Live Updates: Trump-Musk feud simmers, Abrego Garcia returns

The president shared a post Friday afternoon rebuking Elon Musk's claims that he is "in the Epstein files," breaking Mr. Trump's hours-long silence about his feud with Musk.

Mr. Trump shared a screenshot of an X post from attorney David Schoen that said Epstein "had no information to hurt President Trump." Schoen — who once represented Mr. Trump in an impeachment trial — says he was hired to represent Epstein shortly before his death in custody for sex trafficking charges.

Schoen's post didn't mention Musk by name, but it appeared to be a response to Musk's claim a day earlier that "@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public."

The post marked Mr. Trump's first comments on Truth Social about the Musk feud since Thursday, when the president repeatedly lashed out at Musk and said he had "gone CRAZY." Mr. Trump spoke with several reporters earlier Friday, telling CBS News' chief Washington analyst Robert Costa he's focusing on domestic and foreign policy rather than Musk.

A federal appeals court on Friday said the president could bar the Associated Press from the Oval Office and other restricted spaces, blocking a judge's ruling that the White House's decision likely violated the First Amendment.

The White House informed the AP in February that it would no longer be permitted in the Oval Office, Air Force One and other places where members of the White House press pool are allowed because of its refusal to use the name Gulf of America in its Stylebook and reporting. The wire service has continued to use the name Gulf of Mexico.

"We grant in part the government's motion for a stay pending appeal," the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia wrote in a 2-1 decision.

"The White House is likely to succeed on the merits because these restricted presidential spaces are not First Amendment fora opened for private speech and discussion," the decision said. "The White House therefore retains discretion to determine, including on the basis of viewpoint, which journalists will be admitted. Moreover, without a stay, the government will suffer irreparable harm because the injunction impinges on the President's independence and control over his private workspaces."

Read more here.

An attorney for Kilmar Abrego Garcia called his return to the U.S. to face criminal charges Friday "an abuse of power, not justice," after he spent months in Salvadoran prisons following his deportation from Maryland.

Lawyer Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said the government "disappeared Kilmar to a foreign prison in violation of a court order. Now, after months of delay and secrecy, they're bringing him back, not to correct their error but to prosecute him."

Meanwhile, Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen said, "this is not about the man, it's about his constitutional rights – and the rights of all. The Administration will now have to make its case in the court of law, as it should have all along."

The Justice Department has charged Abrego Garcia with one count of conspiracy to transport aliens and one count of unlawful transportation of undocumented aliens. Attorney General Pam Bondi alleged he "played a significant role in an alien smuggling ring."

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency in a pair of cases Friday — as DOGE's former leader Elon Musk feuds with President Trump.

The high court allowed DOGE to access sensitive information held by the Social Security Administration, lifting a lower court injunction that halted the group from accessing the agency's records amid legal challenges. The justices also halted a separate lower court order that required DOGE to hand over records about its work and personnel to a government watchdog group.

The high court's three liberal justices dissented from both rulings.

DOGE was previously led by Musk, but his time as a formal part of the Trump administration came to an end last week.

Read more here.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia — the Maryland man from El Salvador who had been deported and imprisoned there — has landed back in the U.S., Attorney General Pam Bondi announced in a press conference Friday afternoon, months after a judge ordered his return.

Minutes earlier, federal criminal charges were unsealed against Abrego Garcia for transporting aliens. Bondi said that, if convicted, he will return to his home country after serving a sentence in the U.S.

"Abrego Garica has landed in the United States to face justice," Bondi announced, adding, "this is what American justice looks like."

Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador in March, in what the Trump administration acknowledged was an error. A judge ordered the Trump administration to "facilitate" the return of Abrego Garcia, who was deported even though a court had previously ruled he should not be sent to El Salvador.

Read more here.

By Melissa Quinn and Kathryn Watson

The State Department told diplomatic posts to start refusing student and exchange visa applicants who plan to study at Harvard University "effective immediately," in a message Friday signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and obtained by CBS News.

Mr. Trump had ordered an immediate halt on international students entering the U.S. to study at Harvard on Wednesday, with narrow exceptions for applicants whose entry would be "in the national interest," escalating a simmering feud between Mr. Trump and the Ivy League school. A judge temporarily blocked that rule Thursday night after Harvard sued; it's unclear how that ruling impacts Friday's memo.

Friday's message said visas that have already been issued but haven't left a foreign embassy or consulate yet should be cancelled, but action shouldn't be taken on visas that have already left. Any decisions about revoking visas for current students "will be coordinated from Washington."

A State Department spokesperson told CBS News it "does not comment on internal communications, nor do we comment on pending litigation."

Kilmar Abrego Garcia was charged in U.S. federal court in an indictment unsealed Friday.

The indictment — filed in Nashville — charges Abrego Garcia with one count of conspiracy to transport aliens and one count of unlawful transportation of undocumented aliens.

ABC News reported Friday that he was being brought back to the U.S. to face criminal charges.

En route to New Jersey from the White House Friday, the president declined an opportunity to speak to reporters gathered on the White House South Lawn.

The president would have faced questions about Musk, among other topics. Mr. Trump, who frequently gaggles with reporters, hasn't spoken to reporters at the White House other than individual calls with reporters since his public feud with Musk.

FBI Director Kash Patel revealed during an episode of Joe Rogan's podcast, "The Joe Rogan Experience," that he was the victim of swatting.

"As the director of the FBI, I have a responsibility — I'm not just going to bring a case because somebody hurt me. They did, and they continue to do it," Patel said. "S**t, my house just got swatted yesterday."

The episode with Patel was published Friday, though it's unclear when it was taped. According to KLAS, a swatting call was reported at Patel's Las Vegas home on Tuesday morning. The caller said there was an active crime being committed at the house.

Police determined the call was a hoax before officers responded, according to KLAS.

The president posted on Truth Social that trade talks between U.S. officials and their Chinese counterparts will take place on Monday in London.

Mr. Trump said the U.S. would be represented by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

"The meeting should go very well," he wrote.

News of the meeting comes one day after Mr. Trump spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping for 90 minutes and said the two sides agreed to resume talks. The two countries had exchanged accusations that each was violating a May 12 truce in an escalating tariff battle, an agreement that was meant to pave the way for a broader trade deal.

Despite the public feud between Mr. Trump and Musk, there has been no effort to oust the over 100 administration officials who came from Musk's orbit, according to three administration officials.

Sources say the White House's Presidential Personnel Office, led by Sergio Gor, is not working to push these staffers and nominees out. Many are expected to be confirmed by the Senate in the next month. As of Friday afternoon, the White House has not received any official resignations from DOGE staffers since Thursday's public blowup between the president and Musk.

Administration staffers supported by Musk include Troy Meink, who was confirmed recently by the Senate to be secretary of the Air Force. Stephen Ehikian, a former Salesforce vice president with ties to Musk, currently serves as the acting head of the General Services Administration. And sources say there is not an effort to pull the nomination of venture capitalist Scott Kupor to lead the Office of Personnel Management.

One Musk-backed nominee who was pulled, days before Thursday's public breakup between Musk and Trump, was Jason Isaacman, who had been awaiting Senate confirmation to lead NASA.

Sources said the withdrawal of Isaacman to lead NASA wasn't out of spite towards Musk. Mr. Trump announced he pulled Isaacman's nomination on May 31, ahead of the public spat with Musk. On Thursday, the president referenced Isaacman's donations to Democratic campaigns as a reason why his nomination was withdrawn.

"I say, you know, look, we won. We get certain privileges, and one of the privileges [is] we don't have to appoint a Democrat,"' Mr. Trump said Thursday in an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Republican senators had also called the White House to complain about Isaacman's Democratic donations and ask for his nomination to be pulled, sources say.

In 2024, Isaacman donated to several Democrats, including Sens. Chuck Schumer, Jon Tester, Bob Casey and Mark Kelly. Campaign finance records show his last donation to a Republican was to Florida State Rep. Randy Fine's campaign in a February special election. There were no donations shown for Mr. Trump.

Former White House aide Steve Bannon was among those critical of Isaacman's nomination. "No progressive Democrats in the administration — start by checking donors," Bannon said. He declined to say if he hopes some of Musk's allies leave government after Thursday's spat.

By Jennifer Jacobs and Aaron Navarro

In a phone conversation Friday morning, President Trump told chief Washington analyst for CBS News Robert Costa that he's moving forward with his presidency today, and "totally" focused on domestic and foreign policy matters — not on Musk and their public feud. He also cast this moment as a positive one economically, even as many of his supporters and critics are paying close attention to Musk's attacks on his administration.

"That's all I focus on," Mr. Trump said of his presidency. "I don't focus on anything else. That's why I have my highest poll numbers."

"It's going really well," the president added. "The country is doing great, has never done so well. Jobs numbers are great, everything is good."

According to two sources close to the president who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations, the atmosphere at the White House this morning is muted about Musk. The president, they said, is unhappy with him. But the president also finds him to be "immature" and "acting out," as one source described Mr. Trump's view of the situation.

"This is a fluid thing and a lot can happen. It's wait and see, wait and see what happens, what Musk does, how the president digests it," one of the sources said. "We're all not going to get ahead of this and he's just doing what he always does, be the president and keep on moving."

Musk took up posting on X again Friday, responding to Steve Bannon's criticism of him. The former chief White House strategist, who remains close to Mr. Trump, had suggested Musk, a naturalized citizen from South Africa, should be "deported from the country immediately."

"Bannon is a criminal," Musk wrote in response to a video of Bannon suggesting the federal government should immediately seize SpaceX, one of Musk's companies. "And a communist."

Bannon served four months in prison for defying a congressional subpoena in the investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol assault.

Steve Bannon on Friday called on the Trump administration to investigate Elon Musk.

Bannon, a former White House chief strategist and an ally of President Trump, told CBS News he wants the White House and Trump administration to probe alleged drug use by Musk, the South African-native's immigration status and the Musk-inspired Department of Government Efficiency.

"They have to do that. You have to take his security clearance. Investigate drug use and investigate his involvement" with China, Bannon said in a phone interview. "And you have to investigate his status as a citizen."

Bannon questioned whether Musk's path to citizenship was handled properly.

"If it turned out he overstayed visas and lied about it, it's not right. It has to be investigated," Bannon said.

He added that he now believes DOGE needs greater scrutiny.

"Did they take data sets to feed into their AI model? This has to be investigated now. He's an unstable individual. What did DOGE do? What did DOGE find?" Bannon asked, saying it's a matter of "national security."

Read more here.

Tesla's stock price rose in early trading, regaining some of the ground it lost after an acrimonious online dispute between Elon Musk, CEO of the electric car maker, and President Trump.

Tesla shares closed down 14% on Thursday following the heated exchange, with Mr. Trump threatening to strip Musk's companies of their government contracts. The stock was up more than 5%, to around $300, as of 1 p.m. ET.

Wedbush tech analyst Dan Ives said the spat unnerved Tesla investors, he remained optimistic the stock would rebound. "Musk needs Trump and Trump needs Musk for many reasons, and these two becoming friends again will be a huge relief for Tesla shares," he wrote in a research note Friday.

President Trump's administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to clear the way for it to continue with its efforts to dismantle the Department of Education and lay off more than 1,300 employees while a legal fight over the future of the department moves forward.

The Justice Department is seeking the high court's intervention in a pair of disputes brought by a group of 20 states, school districts and teachers unions, which challenge Mr. Trump's plans to unwind the Department of Education. The president signed an executive order in March directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to facilitate the department's closure to the maximum extent allowed under the law.

As part of Mr. Trump's pledge to get rid of the department, the administration canceled a host of grants and executed a reduction in force, or a layoff, that impacted 1,378 employees — roughly a third of the department's workforce. Affected workers were placed on administrative leave and were to receive full pay and benefits until June 9.

Mr. Trump also announced that the Small Business Administration would take over the Education Department's student-loan portfolio, and the Department of Health and Human Services would handle special education, nutrition and other related services.

In response to the lawsuits challenging Mr. Trump's actions, a federal judge in Massachusetts blocked the administration from carrying out its layoffs, finding that the reduction-in-force was a unilateral effort to close the department, which would violate the separation of powers.

Read more here.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday morning he hopes Mr. Trump and Musk "reconcile" but warned against challenging the president of the United States.

Johnson told reporters he hasn't spoken with Musk by phone and said he has only communicated with him by text since Thursday's public fallout between Mr. Trump and Musk.

The speaker said he was at the White House with the president Thursday "as some of this was unfolding" and described the president as "disappointed" by what Musk said. But Johnson said he hopes the two men can reconcile.

"I believe in redemption," Johnson said. "That's part of my worldview, and I think it's good for the party and the country if all that's worked out."

"I tell you what, do not doubt and do not second-guess and don't ever challenge the president of the United States, Donald Trump," Johnson added. "He is the leader of the party. He's the most consequential political figure of this generation and probably the modern era, and he's doing an excellent job for the people."

A senior administration official said Mr. Trump is thinking about selling the Tesla he purchased earlier this year.

In March, the president said that he would buy a Tesla "as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk." Several models of the vehicle were displayed on the driveway at the White House for Mr. Trump to shop from and he ultimately selected a red Model S, which starts at around $80,000.

Mr. Trump told reporters then that he would write a check for the car and leave it at the White House for his staff to use.

On the heels of their public spat, Musk is seeking a call with Mr. Trump. A call hasn't taken place, a source familiar with the discussions told CBS News. The source said Mr. Trump hasn't elected to schedule a call with Musk.

A second source told CBS News that the president isn't interested in speaking with Musk.

In an appearance on CNN, White House Office and Management Director Russ Vought said of Musk's comments lambasting the Trump tax bill, "We're disappointed by Elon's comments, but look, we have a job to do. The president has a job to do."

As to whether the cancellation of Musk's government subsidies and contracts is actually under consideration, a threat Mr. Trump made Thursday, Vought did not answer directly — he said Musk and his companies, which include Tesla, SpaceX and Starlink, benefit from taxpayer dollars.

The president posted on Truth Social that the "easiest" way to save "billions and billions" in the budget "is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts."

Vought argued the president's post was intended to state "the reality that the businesses of Elon Musk benefit and work in tandem with the federal government. And the American people need to know that."

Vought also acknowledged that the tax bill, titled One Big Beautiful Bill, could be changed by the Senate and that the White House is having conversations with House and Senate members to make "improvements" to it.

The May jobs report showed 139,000 jobs were added in the last month. President Trump reacted favorably to the news, posting on Truth Social, "AMERICA IS HOT! SIX MONTHS AGO IT WAS COLD AS ICE! BORDER IS CLOSED, PRICES ARE DOWN. WAGES ARE UP!"

In another post, he criticized Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, urging him to slash interest rates. CBS News MoneyWatch correspondent Kelly O'Grady breaks down the job report numbers, and CBS News' Natalie Brand has the latest updates from the White House.

Top White House trade adviser Peter Navarro praised the work of the Department of Government Efficiency, formerly led by Musk, and expressed doubt that the feud would affect DOGE efforts in the future.

"Waste, fraud and abuse, unfortunately, is alive and well in America, and the DOGE folks here, they're good folks," he told reporters at the White House Friday. "When you work with them and bring to them the institutional knowledge of our bureaucracies' work and what's important in a bureaucracy and what's not, when you wed to that, it's a great thing. So, we're happy."

He said of Musk that he was "a special government employee with an expiration date" and added that he works with DOGE staff "a lot here."

The alliance between President Trump and Elon Musk went up in flames Thursday, days after the world's richest man left the administration and tried to wield his influence to kill a massive budget bill that is central to enacting the president's top legislative priorities.

Their spat played out in public and marked another remarkable turn for Musk, who spent tens of millions on Mr. Trump's reelection campaign and was given the reins to slash the size of the federal government. Here's a look back at how Mr. Trump and Musk got here.

By Caitlin Yilek and Joe Walsh

In response to the spat between Mr. Trump and Musk, Vice President JD Vance reaffirmed his loyalty to the president, writing on social media that he has "done more than any person in my lifetime to earn the trust of the movement he leads. I'm proud to stand beside him."

As the feud between Mr. Trump and Musk unfolded Thursday, the billionaire claimed on X, the social media platform he owns, that the president's name appeared in the files related to the case of Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier who faced charges of sex trafficking and died by suicide while in federal custody in 2019. He said "that is the real reason" the files haven't been released to the public.

Musk teased the allegation by claiming it was "time to drop the really big bomb."

Trump administration officials pledged to release more files related to Epstein's case once the president returned to the White House for his second term. The Justice Department in February released some information to more than a dozen right-wing influencers, but some who were part of the group said they learned nothing new.