Donald Trump is in Epstein files: Elon Musk drops bombshell claim
Musk followed that with a second post: "Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out."Musk, who has been warring with Trump for days over electric vehicle mandates and government spending, seemed to up the ante with a message designed to sting.The post came just hours after Trump accused Musk of suffering from 'Trump Derangement Syndrome,' following the billionaire's pointed criticism of the administration's 'One Big Beautiful Bill' — a mega-legislation package Musk called 'disgusting' and bloated with 'pork.'The Epstein files — a collection of court documents, testimony, and sealed records related to the financier's sex trafficking ring — have long been the subject of speculation. While many prominent names have surfaced, others remain hidden behind court orders.advertisementMeanwhile, a 2014 photo of Elon Musk with Ghislaine Maxwell resurfaced online. Maxwell, a longtime associate and former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, was convicted in 2021 for aiding his trafficking of underage girls.The image, taken at a Hollywood party, has been widely circulated, though Musk previously dismissed the interaction as a mere photobomb. Meanwhile, in 2018, Epstein reportedly told a New York Times reporter he had advised Musk — a claim Musk firmly denied, insisting he had no professional or personal ties to Epstein.With inputs from ReutersTune InTrending Reel
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Mint
29 minutes ago
- Mint
Elon Musk's Tesla fined over ₹1,996 crore in Florida autopilot crash case; jury flags ‘responsibility' amid tech failure
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Even if that fails, the company says it will end up paying far less than what the jury decided because of a pre-trial agreement that limits punitive damages to three times Tesla's compensatory damages. Translation: $172 million, not $243 million. But the plaintiff says their deal was based on a multiple of all compensatory damages, not just Tesla's, and the figure the jury awarded is the one the company will have to pay. It's not clear how much of a hit to Tesla's reputation for safety the verdict in the Miami case will make. Tesla has vastly improved its technology since the crash on a dark, rural road in Key Largo, Florida, in 2019. But the issue of trust generally in the company came up several times in the case, including in closing arguments Thursday. 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It also left Angulo, who walked into the courtroom Friday with a limp and cushion to sit on, with broken bones and a traumatic brain injury. But Schreiber said Tesla was at fault nonetheless. He said Tesla allowed drivers to act recklessly by not disengaging the Autopilot as soon as they begin to show signs of distraction and by allowing them to use the system on smaller roads that it was not designed for, like the one McGee was driving on. 'I trusted the technology too much,' said McGee at one point in his testimony. 'I believed that if the car saw something in front of it, it would provide a warning and apply the brakes.' The lead defense lawyer in the Miami case, Joel Smith, countered that Tesla warns drivers that they must keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel yet McGee chose not to do that while he looked for a dropped cellphone, adding to the danger by speeding. Noting that McGee had gone through the same intersection 30 or 40 times previously and hadn't crashed during any of those trips, Smith said that isolated the cause to one thing alone: 'The cause is that he dropped his cellphone.'
Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
Jury orders Tesla to pay more than $240 million in Autopilot crash case
A Miami jury decided that Elon Musk's car company Tesla was partly responsible for a deadly crash in Florida involving its Autopilot driver assist technology and must pay the victims more than $240 million in damages. The federal jury held that Tesla bore significant responsibility because its technology failed and that not all the blame can be put on a reckless driver, even one who admitted he was distracted by his cellphone before hitting a young couple out gazing at the stars. The decision comes as Musk seeks to convince Americans his cars are safe enough to drive on their own as he plans to roll out a driverless taxi service in several cities in the coming months. The decision ends a four-year long case remarkable not just in its outcome but that it even made it to trial. Many similar cases against Tesla have been dismissed and, when that didn't happen, settled by the company to avoid the spotlight of a trial. 'This will open the floodgates,' said Miguel Custodio, a car crash lawyer not involved in the Tesla case. 'It will embolden a lot of people to come to court.' The case also included startling charges by lawyers for the family of the deceased, 22-year-old, Naibel Benavides Leon, and for her injured boyfriend, Dillon Angulo. They claimed Tesla either hid or lost key evidence, including data and video recorded seconds before the accident. Tesla said it made a mistake after being shown the evidence and honestly hadn't thought it was there. 'We finally learned what happened that night, that the car was actually defective,' said Benavides' sister, Neima Benavides. 'Justice was achieved.' Tesla has previously faced criticism that it is slow to cough up crucial data by relatives of other victims in Tesla crashes, accusations that the car company has denied. In this case, the plaintiffs showed Tesla had the evidence all along, despite its repeated denials, by hiring a forensic data expert who dug it up. 'Today's verdict is wrong,' Tesla said in a statement, 'and only works to set back automotive safety and jeopardize Tesla's and the entire industry's efforts to develop and implement lifesaving technology,' They said the plaintiffs concocted a story 'blaming the car when the driver – from day one – admitted and accepted responsibility.' In addition to a punitive award of $200 million, the jury said Tesla must also pay $43 million of a total $129 million in compensatory damages for the crash, bringing the total borne by the company to $243 million. 'It's a big number that will send shock waves to others in the industry,' said financial analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities. 'It's not a good day for Tesla.' Tesla said it will appeal. Even if that fails, the company says it will end up paying far less than what the jury decided because of a pre-trial agreement that limits punitive damages to three times Tesla's compensatory damages. Translation: $172 million, not $243 million. But the plaintiff says their deal was based on a multiple of all compensatory damages, not just Tesla's, and the figure the jury awarded is the one the company will have to pay. It's not clear how much of a hit to Tesla's reputation for safety the verdict in the Miami case will make. Tesla has vastly improved its technology since the crash on a dark, rural road in Key Largo, Florida, in 2019. But the issue of trust generally in the company came up several times in the case, including in closing arguments Thursday. The plaintiffs' lead lawyer, Brett Schreiber, said Tesla's decision to even use the term Autopilot showed it was willing to mislead people and take big risks with their lives because the system only helps drivers with lane changes, slowing a car and other tasks, falling far short of driving the car itself. Schreiber said other automakers use terms like 'driver assist' and 'copilot' to make sure drivers don't rely too much on the technology. 'Words matter,' Schreiber said. 'And if someone is playing fast and lose with words, they're playing fast and lose with information and facts.' Schreiber acknowledged that the driver, George McGee, was negligent when he blew through flashing lights, a stop sign and a T-intersection at 62 miles an hour before slamming into a Chevrolet Tahoe that the couple had parked to get a look at the stars. The Tahoe spun around so hard it was able to launch Benavides 75 feet through the air into nearby woods where her body was later found. 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Indian Express
2 hours ago
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Donald Trump says Diddy was ‘hostile' toward him; says rapper's team asked for a pardon but he likely won't grant it
Donald Trump likely won't pardon Sean 'Diddy' Combs, and it might have less to do with the charges the rapper faces and more with a friendship that didn't survive Trump's first term as POTUS. In a recent conversation with Newsmax's Rob Finnerty, the POTUS talked about plans to release the Epstein files and hinted that a pardon for the disgraced music mogul, who's awaiting his October sentencing, isn't looking likely. Trump, while speaking about the possibility of granting clemency to Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's longtime associate, said no one has actually asked him to do it. He added that even though he's allowed to, he isn't fully aware of the case. The host then pressed him about offering the same to Bad Boy Records founder, who's currently locked inside Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Centre, especially since Trump had previously floated the idea of a pardon. Also read: Donald Trump risks losing more women voters if he pardons Diddy, can spark 'another Epstein-like situation' The Republican leader called the outcome of Diddy's trial 'sort of half innocent' and admitted he's still undecided. He confirmed that Diddy's lawyer has reached out to him about a possible pardon. This comes after the July verdict, where the music mogul was convicted on two prostitution-related charges but acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering. And while he dodged the more serious accusations, Judge Arun Subramanian denied him bail, and prosecutors believe that if sentenced, he could be facing a minimum of 20 years in jail. Speaking about their personal history, Trump said they used to get along 'very well' and even called Diddy 'a nice guy,' but admitted that things broke down once he ran for office. 'Probably, you know, I was very friendly with him. I got along with him great, and he seemed like a nice guy. I didn't know him well, but when I ran for office, he was very hostile,' Donald Trump said. He added that this kind of thing does affect how decisions are made. 'It's hard, you know, like, we're human beings, and we don't like to have things cloud our judgment, right? But when you knew someone and you were fine, and then you run for office, and he made some terrible statements – so, I don't know, it's more difficult.' When the interviewer asked him again if he was probably not going to pardon Combs, Trump replied: 'I would say so.' Also read: Trump says nobody has asked him to grant clemency to Ghislaine Maxwell In the latter part of the interview, Trump, who's been facing criticism from inside his own MAGA circle for holding back controversial details about Jeffrey Epstein, told Finnerty he's all in for making the Epstein records public, but only if it doesn't hurt innocent people. 'I want to release everything,' Trump said. 'I just don't want people to get hurt.' The comment came just a week after Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche interviewed Ghislaine Maxwell for nearly nine hours at a Florida jail, after which she was moved to a minimum-security facility in Texas. Trump said he wasn't directly involved in the interview and doesn't know if that transcript will ever see the light of day.
