Musk's father says Trump dispute triggered by intense stress, has to end, World News
MOSCOW — The dispute between Donald Trump and Elon Musk was triggered by months of intense stress on both sides, and the public battle between the US president and the billionaire donor needs to stop, Musk's father told Reuters on Monday (June 9).
Trump and Musk began exchanging insults last week on social media, with the Tesla and SpaceX CEO describing the president's sweeping tax and spending bill as a "disgusting abomination".
Asked whether he thought his son had made a mistake by engaging in a public clash with the president, Errol Musk said people were sometimes unable to think as clearly as they should "in the heat of the moment".
"They've had five months of intense stress," Musk told Reuters at a conference in Moscow organised by conservative Russian tycoons.
"With all the opposition cleared and two people left in the arena, all they have ever done is get rid of everything and now they are trying to get rid of each other — well that has to stop."
Asked how it would end, he said: "Oh, it will end on a good note — very soon."
Neither the White House nor Musk could be reached for comment outside normal US business hours.
Trump said on Saturday his relationship with Musk was over and that there would be "serious consequences" if the world's richest man decided to fund US Democrats running against Republicans who vote for the tax and spending bill.
Musk bankrolled a large part of Trump's 2024 presidential campaign. Trump named Musk to head an effort to downsize the federal workforce and slash spending.
Musk's father told reporters he was standing by his son.
"Elon is sticking to his principles but you cannot always stick to your principles in the real world," Musk's father said. "Sometimes you have to give and take."
Speaking beside sanctioned Russian businessman Konstantin Malofeyev, Musk's father praised President Vladimir Putin as a "very stable and pleasant man". He accused "fake media" in the West of projecting "complete nonsense" about Russia and for casting it as an enemy.
[[nid:718829]]
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Trump warns protests at military parade will be met with force
Members of the California National Guard putting on gas masks as they prepare to confront protesters in downtown Los Angeles, on June 8. PHOTO: NYTIMES Trump warns protests at military parade will be met with force WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump warned people on June 11 against protesting at the weekend military parade in Washington marking the US Army's 250th anniversary. 'For those people that want to protest, they're going to be met with very big force,' Mr Trump told reporters in the White House's Oval Office. Law enforcement agencies are preparing for hundreds of thousands of people to attend the June 14 parade, US Secret Service special agent in charge Matt McCool said on June 9. Mr McCool said thousands of agents, officers and specialists will be deployed from law enforcement agencies from across the country. The FBI and the Metropolitan Police Department have said there are no credible threats to the event. At least nine permits have been issued for protests on that day, he said. In unscheduled Oval Office remarks, Mr Trump discussed his decision to deploy 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to Los Angeles after protests erupted in response to federal immigration raids at workplaces there. Mr Trump defended his decision to take that rare step and said troops were necessary to contain the unrest, despite objections from local and state officials that they were needed. The June 14 event, which will coincide with Mr Trump's 79th birthday, includes an Army birthday festival on the National Mall and will culminate with a parade through the capital and an enlistment and re-enlistment ceremony presided over by the president. Nationwide protests on that day were being organised by a group called No Kings. 'They've defied our courts, deported Americans, disappeared people off the streets, attacked our civil rights and slashed our services,' the group says on its website. 'The corruption has gone too far. No thrones. No crowns. No kings.' REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
World Bank cuts global growth forecast as trade tensions heighten uncertainty
The World Bank logo is seen at the 2023 Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund in Washington, U.S., April 13, 2023. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo An American flag flutters over a ship and shipping containers at the Port of Los Angeles, in San Pedro California, U.S., May 13, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Blake FILE PHOTO: A drone view shows electric vehicles (EV) for export and containers sitting at a port in Shanghai, China April 13, 2025. China Daily via REUTERS/File Photo WASHINGTON - The World Bank on Tuesday slashed its global growth forecast for 2025 by four-tenths of a percentage point to 2.3%, saying that higher tariffs and heightened uncertainty posed a "significant headwind" for nearly all economies. In its twice-yearly Global Economic Prospects report, the global lender lowered its forecasts for nearly 70% of all economies - including the U.S., China and Europe, as well as six emerging market regions - from the levels it projected six months ago before U.S. President Donald Trump took office. Trump has upended global trade with a series of on-again, off-again tariff hikes that have increased the effective U.S. tariff rate from below 3% to the mid-teens - its highest level in almost a century - and triggered retaliation by China and other countries. The World Bank is the latest body to cut its growth forecast as a result of Trump's erratic trade policies, although U.S. officials insist the negative consequences will be offset by a surge in investment and still-to-be approved tax cuts. It stopped short of forecasting a recession, but said global economic growth this year would be the weakest outside of a recession since 2008. By 2027, global gross domestic product growth was expected to average just 2.5%, the slowest pace of any decade since the 1960s. The report forecast that global trade would grow by 1.8% in 2025, down from 3.4% in 2024 and roughly a third of its 5.9% level in the 2000s. The forecast is based on tariffs in effect as of late May, including a 10% U.S. tariff on imports from most countries. It excludes increases that were announced by Trump in April and then postponed until July 9 to allow for negotiations. The World Bank said global inflation was expected to reach 2.9% in 2025, remaining above pre-COVID-19 levels, given tariff increases and tight labor markets. "Risks to the global outlook remain tilted decidedly to the downside," it wrote. The lender said its models showed that a further increase of 10 percentage points in average U.S. tariffs, on top of the 10% rate already implemented, and proportional retaliation by other countries, could shave another half of a percentage point off the outlook for 2025. Such an escalation in trade barriers would result "in global trade seizing up in the second half of this year ... accompanied by a widespread collapse in confidence, surging uncertainty and turmoil in financial markets," the report said. Nonetheless, it said the risk of a global recession was less than 10%. 'FOG ON A RUNWAY' Top officials from the U.S. and China are meeting in London this week to try to defuse a trade dispute that has widened from tariffs to restrictions over rare earth minerals, threatening a global supply chain shock and slower growth. "Uncertainty remains a powerful drag, like fog on a runway. It slows investment and clouds the outlook," World Bank Deputy Chief Economist Ayhan Kose told Reuters in an interview. But Kose said there were signs of increased dialogue on trade that could help dispel uncertainty, and supply chains were adapting to a new global trade map, not collapsing. Global trade growth could modestly rebound in 2026 to 2.4%, and developments in artificial intelligence could also boost growth, he said. "We think that eventually the uncertainty will decline," Kose said. "Once the type of fog we have lifts, the trade engine may start running again, but at a slower pace." Kose said while things could get worse, trade was continuing and China, India and others were still delivering robust growth. Many countries were also discussing new trade partnerships that could pay dividends later, he said. WHITE HOUSE PUSHES BACK The World Bank said the global outlook had "deteriorated substantially" since January, mainly due to advanced economies, which are now seen growing by just 1.2%, down half a percentage point, after expanding by 1.7% in 2024. The U.S. forecast was slashed by nine-tenths of a percentage point from its January forecast to 1.4%, and the 2026 outlook was lowered by four-tenths of a percentage point to 1.6%. Rising trade barriers, "record-high uncertainty" and a spike in financial market volatility were expected to weigh on private consumption, trade and investment, it said. The White House pushed back against the forecast, citing recent economic data that it said pointed to a stronger economy. "The World Bank's prognostications are untethered to the data: investment in real business equipment surged by nearly 25% in Q1 of 2025; real disposable personal income grew by a robust 0.7% month-over-month in April; and Americans have now seen three consecutive expectation-beating jobs and inflation reports," White House spokesperson Kush Desai said. He added that a sweeping budget package currently making its way through Congress would provide tax relief and "further turbo-charge America's economic resurgence under President Trump." The World Bank cut growth estimates in the euro zone by three-tenths of a percentage point to 0.7% and in Japan by half a percentage point to 0.7%. It said emerging markets and developing economies were expected to grow by 3.8% in 2025 versus 4.1% in the forecast in January. Poor countries would suffer the most, the report said. By 2027, developing economies' per capita GDP would be 6% below pre-pandemic levels, and it could take these countries - minus China - two decades to recoup the economic losses of the 2020s. Mexico, heavily dependent on trade with the U.S., saw its growth forecast cut by 1.3 percentage points to 0.2% in 2025. The World Bank left its forecast for China unchanged at 4.5% from January, saying Beijing still had monetary and fiscal space to support its economy and stimulate growth. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
US Justice Department 'weaponization' reviews spark calls to drop prosecutions
FILE PHOTO: United States Department of Justice logo and U.S. flag are seen in this illustration taken April 23, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo WASHINGTON - As the federal public corruption prosecution of former Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada neared trial this spring, his lawyers made one last effort to kill the case, by petitioning senior Justice Department officials that it was "weaponization," according to three people familiar with the matter. Under President Donald Trump, the department in February created a "Weaponization Working Group" meant to identify improper politically motivated cases, a response to what the Republican says without evidence was the misuse of prosecutorial resources against him under his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden. In court filings, prosecutors said that Casada's lawyers met with a senior Justice Department official on March 24, where they alleged the "Deep State" had initiated a "weaponized" prosecution and they sought dismissal of the charges. The plan almost worked, according to three people familiar with the matter. With the Deputy Attorney General's office poised to kill the case, prosecutors in the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section pushed back, reviewing their evidence with the higher-ups, the sources said, adding that the Nashville U.S. Attorney's office and the Criminal Division also supported the case. The request was rejected the next week, according to court filings. Both Casada and the DOJ declined to comment. The case is among at least seven Reuters identified where defense attorneys or Justice Department officials have sought to have prosecutions reviewed for possible dismissal, citing Trump's "weaponization" argument or making other arguments about weaknesses in the cases. In a Tuesday speech, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Galeotti urged defense attorneys to be "conscientious about what, when and how" they appeal prosecutors' decisions. "Seeking premature relief, mischaracterizing prosecutorial conduct, or otherwise failing to be an honest broker actively undermines our system," Galeotti said. The increase in lobbying started not long after the Weaponization Working Group was created, and after the department's February decision to dismiss criminal corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, six sources familiar with the dynamic told Reuters. To date, the Adams case is the only one to be dismissed over 'weaponization,' three of those sources told Reuters. The lobbying wave comes as the Trump administration has dramatically scaled back the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section, reduced the size of its foreign bribery unit and advised department attorneys that tax enforcement is "not a priority," two of the people familiar with the matter said. A department spokesman said the DOJ will "continue to enforce our nation's tax laws." Trump has said the changes are necessary to root out Justice Department lawyers he derides as 'hacks and radicals' for prosecuting him and some supporters while he was out of power. NEW GROUP HAS BROAD REMIT The working group is empowered to review any 'civil or criminal enforcement authority of the United States' exercised under Biden. A lawyer for Robert Burke, a former Navy admiral who was convicted in May on bribery charges, wrote to the department ahead of trial raising concerns about witness credibility, which failed to convince prosecutors to drop the case. Now the lawyer, Tim Parlatore -- a former Trump defense lawyer -- plans to seek a pardon. "I would be crazy not to at least inquire about a pardon," Parlatore said. Another example is a case involving billionaire Britannia Financial Group founder Julio Martín Herrera-Velutini, who is facing an August trial alongside Puerto Rico's former governor on bribery charges. Herrera-Velutini is represented by former Trump defense attorney Chris Kise, who has sought to convince the Justice Department to dismiss or reduce the charges, though the outcome of such efforts is unclear, three people familiar with the case told Reuters. Kise did not return requests for comment, and Reuters could not determine what arguments he has made to the department about the case. WEAPONIZATION REVIEW While many of the reviews of cases are spurred by aggressive lobbying, some requests are coming from within the DOJ. In early February, prosecutors in the department's Tax Division were ordered by senior Justice Department officials to write a memo explaining why the prosecution of Paul Walczak was not an example of "weaponization," two of the people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Walczak, of Florida, pleaded guilty in November to not paying employment taxes and not filing his individual income tax returns, and the trial team was preparing for his sentencing. Prosecutors were baffled, the people said, and only discovered after a few Google searches that Walczak's mother Elizabeth Fago was a Trump donor who, according to a New York Times report, hosted a political fundraiser where portions of a diary written by Biden's daughter Ashley were circulated. The department let the case proceed, and Walczak was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Trump in April spared him any prison with a pardon, which according to the New York Times, was handed down shortly after Fago attended a $1 million fundraising dinner for Trump. The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the pardon. An attorney for Walczak said he was unaware of any interactions by the defense team with the Weaponization Working Group. In a statement, the Fago and Walczak families said media reports have painted an "incomplete and inaccurate" picture of the pardon application, and that Trump had "ample grounds to grant the pardon on the merits." Although no criminal prosecutions have been dismissed, prosecutors are bracing for impact since Trump in May named Ed Martin, a supporter of Trump's false claims that his 2020 election defeat was the result of fraud, to lead the working group and serve as pardon attorney. Martin has already successfully encouraged Trump to approve pardons for some of the president's supporters, according to his social media posts. Casada, who was convicted at trial in May on multiple counts of fraud, money laundering and bribery, is now expected to seek a pardon, a person familiar with the matter said. "We've also been getting more folks coming forward within the government as well as outside, saying, 'Can you look at this? Can you look at that?'" Martin recently told reporters. "It's a problem that seems to be growing faster than we can capture it." REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
