency approach’s to identifying fraud at the Social Security Administration “is tantamount to hitting a fly with a sledgehammer,” a federal judge said Thursday, blocking DOGE’s unlimited access to sensitive agency data.
In a 137-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander wrote the Trump administration never justified the need to access the data — which they argued was vital to identifying alleged fraud — and likely violated multiple federal laws in doing so.
“The DOGE Team is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion. It has launched a search for the proverbial needle in the haystack, without any concrete knowledge that the needle is actually in the haystack,” she wrote.
The judge’s order blocks the agency from granting DOGE access to systems containing personally identifiable information and orders DOGE members to destroy any data in their possession that identifies individual taxpayers. However, the judge’s decision allows DOGE to continue to allow access anonymized data from the agency.
According to Hollander, the decision to give DOGE “unlimited access to SSA’s entire record system” endangered the sensitive and private information of millions of Americans, risking information including Social Security numbers, credit card information, medical and mental health records, hospitalization records, marriage and birth certificates, and bank information.
“The government has not even attempted to explain why a more tailored, measured, titrated approach is not suitable to the task,” she wrote. “Instead, the government simply repeats its incantation of a need to modernize the system and uncover fraud. Its method of doing so is tantamount to hitting a fly with a sledgehammer.”
The lawsuit challenging DOGE’s access was filed last month by two national unions and an advocacy group who argued DOGE’s access violated privacy laws and the Administrative Procedures Act. In a statement to ABC News, the president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees celebrated the decision as a “major win for working people and retirees across the country.”
“The court saw that Elon Musk and his unqualified lackeys present a grave danger to Social Security and have illegally accessed the data of millions of Americans,” AFSCME President Lee Saunders said in a statement.
In her decision, the judge also pointed out the irony that DOGE has accessed the sensitive information of millions of Americans while the identities of the DOGE employees working in the SSA have been concealed for privacy reasons.
“The defense does not appear to share a privacy concern for the millions of Americans whose SSA records were made available to the DOGE affiliates, without their consent,” she wrote.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Friday said he would turn up the heat on Russia until it reaches a ceasefire and peace deal with Ukraine.
Trump threatened Russia with sanctions and tariffs in a Truth Social post.
“Based on the fact that Russia is absolutely ‘pounding’ Ukraine on the battlefield right now, I am strongly considering large scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions, and Tariffs on Russia until a Cease Fire and FINAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON PEACE IS REACHED. To Russia and Ukraine, get to the table right now, before it is too late. Thank you,” he posted without further details.
The Biden administration previously issued sanctions on Russia after it invaded Ukraine three years ago.
Trump has come under criticism for not being tough on Putin during his negotiations with Russia and Ukraine to end the conflict. He has falsely and repeatedly claimed that Ukraine started the war.
The president’s post came hours after Russia launched a major attack on Ukraine in which it deployed 261 missiles and drones that targeted energy and gas infrastructure in various regions, according to Ukrainian officials.
The Trump administration also paused military aid and intelligence data with Ukraine this week, following last week’s explosive argument between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — Amid mixed messaging from top White House officials, President Donald Trump was asked directly on Monday whether his sweeping tariffs are negotiable or here to stay.
“They can both be true,” Trump responded. “There can be permanent tariffs and there can also be negotiations because there are things that we need beyond tariffs.”
For days, from Trump on down, administration officials have offered conflicting statements on whether countries can do anything to save themselves from the tariffs, which include a universal 10% tariff implemented over the weekend and what they claimed were more targeted “reciprocal” tariffs to take effect on Wednesday.
On Monday alone, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent shared he was tasked with negotiating with Japan while White House trade advisor Peter Navarro penned an editorial that the new policies are “not a negotiation.”
Bessent posted on social media that following a “very constructive phone discussion” with Japanese officials, Trump instructed him and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to “open negotiations to implement the President’s vision for the new Golden Age of Global Trade.”
Navarro wrote in the Financial Times that Trump wouldn’t be backing down from his “reciprocal” tariffs on nations the administration’s deemed the worst offenders in trade relations.
“This is about fairness, and no one can argue with that. This is not a negotiation,” Navarro wrote. “For the US, it is a national emergency triggered by trade deficits caused by a rigged system. President Trump is always willing to listen. But to those world leaders who, after decades of cheating, are suddenly offering to lower tariffs — know this: that’s just the beginning.”
When Trump announced the sweeping tariffs in the White House Rose Garden, he justified them as a response to a “national emergency” caused by trade deficits and unfair practices with global partners.
Since then, markets at home and abroad slumped. Foreign leaders recoiled, with some — like China — taking retaliatory action against the United States. Economists increased their odds of a recession this year.
Officials were pressed to justify the action on Sunday morning news shows, where again the confused messaging was apparent. Trump spent the weekend golfing as fallout from his tariff policy continued.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, on the CBS News program “Face the Nation,” said tariffs were going to “stay in place for days and weeks” and that “this is the policy.”
Meanwhile, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, on ABC News’ “This Week,” boasted that 50 countries had reached out to the White House to negotiate tariffs.
Trump on Monday said they’re open to “fair deals” with foreign leaders that put “America first” — but that tariffs would stay in place in the meantime.
“We’re going to get fair deals and good deals with every country. And if we don’t, we’re going to have nothing to do with them. They’re not going to be allowed to participate in the United States,” he said.
ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce asked Trump on Monday if he’d be open to a pause in tariffs to allow for negotiation.
“Well, we’re not looking at that,” Trump responded. “We have many, many, countries that are coming to negotiate deals with us, and they’re going to be fair deals. And in certain cases, they’re going to be paying substantial tariffs.”
A rumor of a possible 90-day tariff pause that circulated on Monday caused stocks to briefly spike into green territory before going back into the red when the White House denied the report.
Trump said in the Oval Office that he doesn’t “mind going through it,” seemingly a nod to the criticism and volatility of the market because he believes it’s worth it at the end of the day.
“So, it’s got to be very interesting,” he said. “It’s the only chance our country will have to reset the table because no other president would be willing to do what I’m doing or to even go through it. Now, I don’t mind going through it because I see a beautiful picture at the end.”
ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
