Elon Musk-Donald Trump clash proves costly for world's richest person: Tesla loses $249b, SpaceX deals threatened
The bitter clash between Elon Musk and Donald Trump has drawn a spotlight on the South African-born tycoon's businesses.
Here is a look at his affairs as their White House partnership turns toxic, with billions of dollars in market value and US Government contracts hanging in the balance.
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NZ Herald
2 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Trump deploys National Guard amid LA immigration protest clashes
Anti-ICE protesters celebrate in front of a burning car in the middle of the intersection of Atlantic Ave. and E Alondra Blvd. during ICE protests on June 7 in Los Angeles, CA. Photo / Getty Images Donald Trump has ordered the National Guard on to the streets of Los Angeles after a second day of violent protests against his immigration policies. Protesters on Saturday confronted federal immigration officers who had been carrying out raids on local businesses in Paramount, on the outskirts of LA. Border Patrol
RNZ News
4 hours ago
- RNZ News
Trump deploys National Guard as Los Angeles protests against immigration agents continue
By Sandra Stojanovic and Omar Younis , Reuters A person holding a poster "Kidnapped by ICE". Photo: AFP/KENA BETANCUR President Donald Trump's administration says it will deploy 2000 National Guard troops as federal agents in Los Angeles face off against demonstrators for a second day following immigration raids. The security agents confronted around 100 protesters in the Paramount area in southeast Los Angeles, where some demonstrators displayed Mexican flags and others covered their mouths with respiratory masks. Trump's border official Tom Homan told Fox News the National Guard would be deployed in Los Angeles on Saturday evening (local time). California governor Gavin Newsom called the decision "purposefully inflammatory". "If governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can't do their jobs, which everyone knows they can't, then the federal government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!" Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. The protests pit Democratic-run Los Angeles, where census data suggests a significant portion of the population is Hispanic and foreign-born, against Trump's Republican White House, which has made cracking down on immigration a hallmark of his second term. In the late afternoon, authorities began detaining some protesters, according to Reuters witnesses. There was no immediate official information of any arrests. Television news footage earlier in the day showed caravans of unmarked military-style vehicles and vans loaded with uniformed federal agents streaming through Los Angeles streets as part of the immigration enforcement operation. Photo: KENA BETANCUR / AFP Video footage showed dozens of green-uniformed security personnel with gas masks lined up on a road strewn with overturned shopping carts as small canisters exploded into gas clouds. "Now they know that they cannot go to anywhere in this country where our people are, and try to kidnap our workers, our people - they cannot do that without an organised and fierce resistance," protester Ron Gochez, 44, said. A first round of protests kicked off on Friday night after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents conducted enforcement operations in the city and arrested at least 44 people on alleged immigration violations. Immigration hardliner and the White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller wrote on X that Friday's demonstrations were "an insurrection against the laws and sovereignty of the United States." On Saturday, he described the day's protests as a "violent insurrection". The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement about Friday's protests that "1000 rioters surrounded a federal law enforcement building and assaulted ICE law enforcement officers, slashed tires, defaced buildings, and taxpayer funded property." Reuters could not verify DHS's accounts. Executive director of immigrants' rights organisation Chirla Angelica Salas said lawyers had not had access to those detained on Friday, which she called "very worrying". Trump has pledged to deport record numbers of people in the country illegally and lock down the US-Mexico border, with the White House setting a goal for ICE to arrest at least 3000 migrants per day. But the sweeping immigration crackdown has also caught up people legally residing in the country, including some with permanent residence, and has led to legal challenges. In a statement on Saturday about the protests in Paramount, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office said: "It appeared that federal law enforcement officers were in the area, and that members of the public were gathering to protest." Salas of Chirla said protesters gathered after an ICE contingent appeared to be using parking lots near a Paramount Home Depot store as a base. ICE, the Department of Homeland Security and the Los Angeles Police Department did not respond to requests for comment on the protests or potential immigration sweeps on Saturday. Television news footage on Friday showed unmarked vehicles resembling military transport and vans loaded with uniformed federal agents streaming through Los Angeles streets as part of the immigration enforcement operation. Raids occurred around Home Depot stores, where street vendors and day labourers were picked up, as well as at a garment factory and a warehouse, Salas of Chirla said. Karen Bass. Photo: AFP The Democratic mayor of Los Angeles Karen Bass condemned the immigration raids. "I am deeply angered by what has taken place," Bass said in a statement. "These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city. We will not stand for this." - Reuters
1News
5 hours ago
- 1News
Trump warns Musk of 'serious consequences' if he backs Democrats
US President Donald Trump is not backing off his battle with Elon Musk, saying he has no desire to repair their relationship and warning that his former ally and campaign benefactor could face 'serious consequences' if he tries to help Democrats in upcoming elections. Trump told NBC's Kristen Welker in a phone interview that he has no plans to make up with Musk. Asked specifically if he thought his relationship with the mega-billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX is over, Trump responded, 'I would assume so, yeah.' 'I'm too busy doing other things,' Trump continued. 'You know, I won an election in a landslide. I gave him a lot of breaks, long before this happened, I gave him breaks in my first administration, and saved his life in my first administration, I have no intention of speaking to him.' The president also issued a warning amid chatter that Musk could back Democratic lawmakers and candidates in the 2026 midterm elections. ADVERTISEMENT 'If he does, he'll have to pay the consequences for that,' Trump told NBC, though he declined to share what those consequences would be. Musk's businesses have many lucrative federal contracts. The president's latest comments suggest Musk is moving from close ally to a potential new target for Trump, who has aggressively wielded the powers of his office to crack down on critics and punish perceived enemies. As a major government contractor, Musk's businesses could be particularly vulnerable to retribution. Trump has already threatened to cut Musk's contracts, calling it an easy way to save money. The dramatic rupture between the president and the world's richest man began this week with Musk's public criticism of Trump's 'big beautiful bill' pending on Capitol Hill. Musk has warned that the bill will increase the federal deficit and called it a 'disgusting abomination.' Trump criticised Musk in the Oval Office, and before long, he and Musk began trading bitterly personal attacks on social media, sending the White House and GOP congressional leaders scrambling to assess the fallout. As the back-and-forth intensified, Musk suggested Trump should be impeached and claimed without evidence that the government was concealing information about the president's association with infamous pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. ADVERTISEMENT Musk appeared by Saturday morning to have deleted his posts about Epstein. Vice President JD Vance in an interview tried to downplay the feud. He said Musk was making a 'huge mistake' going after Trump, but called him an 'emotional guy' getting frustrated. 'I hope that eventually Elon comes back into the fold. Maybe that's not possible now because he's gone so nuclear,' Vance said. Vance called Musk an 'incredible entrepreneur,' and said that Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, which sought to cut government spending and laid off or pushed out thousands of workers, was 'really good.' Vance made the comments in an interview with 'manosphere' comedian Theo Von, who last month joked about snorting drugs off a mixed-race baby and the sexuality of men in the US Navy when he opened for Trump at a military base in Qatar. The Vance interview was taped on Thursday as Musk's posts were unfurling on X, the social media network the billionaire owns. ADVERTISEMENT During the interview, Von showed the vice president Musk's claim that Trump's administration hasn't released all the records related to Epstein because Trump is mentioned in them. Vance responded to that, saying, 'Absolutely not. Donald Trump didn't do anything wrong with Jeffrey Epstein.' 'This stuff is just not helpful,' Vance said in response to another post shared by Musk calling for Trump to be impeached and replaced with Vance. 'It's totally insane. The president is doing a good job.' Vance also defended the bill that has drawn Musk's ire, and said its central goal was not to cut spending but to extend the 2017 tax cuts approved in Trump's first term. The bill would slash spending and taxes but also leave some 10.9 million more people without health insurance and spike deficits by US$2.4 trillion over the decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. 'It's a good bill," Vance said. "It's not a perfect bill.' ADVERTISEMENT The interview was taped in Nashville at a restaurant owned by musician Kid Rock, a Trump ally.
