Trump privately indicates Elon Musk could step back from current role: Sources
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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump has indicated to top advisers that Elon Musk could be taking a step back from his current role in the administration, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
Musk is employed by the government as a “special government employee” — meaning his appointment is not to exceed 130 days. His term would be up around the end of May, but it was widely rumored that the White House could take steps to keep him on or extend his employment status in some way.
As ABC News has previously reported, Musk’s decision-making has divided Trump’s top aides and at times has sparked rifts among those closest to the president.
Some of Musk’s defenders in the White House caution reporting that Musk is being pushed out is overblown, sources said.
Trump remains pleased with what Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency team have done with their cost-cutting across the government, despite the backlash publicly and in the courts, according to sources.
Politico was first to report the news that Trump had told top advisers that Musk would likely be taking a step back from his role in the coming weeks.
Trump said publicly on Monday that Musk will likely have to go back and run Tesla at some point. The president was asked specifically about the 130-day special government employee time limit.
“Well, I think he’s … amazing. But I also think he’s got a big company to run. And so, at some point he’s going to be going back. He wants to.” Trump said.
ABC News previously reported that some White House officials who had grown frustrated with Musk had resigned themselves that the billionaire is unlikely to be reined in anytime soon and had instead focused on managing the situation as best they can until his special government contract comes to an end in May.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — When more than a dozen MAGA-aligned activists and social media influencers gathered at the White House last week, they had no idea they were about to be handed binders titled “Epstein Files: Phase 1”– and neither did senior White House officials who organized the event, according to multiple sources familiar with the event.
Attorney General Pam Bondi and her team did not inform White House officials in advance that she planned to distribute the binders, which contained almost no new information regarding convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein — and now the move has ruffled feathers among those closest to President Donald Trump, including his senior White House staff, sources tell ABC News.
The move faced widespread criticism, not only from Democrats but also from some of the president’s most loyal supporters.
White House staff moved quickly to try and contain the fallout, privately reaching out to influencers who were critical of Bondi and the move online, according to sources.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, responding to a request for comment from ABC News, said, “Everyone is working together as one unified team at the direction of President Trump. Any notion to the contrary is completely false.”
Officials with the Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while facing federal child sex trafficking charges. The well-connected financier, who owned a private island estate in the U.S. Virgin Islands, has long been rumored to have kept a “client list” of celebrities and politicians, which right-wing influencers have accused authorities of hiding. Multiple sources familiar with both civil and criminal cases against Epstein say no such list has been discovered.
The night before last week’s event, Bondi told Fox News that the Justice Department planned to publish “a lot of flight logs” and “a lot of names” related to Epstein. However, the binders largely consisted of information previously made public through criminal or civil litigation surrounding Epstein and his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, leading senior White House staffers to question why Bondi was even teasing the release of new information in the first place.
Ahead of the Justice Department’s public release, Bondi directed her staff to compile binders of the materials to distribute to the influencers at the event, sources said. She also instructed her team not to inform White House officials of the plan, according to multiple sources, apparently thinking the surprise would be well received inside the West Wing.
The White House had organized the event a week earlier to engage influential pro-Trump voices who the president credits with aiding his 2024 campaign. According to multiple sources, the agenda never included distributing Epstein-related materials.
During the gathering in the Roosevelt Room, influencers including Liz Wheeler, Rogan O’Handley and Chaya Raichik, the creator of Libs of TikTok, met with Leavitt and Vice President JD Vance. Then, Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel entered the room and handed out binders labeled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1” with the words “By Order of Attorney General Pam Bondi & FBI Director Kash Patel” printed on the cover and the word “Declassified” stamped across the top — though the documents did not contain any official government declassification markings.
The information had not yet been posted on the Justice Department website when press cameras, set up to cover British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s visit, captured influencers leaving the West Wing. Some were seen smiling while holding MAGA hats and the binders — giving the impression they contained new revelations about one of the most infamous sex trafficking criminals in modern history.
The images quickly went viral, generating a mix of speculation, confusion and outrage across the political spectrum.
“If you look at the traffic online over the Epstein release, I have never seen the Left and the Right come together in a moment on a debacle,” Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz said on CNN.
Behind the scenes, Trump White House officials pointed the finger at Bondi, who they say quietly arranged the release without notifying senior staff, multiple sources told ABC News.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, Republican of Florida, who leads a congressional task force overseeing the release of Epstein-related documents, condemned the move on X, calling it a “complete disappointment” and saying she had not been informed of the plan.
Laura Loomer, a far-right activist and one of Trump’s most vocal supporters, also blasted the handling of the release, writing on X: “The Epstein files were released in an unprofessional manner with paid, partisan social media influencers to curate their binders for us. I can’t trust anything in the binder. Neither should you.”
Bondi proceeded to react to the fallout by accusing the FBI’s New York office of withholding information about the Epstein investigation, but did not specify what material she believed the office to be withholding. She demanded that the office “hand over all records in its possession relating to Epstein” by 8 a.m. last Friday.
The Epstein material released last week contained previously published pilots’ logs and included redactions performed by prosecutors on the case to protect the identities of potential victims, as well as Epstein’s so-called “black book” that has previously been made public.
One document never before seen is what the Justice Department is calling “Evidence List,” a three-page catalog of material apparently obtained through searches of Epstein’s properties in New York and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Bondi claimed in an interview Monday night with Fox’s Sean Hannity that she has since received “thousands of pages of documents” that she has the FBI sifting through, but did not detail what exactly had been turned over.
On Monday, James Dennehy, the head of the FBI in New York and a well-regarded leader in the New York law enforcement community, told the office he was forced to submit his resignation on Friday as assistant director-in-charge of one of the FBI’s most visible posts. Dennehy said he was not given a reason for the decision.
Allen Ferguson in a family photo. (Courtesy of family)
(OKLAHOMA CITY)– An Oklahoma father is being remembered as a hero after officials say he died while trying to save his son in wildfires that ravaged the state last week.
Allen Ferguson, a “beloved” youth wrestling coach from Chandler, died from injuries sustained in the wildfires, Oklahoma House Rep. Jim Shaw said.
Ferguson “tragically lost his life while trying to save his son, Will, who remains in critical condition,” Shaw said in a statement on Monday.
“Allen was a hero, and his dedication to his family and our community will never be forgotten,” the statement continued.
Family friend Shane Earp also remembered Ferguson as a “good man and a hero” to ABC News.
Ferguson carried his 15-year-old son, Will Conley, through the fire in Chandler to a road where they were found by rescuers, according to Earp. He spoke to his son throughout their ambulance ride to keep him calm, Earp said. Ferguson, who suffered severe burns, died at a hospital on Saturday, the family friend said.
The father of four boys was a “great man all around,” Earp said.
“Whether it be fishing, metal detecting, sports, making art out of anything, Civil War reenactment and many other things, if his family was interested in it, he would find a way to learn it and make it happen,” Earp said. “Always had jokes and funny comments so you must be ready to laugh when around him.”
Ferguson was one of four people killed in Oklahoma due to fires or high winds after scores of wildfires broke out throughout the state last week amid extreme fire weather conditions, officials said. Over 140 people were injured, officials said.
More than 400 homes and structures have been damaged in the high wind-fueled fires, the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management said.
Following the devastating blazes, Oklahoma continues to be on alert for fire danger.
Parts of Oklahoma, as well as Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico and Texas, face a critical threat of fire danger on Monday.
The fire threat continues in Oklahoma on Tuesday and increases for parts of the Texas Panhandle and southeastern New Mexico.
(RALEIGH, NC) — A massive wildfire burning for more than a week in South Carolina jumped the border Saturday and was spreading Sunday into North Carolina, where firefighters were already battling multiple blazes, officials said.
The Table Rock Fire, which started on March 21 in the Table Rock State Park in Pickens County, South Carolina, had burned 11,468 acres total as of Sunday morning in both South Carolina and North Carolina, charring more than 500 acres overnight, according to the South Carolina Forestry Commission.
The Table Rock Fire is now the highest-priority fire in the United States as fire crews responded from multiple states to help battle the blaze, which prompted the evacuations of more than 1,400 homes and businesses on Thursday.
As the fire spread across the border into North Carolina, the South Carolina Forestry Commission said firefighters had upped containment of the fire from 0% on Saturday to 9% by Sunday morning.
Derrick Moore, operations section chief with the South Carolina Forestry Commission’s Southern Area Blue Team, said fire crews are hoping that rain forecast for the area later Sunday and into Monday will help firefighters extinguish the flames.
Pickens County Sheriff Tommy Blankenship said last week that investigators suspect the Table Rock Fire was started by four teenagers. He alleged that the negligent behavior of the teens caused the fire but declined to elaborate.
“They will be held accountable for their actions. I can promise you that,” Blankenship said in a video posted to social media.
Another fire, the Rattlesnake Branch Fire, spread Saturday from South Carolina’s Pickens County into western North Carolina’s Transylvania County, according to an update Sunday from Transylvania County officials.
The Rattlesnake Branch Fire in North Carolina’s Pisgah National Forest in Haywood County was burning close to the Transylvania County line but had not breached it, according to Transylvania County officials. The fire had burned nearly 1,900 acres and was 20% contained, according to the Sunday update.
A third fire threatening to spread into Transylvania County is the Persimmon Ridge fire, which is burning in South Carolina near the Table Rock Fire and had grown to more than 2,000 acres as of Sunday afternoon. That fire also was threatening to jump the border into North Carolina, Transylvania County officials said.
Meanwhile, in Polk County, North Carolina, three wildfires continue to burn but authorities said firefighters who have been battling the blazes for days had made significant progress.
The Black Cove Complex Fire – comprised of three wildland blazes: the Black Cove Fire, the Deep Woods Fire and the Fish Hook Fire – had reached a combined 7,670 acres as of Sunday, according to Polk County officials.
The Black Cove fire, which was started March 19 by a downed powerline, was 35% contained after burning 3,501 acres, officials said.
The Deep Woods fire, which also started on March 19, has burned 3,970 acres, authorities said Sunday. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
The Fish Hook Fire, which started March 20 by a downed powerline, was 100% contained on Sunday after burning 199 acres, according to officials.
