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Trump ally Lindsey Graham calls out Elon Musk 'bull****' after tech titan throws his credibility under the bus

Trump ally Lindsey Graham calls out Elon Musk 'bull****' after tech titan throws his credibility under the bus

Daily Mail​2 days ago

Senator Lindsey Graham snapped back at billionaire Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk, after the tech titan shared a post alleging he was responsible for nearly a million dollars in spending on hotel rooms in Ukraine.
Graham, R-S.C., landed in hot water with former top Trump White House ally Elon Musk Tuesday afternoon in a spectacular clash on social media.
Musk reposted a tweet which accused Graham of spending $400,000 on hotel rooms in Ukraine.
Social media influencer Nick Sortor made the original post with the allegations, which has amassed over 10 million views since just before 11 a.m. Tuesday morning.
'People love whining in my comment section when I say Congress takes a lot of vacations: 'They're not on vacation. They're working in their districts!'
'BULL****. Lindsey Graham was just PARTYING IN UKRAINE on OUR DIME. When did Lindsey Graham become the Senator from Ukraine??!' Sorotor concluded.
Sortor's post also included a video of Senator Graham and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) shaking hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over the weekend in Kiyv.
A screenshot of a spending disbursement of $411,634 made by the U.S. Department of State to an organization in Ukraine, the International - Business Center Tov was also included in Sortor's post.
Musk reposted Sortor's post, adding 'Why is the hotel bill so high? The room service must be incredible!'
Graham fired back at the allegations Tuesday afternoon with his own X post.
'Fake news. More BS. I'm all-in trying to help President @realDonaldTrump end this war — and making sure Putin doesn't win. This isn't a travel expense report. It's a monthly contract between the State Department for U.S. diplomats in a war zone — nothing to do with my trip' Graham tweeted from his official government account.
Fake news. More BS.
I'm all-in trying to help President @realDonaldTrump end this war — and making sure Putin doesn't win.
This isn't a travel expense report. It's a monthly contract between the State Department for U.S. diplomats in a war zone — nothing to do with my trip. https://t.co/pMyUV9uDct
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) June 3, 2025
Per data available on USA Spending, the International - Business Center Tov has received $8.59 million marked as hotel spending. The group has received money from the American government in 2023, 2024, and 2025.
While the allegations continued to gain steam on social media Tuesday, Musk's own Grok AI classified the X boss's claims as misinformation.
'There's no evidence supporting claims of GOP spending on luxury hotels in Ukraine; such narratives may stem from misinformation. The idea that Congress spends 60% of their time on vacation is exaggerated, as they work about 133 days in session, with other time often spent on district duties,' a Grok reply to a post made by X user Matt Van Swol reads.
@matt_vanswol is expressing frustration over the GOP's failure to act on proposed spending cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), linked to Elon Musk and the Trump administration. There's no evidence supporting claims of GOP spending on luxury hotels in Ukraine;…
— Grok (@grok) June 3, 2025
Senator Graham has been one of Ukraine's most vocal advocates throughout the course of the nation's war with Russia, taking several trips to the country in recent years.
Former White House strategist Steve Bannon accused Graham of working against the wishes of President Trump during his trips on an episode of his War Room podcast, which aired Monday.
'The White House has to condemn this immediately and pull all support and tell Lindsey Graham to come home or we are going to put you under arrest when you come home. You're stirring it up,' Bannon said.

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Two teenagers sentenced for roles in rape of girl at Limerick Racecourse
Two teenagers sentenced for roles in rape of girl at Limerick Racecourse

BreakingNews.ie

time19 minutes ago

  • BreakingNews.ie

Two teenagers sentenced for roles in rape of girl at Limerick Racecourse

Two boys who raped a teenage girl in a car at Limerick Racecourse when they were aged just 13 and 15 years old have each been sentenced to six years in detention. A third defendant (now 18) who was found guilty of aiding and abetting the rapes by moving the car in which it occurred was jailed for three and a half years. Advertisement The daytime attack against the girl involved humiliation and degradation and was committed by offenders of a very young age, the Central Criminal Court heard. The teenage rapists and their families do not accept the verdicts of the jury and there was a heavy garda presence in court for sentencing on Thursday. Mr Justice Paul McDermott said that had the boys – who are all cousins - been adults at the time of the offending, the headline sentence for the rape offences would have been in the range of 15 years to life imprisonment. 'This was a 16-year-old intoxicated girl in a vulnerable situation subjected to rape and sexual assault,' he said. 'She was raped one after the other by (the two boys) and in the course of these rapes, she was sexually assaulted.' Advertisement The girl was repeatedly saying no during the assaults. Further indignity and humiliation was heaped upon her by video footage being taken of the incident, the judge said. Lack of remorse Handing down sentence, Mr Justice McDermott noted there was very little to be said in mitigation for the boys, as they have not expressed remorse or any understanding of the harm caused to the complainant. They must be sentenced as juveniles under the Children Act, in which detention is a last resort, the court heard. The judge accepted the third defendant, who aided and abetted the rapes, has taken some responsibility for his involvement but struggles to understand it. Advertisement He noted they have no previous convictions and have been subject to some childhood trauma, with mental health difficulties in their families. They had a lack of understanding in the areas of sexual relations and consent, the court heard. Mr Justice McDermott sentenced the two rapists to a sentence of seven and a half years of detention, with the final 18 months suspended on a number of conditions, including that they engage in sexual offending programmes and have no contact whatsoever with the complainant. The judge noted this means that part of their sentence will be served in prison. Advertisement He sentenced the third defendant to five years in jail as he is now over the age of 18 years. He suspended the final 18 months of this sentence on the same conditions. The three boys stood trial at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork earlier this year, with two of the boys (now aged 16 and 17) found guilty of sexually assaulting and raping the then 16-year-old girl in a car at the racecourse on December 26th 2022. They were 13 and 15 years old at the time. The third boy (now 18) was found guilty by the jury of four counts of aiding and abetting the rapes and sexual assaults following the six-week trial. The court heard he moved the car during the course of the attack. He was aged 15 at the time. He was acquitted of one count of false imprisonment. Video clips were taken of the incident by one of the boys, including one clip of the girl walking away from the car after she had been raped. Advertisement When she found her friends, she was extremely upset and immediately told them what had happened to her, the court heard. The boys denied raping the girl, telling gardaí differing versions of events including one who said he was in Dublin on the day in question. They all eventually claimed it was a consensual encounter. Detective Garda Lisa O'Regan told Dean Kelly SC, prosecuting, that the girl was socialising with her friends at the racecourse on the day in question. She was, in her own words, 'really drunk' when she got chatting to the three boys, Mr Kelly said. The court heard she agreed to go for a walk with one of the boys because she wanted to kiss him. Instead, she found herself in a car belonging to one of the boy's fathers where she was sexually assaulted and raped by two of them. The third boy moved the car at one point during the attack. The girl said she told the boys 'No' repeatedly and that she was on her period and had a tampon in. She said she told them she needed to go back to her friends, but they repeatedly said no and that she was 'fine'. When medically examined later that evening, she was found to have extensive bleeding and bruising. She was a virgin prior to the attack. The complainant (now aged 18) was not in court for the sentence hearing in Dublin. In a victim statement read out on her behalf by counsel, she described her fear and anxiety in the aftermath of the attack, during which she was 'begging them to get off me'. Vulgar details 'At the age of 16, I had my innocence stripped away from me,' she said. 'These two (boys) took what they wanted with no regrets.' She said her parents had to hear every 'vulgar' and 'gruesome' detail of what happened to her and that she will 'forever have guilt on my shoulders - not just for how it affected me, but everyone around me'. 'They not only took away the rest of my childhood, they took away the rest of my life,' she said. 'At the age of 16, I was raped. This is always something I will have to carry around. 'But what I can do is live with the fact that I told the truth.' The court heard the boys, who are all cousins, have no previous convictions. They are all in detention or custody since the guilty verdicts were handed down last April. The case was previously adjourned for a number of weeks for preparation of probation reports. Cathal McGreal, BL, defending the youngest of the three boys, said his client was then aged 13 and had no previous convictions. He said that a report before the court described him as mild-mannered, introverted and vulnerable from a mental health point of view. Counsel said his client made admissions and described him as 'not a particularly mature 13-year-old, and this was his first sexual experience'. The court heard that the boy's father and his family do not accept the verdict. Mr McGreal said his client wants to pursue his Junior Certificate and is interested in becoming a mechanic or a builder. He is against drugs and alcohol and wants to marry his girlfriend. Vincent Heneghan SC, defending the then 15-year-old boy, said his client comes from a 'good supportive family' and they are concerned for him. He stated that his client does not accept the jury's verdict and that this will limit any potential mitigation. Counsel said his client presents as intermittently distressed since going into custody and is not sleeping well. He said he is engaging in education and sport while in Oberstown. Ireland Hospital apologises for shortcomings in care which... Read More Mr Henaghan said the defendant has no issues with drugs or alcohol and outlined that there was no pre-planning to this offending. He asked the court to consider the reports that were before the court on behalf of his client and requested that the court be as lenient as possible. Donal Cronin BL, defending the third boy, said his sexual knowledge at the time was limited. He outlined that his client has no issues with drink or drugs and that sport has formed a major part of his life. Mr Cronin asked the court to fashion a sentence that would mark the wrongdoing but also include rehabilitation. He asked the court to consider the mitigating factors, including his client's culpability, his involvement and the fact he was a child at the time. If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at or visit Rape Crisis Help.

Trump-Merz meeting: president says Russia and Ukraine are ‘children fighting'
Trump-Merz meeting: president says Russia and Ukraine are ‘children fighting'

Times

time21 minutes ago

  • Times

Trump-Merz meeting: president says Russia and Ukraine are ‘children fighting'

Trump said that the world would be 'amazed' by how tough he would be on Russia if the fighting continued. 'Remember this — they like to say I'm friends with Russia. I'm not friends with anybody,' he said. President Trump compared the war between Russia and Ukraine to 'two young children fighting like crazy in a park'. 'Sometimes you're better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart,' he added. He said he told Putin during a phone call yesterday that 'maybe you're going to have to keep fighting, suffering a lot'. 'You see it in hockey, you see it in sports, the referees let them go at it for a while,' he added. Asked about a deadline for imposing further sanctions on Russia, Trump said that the date was 'in my brain'. Merz agreed with Trump that Germany was 'looking for measures to bring this war to an end', and mentioned that tomorrow is the 81st anniversary of D Day. 'That was not a pleasant day for you?' Trump asked. 'This was the liberation of my country from Nazi dictatorship,' Merz replied. Trump said he expected President Putin to respond with force to the successful drone attack by Ukraine on Russia's bombing fleet last week. 'He got hit, he's been doing hitting,' said Trump. 'But he got hit hard. I don't think he's playing games.' Trump said that Merz 'feels the same way' about wanting to end the war. Trump said he was surprised by Elon Musk's reaction to his 'big, beautiful' tax and spending bill. 'Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody,' Trump said. 'He only developed a problem when he found out we were going to have to cut the EV mandate,' he added, referring to a subsidy that paid billions of dollars to Musk's electric car company Tesla. 'I'm very disappointed in Elon, I've helped Elon a lot,' the president added. Musk has called the bill a 'disgusting abomination' and lobbied Republicans in Congress to oppose its passing. Trump casually dismissed claims that the US would withdraw its troops from Germany, saying they would remain 'if they'd like to have them there'. There are about 35,000 active-duty US troops stationed in Germany. 'They're highly paid troops and they spend a lot of money in Germany,' Trump said. Merz has brought the president the framed birth certificate of Trump's grandfather, Friedrich Trump. Friedrich Trump was born in Kallstadt, Germany, which was then part of the Kingdom of Bavaria before immigrating to the United States in 1885. The questions turned to domestic politics and Trump's order to open a criminal investigation into anyone who worked to hide Biden's mental decline from the public during his time in office. Trump said that Biden 'didn't have much of an idea what was going on'. 'He was never for open borders, he was never for transgender for everybody,' said Trump. Trump said that his interactions with Merz over the past few months had been both 'difficult' and 'good'. 'I've been dealing with the chancellor. He's a very good man to deal with,' said Trump. 'He's difficult, you wouldn't want me to say you're easy, right?' He said he hoped to make progress on trade and tariff negotiations with Merz. Trump characterised his 90-minute call with President Xi as 'very positive'. He said that the two countries had agreed to hold talks in the near future to reach an impasse over trade and rare earth materials. 'I'll be going there with the first lady at a certain point and he'll be coming here, hopefully,' he said. Trump's Oval Office meeting with Merz began with questions about his travel ban on 12 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran and a host African nations. Trump said that the ban was needed for security and terrorism concerns. 'We have thousands of murderers,' Trump told reporters. 'I hate to say this in front of the chancellor, but you have a little problem too. You have your own difficulties too.' Merz has arrived at the White House before the first meeting between the two leaders. Trump greeted the German chancellor with a friendly handshake at the door to the White House and the two leaders walked inside. Asked by a reporter if he had a message for the German people, Trump responded: 'We love the people of Germany.' Merz has struck a cordial tone in the lead-up to Thursday's Oval Office meeting, writing in a statement this week that the US was 'an indispensable friend and partner of Germany'. 'Our alliance with America was, is, and remains of paramount importance for the security, freedom, and prosperity of Europe,' the chancellor wrote. Those remarks stood in contrast to his posturing prior to his election as chancellor in May. In February, Merz said that strengthening Europe was his 'absolute priority' in order to 'achieve independence' from the US. The same month, he wrote on X that his impression was 'that Russia and America are finding common ground — over the heads of Ukraine, and consequently over those of Europe'. President Trump held a 90-minute phone conversation with President Xi of China on Thursday amid stalled trade negotiations between the two countries. The US president said the conversation had a 'very positive conclusion' and announced that the two countries would hold talks in the hopes of breaking an impasse over tariffs and global supplies of rare earth minerals. 'Our respective teams will be meeting shortly at a location to be determined,' Trump wrote on his social media platform. Trump added that Xi had 'graciously' invited him and the first lady Melania Trump to visit China, and that he had reciprocated the gesture. The Chinese foreign ministry said Trump had initiated the call between the leaders. Over the years foreign leaders have gone out of their way to bear eye-catching gifts when they meet President Trump: a personalised golf club, a nativity scene made of mother-of-pearl, a gold-plated model of a jet fighter and a presidential aircraft worth an estimated $400 million. When Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, steps into the Oval Office on Thursday, though, he does so with the unusual advantage of bringing more or less precisely the thing Trump has asked for. Barely five months ago Trump's demands that his European Nato allies stump up 5 per cent of their GDP for defence were regarded by most national capitals as outlandish, at or beyond the worst end of their expectations. Yet now the yardstick is rapidly becoming a matter of orthodoxy in the alliance, and no member state has moved so far towards it in such a short span of time as Merz's Germany. • Read the full story here Speaking to German journalists before his meeting with Trump, the chancellor said he wanted to strengthen Berlin's relations with the White House. 'I am looking forward to the visit,' Merz said. 'We are well-prepared. Nato will be a major topic, as will trade and Ukraine. When we talk about German domestic politics [the right-wing AFD], I will use clear words. 'The chancellery will intensify bilateral talks.' Germany's spy agency, the BfV, has classified the Alternative for Germany party, of AfD, as a far-right extremist group, saying that the party has on several occasions attempted to 'undermine the free, democratic' order. Senior members of the Trump administration, including vice-president, JD Vance, have criticised the move, arguing that it undermines freedom of speech. The US has been engaged in a tariff tit-for-tat with the European Union since Trump's second term began in January. Trump has accused the EU of treating its largest trading partner 'very badly' and claimed that the bloc was created for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the US. The two sides began talks on a trade deal in April after Trump paused his so-called reciprocal tariffs. The US president then threatened to levy a 50 per cent tariff on European goods, saying the bloc wasn't moving fast enough towards a deal. Trump later delayed the tariffs until July 9. As talks appeared to be getting back on track, Trump said last week that he would double tariffs on steel and aluminium, including from Europe, to 50 per cent. An EU spokesman said the move added further uncertainty to the global economy and increased costs for consumers and businesses on both sides of the Atlantic. Merz's government is intensifying a drive that began under his predecessor Olaf Scholz to bolster the German armed forces and counter the looming Russian threat. In Trump's first term, he frequently singled out Germany for failing to meet the current Nato target of spending 2 per cent of gross domestic product on defence. The White House is now demanding at least 5 per cent from its allies. Scholz set up a €100 billion ($115 billion) special fund to modernise Germany's military after years of neglect. Merz has endorsed a plan for all Nato countries to aim to spend 3.5 per cent of GDP on defence by 2032. Merz will be hoping to avoid the kind of Oval Office showdown that President Zelensky of Ukraine and President Ramaphosa of South Africa experienced in recent months. Asked about the risk of a White House blow-up, Stefan Kornelius, a spokesman for Merz, said the chancellor was 'well-prepared' for the meeting and that he and Trump have 'built up a decent relationship'. The two leaders have spoken several times by phone either bilaterally or with other European leaders since Merz took office on May 6.

The genie is out: 24-hour trading gaining momentum, Interactive Brokers chairman says
The genie is out: 24-hour trading gaining momentum, Interactive Brokers chairman says

Reuters

time21 minutes ago

  • Reuters

The genie is out: 24-hour trading gaining momentum, Interactive Brokers chairman says

June 5 (Reuters) - Interactive Brokers (IBKR.O), opens new tab Chairman Thomas Peterffy on Thursday said 24-hour trading has become more acceptable, calling it a genie that is hard to put back into the bottle, at the Piper Sandler Global Exchange & Trading Conference. Global interest in the lucrative U.S. equity market has surged in recent years, driven by rising retail participation, prompting exchanges and financial firms to seek new methods to expand access, particularly by extending trading hours. "24 hours' trading is obviously very important to many people in the far Middle and near East, much more so than in the U.S. or even in Europe," Peterffy said at the conference. In May, about 2.2% of Interactive Brokers' volume was done in overnight trading, Peterffy said, adding that he expects the number to rise to 25% to 30% in the next year. Interactive Brokers launched overnight trading in November 2022, while exchanges like Nasdaq (NDAQ.O), opens new tab, Cboe Global Markets (CBOE.Z), opens new tab and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE.N), opens new tab, the operator of the New York Stock Exchange, have announced plans for extended trading hours. Ken Griffin's Citadel Securities had flagged risks of 24-hour trading to the Securities and Exchange Commission in April, highlighting the need for a clear regulatory framework and market infrastructure to support its implementation.

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