Live updates: Musk exits White House, Trump, court tariff battle escalates
Elon Musk exited the White House this week with little to show for his cost-cutting push and a list of frustrations from his time in the Trump administration.
The tech billionaire announced his departure Wednesday shortly after voicing concerns about the sweeping tax and spending bill backed by Trump and congressional Republicans, which is expected to add trillions of dollars to the national debt.
Musk criticized it in an interview with CBS News for not codifying the broad government funding cuts enacted by his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” he said.
Musk’s full interview will air on Sunday morning.
Additionally, the Trump administration has intensified its standoff with the courts over tariffs in recent days, with top advisors condemning two rulings that sought to block the tariffs from proceeding as planned.
Despite the ruling in favor of the administration, deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller blasted the orders as “judicial tyranny.” At the same time, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt accused magistrates of “inserting themselves” into the presidential decision-making process.
In recent months, Supreme Court justices have spoken out in defense of judges across the nation, urging them to stand tall amid attacks.
However, Trump’s officials have maintained that tariffs and other measures are permitted by federal law despite legal battles and schisms.
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett has blamed “activist judges” for blocks to Trump’s trade policy and will likely expand on his criticism of the judiciary during a Sunday appearance on ABC’s “This Week.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is likely to hit on the status of trade talks with China, Japan and other global partners on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Plus, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said he doesn’t expect “too many surprises” from the Senate on the GOP budget bill as Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) have voiced concerns with the “big, beautiful” text.
Paul is set to appear on CBS’s “Face the Nation” and Johnson will be interviewed on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”
Read the full Sunday show line up here and follow below for today’s live updates.
