Trump's new human resource czar distances himself from Elon Musk, aims to ‘institutionalise' DOGE
Kupor, who was sworn in to lead the Office of Personnel Management earlier this month, has said that he has 'zero relationship with Elon Musk'. 'I have talked to Elon Musk once on the phone in my life,' he said. Kupor assumes the role as the federal civil service is reeling with staff cuts and mass firing under DOGE, which was earlier being led by Musk.
If you're interested in hearing more about our areas of focus at OPM, have a look at the internal message I sent the team today. Lots of big stuff to focus on. https://t.co/ZxwJgo8enB
— Scott Kupor (@skupor) July 21, 2025
Kupor, who is a former partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, raised objections over some of Musk's methods and the scale of his proposed cuts in the federal government via DOGE. Kupor questioned the method Musk used to push civil servants to report on their weekly progress. But the new human resource czar said the stringent efficiency measure would continue.
'What [DOGE] did was catalyse the start of a process. Now, we have to actually institutionalise those things and pursue operational efficiency,' Kupor said, reported Financial Times.
He said that he told resident Trump and others at the White House that his job is 'to do the agenda that the president lays out to the best I can. But I'm not going to do it consistent with someone else's objectives that are inconsistent with what the president wants to do.'
Musk, who helped Donald Trump with nearly $300 million in funding to win the US presidential election in November, led DOGE to slash budget and cut the federal workforce until his exit in May amid a rift with President Trump over the latter's 'Big, Beautiful bill'.
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Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Trump says Japan will invest $550 billion in US at his direction. It may not be a sure thing
President Donald Trump is bragging that Japan has given him, as part of a new trade framework, $550 billion to invest in the United States. It's an astonishing figure, but still subject to negotiation and perhaps not the sure thing he's portraying. "Japan is putting up $550 billion in order to lower their tariffs a little bit," Trump said Thursday. "They put up, as you could call it, seed money. Let's call it seed money." Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category MBA Product Management MCA Cybersecurity healthcare Artificial Intelligence CXO Public Policy Finance Technology Operations Management Healthcare PGDM Others Project Management Design Thinking Degree Management Digital Marketing Data Science Data Science Data Analytics others Leadership Skills you'll gain: Analytical Skills Financial Literacy Leadership and Management Skills Strategic Thinking Duration: 24 Months Vellore Institute of Technology VIT Online MBA Starts on Aug 14, 2024 Get Details Skills you'll gain: Financial Management Team Leadership & Collaboration Financial Reporting & Analysis Advocacy Strategies for Leadership Duration: 18 Months UMass Global Master of Business Administration (MBA) Starts on May 13, 2024 Get Details He said 90% of any profits from the money invested would go to the U.S. even if Japan had put up the funds. "It's not a loan or anything, it's a signing bonus," the Republican president said, on the trade framework that lowered his threatened tariff from 25% to 15%, including on autos. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Solar Panels Prices Might Surprise You Affordable Solar Panel | Search Ads Search Now Undo A White House official said the terms are being negotiated and nothing has been formalized in writing. The official, who insisted on anonymity to detail the terms of the talks, suggested the goal was for the $550 billion fund to make investments at Trump's direction. The sum is significant: It would represent more than 10% of Japan's entire gross domestic product . The Japan External Trade Organization estimates that direct investment into the U.S. economy topped $780 billion in 2023. It is unclear the degree to which the $550 billion could represent new investment or flow into existing investment plans. Live Events What the trade framework announced Tuesday has achieved is a major talking point for the Trump administration. The president has claimed to have brought trillions of dollars in new investment into the U.S., though the impact of those commitments have yet to appear in the economic data for jobs, construction spending or manufacturing output. The framework also enabled Trump to say other countries are agreeing to have their goods taxed, even if some of the cost of those taxes are ultimately passed along to U.S. consumers. On the $550 billion, Japan's Cabinet Office said it involves the credit facility of state-affiliated financial institutions, such as Japan Bank for International Cooperation . Further details would be decided based on the progress of the investment deals. Japanese trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa, upon returning to Japan, did not discuss the terms of the $550 billion investment. Akazawa said he believes a written joint statement is necessary, at least on working levels, to avoid differences. He is not thinking about a legally binding trade pact. The U.S. apparently released its version of the deal while Japanese officials were on their return flight home. "If we find differences of understanding, we may have to point them out and say 'that's not what we discussed,'" Akazawa said. The U.S. administration said the fund would be invested in critical minerals, pharmaceuticals, computer chips and shipbuilding, among other industries. It has said Japan will also buy 100 airplanes from Boeing and rice from U.S. farmers as part of the framework, which Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said would be evaluated every three months. "And if the president is unhappy, then they will boomerang back to the 25% tariff rates, both on cars and the rest of their products. And I can tell you that I think at 25, especially in cars, the Japanese economy doesn't work," Bessent told Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle." Akazawa denied that Bessent's quarterly review was part of the negotiations. "In my past eight trips to the United States during which I held talks with the president and the ministers," Akazawa said. "I have no recollection of discussing how we ensure the implementation of the latest agreement between Japan and the United States." He said it would cause major disruptions to the economy and administrative processes if the rates first rise to 25% as scheduled on Aug. 1 and then drop to 15%. "We definitely want to avoid that and I believe that is the understanding shared by the U.S. side," he said. On buying U.S. rice, Japanese officials have said they have no plans to raise the current 770,000-ton "minimum access" cap to import more from America. Agricultural Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said Japan will decide whether to increase U.S. rice imports and that Japan is not committed to a fixed quota. Trump's commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, has suggested that the Japanese agreement is putting pressure on other countries such as South Korea to strike deals with the U.S. Trump, who is traveling in Scotland, plans to meet on Sundayv with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to discuss trade. "Whatever Donald Trump wants to build, the Japanese will finance it for him," Lutnick said Thursday on CNBC. "Pretty amazing."
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First Post
2 hours ago
- First Post
US President Trump's Scotland visit blends politics and business at new golf site
President Donald Trump landed in Scotland to inaugurate a new golf course in Balmedie while blending presidential duties with business promotion. The visit, labeled a 'working trip' by the White House, also includes meetings with UK and EU leaders. read more Lashed by cold winds and overlooking choppy, steel-gray North Sea waters, the breathtaking sand dunes of Scotland's northeastern coast rank among Donald Trump's favourite spots on earth. 'At some point, maybe in my very old age, I'll go there and do the most beautiful thing you've ever seen,' Trump said in 2023, during his New York civil fraud trial, talking about his plans for future developments on his property in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD At 79 and back in the White House, Trump is making at least part of that pledge a reality, landing in Scotland on Friday as his family's business prepares for the Aug. 13 opening of a new golf course bearing his name. Trump will be in Scotland until Tuesday, and plans to talk trade with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The Aberdeen area is already home to another of his courses, Trump International Scotland, and the Republican president is also visiting a Trump course near Turnberry, around 200 miles (320 kilometers) away on Scotland's southwest coast. Trump said upon arrival on Friday evening that his son is 'gonna cut a ribbon' for the new course during his trip. Eric Trump also went with his father to break ground on the project back in 2023. Using a presidential overseas trip — with its sprawling entourage of advisers, White House and support staffers, Secret Service agents and reporters — to help show off Trump-brand golf destinations demonstrates how the president has become increasingly comfortable intermingling his governing pursuits with promoting his family's business interests. The White House has brushed off questions about potential conflicts of interest, arguing that Trump's business success before he entered politics was a key to his appeal with voters. White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers called the Scotland swing a 'working trip.' But she added Trump 'has built the best and most beautiful world-class golf courses anywhere in the world, which is why they continue to be used for prestigious tournaments and by the most elite players in the sport.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Trump family's new golf course has tee times for sale Trump went to Scotland to play his Turnberry course during his first term in 2018 while en route to a meeting in Finland with Russian President Vladimir Putin. But this trip comes as the new golf course is already actively selling tee times. 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STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Trump's first Aberdeen course sparked legal battles Trump's existing Aberdeenshire course, meanwhile, has a history nearly as rocky as the area's cliffs. It has struggled to turn a profit and was found by Scottish conservation authorities to have partially destroyed nearby sand dunes. Trump's company also was ordered to cover the Scottish government's legal costs after the course unsuccessfully sued over the construction of a nearby wind farm, arguing in part that it hurt golfers' views. And the development was part of the massive civil case, which accused Trump of inflating his wealth to secure loans and make business deals. Trump's company's initial plans for his first Aberdeen-area course called for a luxury hotel and nearby housing. His company received permission to build 500 houses, but Trump suggested he'd be allowed to build five times as many and borrowed against their values without actually building any homes, the lawsuit alleged. Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump liable last year and ordered his company to pay $355 million in fines — a judgment that has grown with interest to more than $510 million as Trump appeals. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Golfers-in-chief Family financial interests aside, Trump isn't the first sitting U.S. president to golf in Scotland. That was Dwight D. Eisenhower, who played in Turnberry in 1959. George W. Bush visited the famed course at Gleneagles in 2005 but didn't play. Many historians trace golf back to Scotland in the Middle Ages. Among the earliest known references to game was a Scottish Parliament resolution in 1457 that tried to ban it, along with soccer, because of fears both were distracting men from practicing archery — then considered vital to national defense. 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Bush stopped golfing after the start of the Iraq war in 2003 because of the optics. Barack Obama had a golf simulator installed in the White House that Trump upgraded during his first term, Trostel said. John F. Kennedy largely hid his love of the game as president, but he played on Harvard's golf team and nearly made a hole-in-one at California's renowned Cypress Point Golf Club just before the 1960 Democratic National Convention. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'I'd say, between President Trump and President John F. Kennedy, those are two of the most skilled golfers we've had in the White House,' Trostel said. Trump, Trostel said, has a handicap index — how many strokes above par a golfer is likely to score — of a very strong 2.5, though he's not posted an official round with the U.S. Golf Association since 2021. That's better than Joe Biden's handicap of 6.7, which also might be outdated, and Obama, who once described his own handicap as an 'honest 13.' The White House described Trump as a championship-level golfer but said he plays with no handicap.
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First Post
2 hours ago
- First Post
Why Trump's deflection playbook is faltering as Epstein case stirs Republican unrest
President Donald Trump is facing growing pressure from his Republican base over unresolved questions about Jeffrey Epstein as his usual tactics of distraction and denial fail to silence calls for transparency and accountability. read more Once masterful at deflecting controversy, President Donald Trump is now finding his usual playbook less effective as pressure mounts over the unresolved Jeffrey Epstein saga even from within his loyal conservative base. Despite years of successfully shifting focus through bluster, distractions and conspiracy-laden narratives, Trump's White House is now grappling with persistent questions about his past ties to Epstein, the convicted sex offender who died in prison in 2019. The calls for transparency aren't just coming from Democrats or the media but increasingly from his own supporters. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Trump has responded with familiar tactics: dodging questions, downplaying his connection to Epstein and blaming the media. Yet the scrutiny persists, exposing a rare vulnerability in his ability to control the narrative. 'This is one issue the president can't seem to shake,' said Republican strategist Erin Maguire, a former Trump campaign spokeswoman. 'He's usually excellent at steering the conversationbut not this time.' What distinguishes this controversy from earlier political storms including two impeachments and the Russia probe is the source of the agitation. It's the president's right-wing supporters, long suspicious of a government cover-up involving Epstein's powerful connections, who are now demanding accountability. That suspicion has only intensified as Trump's administration downplays his past friendship with Epstein while acknowledging his name appears in case documents. 'Trump's been running a propaganda machine for years, but it's running out of steam,' said Geoff Duncan, a Republican and vocal Trump critic. 'The far-right base is relentless on this issue. They want the truth.' In public remarks, Trump has repeatedly sought to change the subject. Ahead of a trip to Scotland, he urged the media to focus on the country's economic performance rather than on Epstein. 'They don't talk about the others, they talk about me. I have nothing to do with the guy,' he said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD But deflection has only gone so far. Trump's recent distractions included lashing out at a reporter in the Cabinet Room, claiming disinterest in the Epstein matter and teaming up with Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to accuse former President Barack Obama of treason, a pivot seen by some strategists as tone-deaf. Republican strategist Brad Todd argued that Trump's confrontation with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell over interest rates had more resonance than his backward-looking claims against Obama. 'Going after the Fed touches on affordability. That works better than rehashing 2016,' he said. Democrats, meanwhile, sense an opening. With Trump's grip on the GOP showing signs of strain, especially in the aftermath of poor Democratic showings in last year's elections, Epstein's lingering shadow offers a wedge issue. A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found most Americans believe the Trump administration is concealing information about Epstein. Democrats and some Republicans alike are pushing for the release of government files on the case—documents the Justice Department had once pledged to publish. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'Yesterday was another example of Trump's team trying to drown out calls for the Epstein files with noise,' said Senator Mark Warner, commenting on Gabbard's attack on Obama. Inside the White House, officials maintain their strategy of flooding the news cycle. 'They're constantly on the offensive, every agency pumping out stories, trying to control what dominates the headlines,' said Maguire. Still, despite the growing unrest over Epstein, Trump retains strong support on key issues. A July Reuters/Ipsos poll showed 56% of Republicans back his immigration workplace raids. And history shows his base often overlooks even more serious allegations. Pollster Frank Luntz put it bluntly: 'Trump's faced indictments, impeachments, and criminal charges and still got re-elected. He's slipped past before. But this one may take longer to fade.' With inputs from agencies
