Latest news with #bromance
The Independent
9 hours ago
- Business
- The Independent
Michael Cohen believes Trump will go after Musk's money
Michael Cohen, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, believes the president will turn on his friend Elon Musk due to jealousy over his wealth. Cohen made the remarks to MSNBC, adding he's long suspected the pair's 'bromance was going to come to an end.' Speaking to a network panel on Sunday, Cohen said: 'Trump will ultimately go after Elon's money next, because it bothers him that he is the richest man in the world.' Trump's net worth is currently at $5.1bn, while Musk is worth $417bn, according to Forbes. 'Yes, he used him for his money. Now he's going to go and he's going to figure out how Elon, with his companies, took advantage of the United States of America,' Cohen said. Cohen told panelists Trump could attempt to use the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which was spearheaded by Musk, against the Tesla CEO. 'They're going to turn around, use DOGE to go, 'right, government efficiency, fraud, waste and abuse. How is it that he got $7,000 as a credit for every Tesla vehicle that was sold? That's where his billions were made. Why should the United States pay for electric vehicles? Pay your own car if that's what you want.' So they're going to claw it back,' Cohen continued. Tesla and SpaceX, another company founded by Musk, have long benefited from government contracts. In February, Musk tweeted he loves Trump 'as much as a straight man can love another man.' Earlier this year, The Washington Post reported Musk's companies have received over $38bn in contracts, loans, subsidies and other forms of government aid. Additionally, a government electric vehicle tax credit has helped Musk make a fortune, Cohen said. 'He's going to do to Elon Musk, my prediction, what Mohammed bin Salman did to the other members of the royal family,' added Cohen, referencing how the Saudi crown prince was accused of going after the wealth of his relatives. Musk donated $288m to help elect Trump in 2024 and was seen a handful of times on the campaign trail. His association with the administration has led to some consumers boycotting Tesla, causing the company to lose more than half its value since December 17. Tesla quickly recovered after Musk announced he'd be taking a step back from his role as a special government employee. Last week, Musk said he was 'disappointed' by the president's tax and spending bill. In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to multiple federal crimes and later spent three years in prison. He was convicted of campaign finance violations, tax evasion and lying to Congress, stemming from hush money payments made to silence Stormy Daniels, a woman who claimed she had an affair with the president. Cohen was released after about a year and completed his sentence in home confinement during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Subtle way Trump humiliated Elon Musk in Oval Office showdown... and other telltale signs that reveal truth about their breakup
After Elon Musk 's surprise public break from President Donald Trump this week, everyone in Washington is desperately trying to determine the status of their once thriving bromance. Perhaps now we have a clue.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Trump and 'first buddy' Elon Musk's bromance ends with wild 53-minute Oval Office farewell and a golden gift
Donald Trump 's 'bromance' with Elon Musk entered a new chapter with a peculiar presser where the world's richest man praised Trump's decorating while sporting a black eye – and Trump gave him a gold key without admitting he was going away. 'Elon is really not leaving. He's going to be back and forth, I think. I have a feeling. It's his baby, and I think he's going to be doing a lot of things,' Trump said. It was one of several times neither man quite wanted to pronounce that Musk was finally leaving – even though Musk had written publicly about the end of his 130-day term as a 'Special Government Employee' with the ear of the world's most powerful man. 'Can you imagine they called him an employee?' Trump mused about his 'first buddy's' vague bureaucratic status that allowed him to avoid massive disclosure filings. The president spoke wistfully at times about the South Africa-born billionaire, who accompanied him on the campaign trail and pumped money into his election only to become a fixture at Mar-a-Lago while riding herd over his controversial Department of Governmental Efficiency. 'We'll remember you as we announce billions of dollars of extra waste, fraud and abuse,' Trump said. At one point Trump presented Musk with a golden key. 'And they gave him a little special something we have here, a very special – that I give to very special people. I have given it to some, but it goes to very special people, and I thought I'd give it to Elon as a presentation from our country. Thank you, Elon. Take care of yourself,' Trump said. 'This is not the end of DOGE, it's really the beginning,' said Musk, sounding like a retiring exec – although he is returning to helm his Tesla and SpaceX companies. He reached for a religion metaphor to hail his team of young engineers, at an event where Trump repeatedly referred to the 'slings and arrows' and other abuse Musk endured. 'I liken it to a sort of Buddhism. It's like a way of life,' Musk said. It wasn't the only gold blazing inside the Oval Friday. Musk began his own remarks bizarrely praising the president's decorating skills. 'By the way, isn't this incredible – this incredible? I mean, it's stunning. I think the way that Oval Office – the President has just completely redone the Oval Office. It's beautiful. I love the gold on the ceiling,' said the spending slasher who drew pushback after taking a dig at Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' said. 'It's been there a long time,' Trump chimed in. 'There was plaster. Nobody ever really saw it. They didn't know the eagle was up there. We highlighted it's essentially, it's a landmark, a great landmark. It's 24 carat gold, and everybody loved it. Now they all see it when they come in. And it's been good,' he said of the gilded design. When it came for questions, Musk stood by his pledge to elimiate $1 trillion – although DOGE only currently lists $175 billion in cancelled contracts on its web site after scrubbing multiple claims about nixed spending. 'We do expect, over time, to achieve a trillion,' Musk said. Trump also embraced the expanded time frame – but said he'd keep Musk in his thoughts. 'Many of the things that we're working on right now, we're going to have to remember Elon as we find them, but the numbers could double and triple, because many, many things – we don't want to go out with them until we're for sure, but we've, we've found things that are unbelievably stupid and unbelievably bad,' Trump said. Standing inside the room for all of it was Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, whose angry clash with Musk precipitated his departure. Also there was Katie Miller, the wife of top Trump aide Stephen Miller who is following Musk back to the private sector. Trump said cuts would be 'surgical', although Musk himself brandished a chain saw during his memorable sunglasses-wearing CPAC appearance. Unspoken through most of the event was a bombshell New York Times report claiming Musk regularly used drugs on the 2024 campaign trail. 'The New York Times? Is that the same publication that got a Pulitzer Prize for false reporting on the Russia-gate? Is it the same organization? I think it is,' said Musk – shielding himself by bringing up one of Trump's favorite obsessions. As he did in his State of the Union, Trump ran through a list of programs Musk's DOGE team identified as wasteful, bringing back a mention of transgender mice (it was actually an NIH study of sex differences in the brain). '$Forty-five million for Diversity Equity and Inclusion scholarships in Burma. In Burma, does anyone know about Burma?' Trump asked. There was little talk about the msasive disruption DOGE brought to government agencies, essentially dismantling U.S. international aid and slashing staff at agencies from the National Institutes of Health to the National Science Foundation and even the National Nuclear Security Administration (cuts that got quickly reversed). Was it worth it? 'We became essentially the DOGE boogeyman, where any cut anywhere would be ascribed to DOGE,' Musk replied. It wasn't until 42 minutes into the event that a reporter got the chance to ask the burning question about what was wrong with Musk's face. The world's richest man had already made reference to his 'shiner,' which was visible under his black ball cap as he wore a 'Dogefather' t-shirt and jacket. 'I was just horsting around with Little X, and I said, "Go ahead, punch me in the face. And he did,' Musk explained. 'That was X that did that?' Trump wanted to know. But the black eye sported by the man expecting to remain a 'friend and advisor' hadn't caught his attention, Trump claimed.
Arab News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Arab News
Trump says Macrons ‘are fine' after plane row video
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said Friday that Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte were 'fine,' after a viral video appeared to show her shoving the French president's face on a trip to Vietnam. 'Make sure the door remains closed,' the three-times married Trump quipped to reporters when asked if he had any 'world leader to world leader marital advice' for Macron about the video. 'That was not good,' added Trump, who was holding a joint press conference with billionaire Elon Musk in the Oval Office. The incident was filmed just as the door of the French presidential plane swung open after landing in Hanoi on Sunday. It showed Brigitte Macron, 72, sticking out both her hands and giving her husband's face a shove. Macron, 47, appeared startled but quickly recovered and turns to wave through the open door. The 78-year-old US president, who has long had a 'bromance' with his French counterpart, said he had been in touch with him since. 'I spoke to him. He's fine. They're fine. They're two really good people. I know them very well,' added Trump. 'I don't know what that was all about.' Macron himself denied on Monday that the couple had been having a domestic dispute. He blamed disinformation campaigns for trying to put false meaning on the footage. Musk, who was marking his departure from the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, meanwhile took the chance to joke at Macron's expense. Asked about a black eye he was sporting, the tycoon replied 'I wasn't anywhere near France' to the apparent puzzlement of a reporter who asked him to explain the comment. Musk then said it was his son who caused the injury with a punch.
Daily Mail
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
ANDREW NEIL: Donald Trump's 'bromance diplomacy' in the Middle East has achieved more in a few days than the conventional approach has in decades
Call it diplomacy by bromance. Donald Trump deployed it in the Middle East this week and made more progress in a few days than conventional diplomacy has made in decades. But then the Gulf States – 'an amazing part of the world' he told them on Thursday – are Trump's kind of places.
