Axios

Elon Musk might have hundreds of billions of dollars and a social media megaphone, but President Trump's power over the levers of government may put Musk's business empire at much more immediate risk.

The big picture: Virtually everything Musk does has huge regulatory exposure, from cars to spaceflight to neural implants.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia is on his way back to the U.S. to face criminal charges, according to a newly unsealed indictment.

The big picture: Abrego Garcia, whose deportation to El Salvador has been a flashpoint in President Trump's immigration agenda, has been charged with smuggling undocumented immigrants in the U.S.

Elon Musk and Donald Trump's very public clash is rekindling a debate over gender stereotypes.

Why it matters: The reality is few leaders could get away with feuding on social media. But the debacle revealed competing views about how powerful men — and women — might be expected to communicate.

D.C.'s public schools will enforce a cell phone ban starting next school year, the district said on Friday.

Why it matters: D.C. joins nearly half the country in the bipartisan push to limit students' cellphone use in the classroom.

Army officials are preparing to display rocket launchers and missiles along with more than a hundred military aircraft and vehicles next weekend at the D.C. parade celebrating the Army's 250th anniversary, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: President Trump has envisioned the June 14 parade — which is scheduled on his 79th birthday — as a show of U.S. military might.

The Trump administration’s spending cuts and restrictions on foreign students are triggering a brain drain — and American scientists are panicking.

Why it matters: U.S. researchers' fears are coming true. America’s science pipeline is drying up, and countries like China are seizing the opportunity to surge ahead.

Republicans are increasingly worried that budget cuts by Elon Musk's DOGE could cost them dearly in November's vote for Virginia governor — an early electoral test of President Trump's policies.

Why it matters: Virginia has one of the highest percentages of federal employees in the country — more than 5% of the state's workforce by some estimates — and Republicans' internal polls are starting to show the damage from tens of thousands of federal layoffs.

The State Department is discussing allocating $500 million for funding of the U.S. and Israel backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) that has been delivering food to Palestinians in Gaza in recent weeks, a U.S. official and a source with direct knowledge told Axios.

Why it matters: If the U.S. goes ahead with this massive funding, it will become the biggest donor to the foundation and will de facto "own" the operation.

Top Treasury officials are privately explaining to GOP senators that Section 899 of the House-passed budget bill is already forcing foreign countries to the negotiating table, according to administration officials.

Why it matters: Critics are calling the provision a "revenge tax." But the Trump administration sees Section 899 as an important tool — like tariffs — to help negotiate better deals for American multinational corporations.

Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) is coming under fire from colleagues in both parties after misidentifying a Sikh man as Muslim and saying he should have "never been allowed" to deliver the House's morning prayer.

Why it matters: Even some Republicans are expressing disgust at Miller, a right-wing hardliner who has cultivated a reputation for making inflammatory comments.

DOGE employees can access millions of Americans' sensitive Social Security data, the Supreme Court ruled Friday in a party-line decision.

Why it matters: The ruling is a win for the Trump administration, which has charged the Department of Government Efficiency with rooting out alleged waste and fraud at the Social Security Administration.

Elon Musk's breakup with President Trump undercuts his personal empire, but it's good news for a variety of corporate players.

Why it matters: Without close ties to the White House, Musk is less powerful politically.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) finally settled on how to get Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) back on the House Intelligence Committee: Give Democrats an extra seat on the panel in order to make space for her.

Why it matters: Stefanik was becoming a thorn in Johnson's side, criticizing him in public after she gave up her seat on the panel to pursue her now-withdrawn nomination for U.N. ambassador.

For Democrats in both chambers, Elon Musk will remain persona non grata, even if they were cheering him on during his slugfest with President Trump.

Why it matters: Musk is learning that he's a man without a party if he can't resolve his MAGA feud.

• He has bags of cash that some Democrats are eyeing, but he has even more political baggage — from his opposition to trans rights to his heavy focus on white South African farmers.

☢️ That makes him radioactive in Democratic primaries, and his companies are risking the same fate.

• Democratic candidates in New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois and Minnesota are facing questions about donations from Musk's SpaceX and its lobbyists.

Senior Trump political adviser Chris LaCivita is joining a super PAC bolstering Florida Sen. Ashley Moody in next year's midterm election, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: LaCivita gives Moody, who has filled the seat formerly held by now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the imprimatur of support from Trump's orbit.

• Moody was appointed in January to the seat by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who faced off against Trump in a bitter battle for the Republican nomination in 2024. She is seeking a full term in 2026.
• She has yet to attract a serious primary challenger.

Zoom in: Moody has also brought on Tony Fabrizio, another chief strategist on Trump's 2024 campaign.

Sen. Ted Cruz is pushing to give controversial pro-school choice measures in the "One Big, Beautiful Bill" an extra boost — taking his pitch straight to Trump this week.

• Why it matters: Reconciliation presents a rare opportunity to pass GOP priorities along party lines. Hill leaders are pushing for as much as they can.

Driving the news: Cruz (R-Texas) met with Trump at the White House yesterday along with Reps. Burgess Owens (R-Utah) and Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) who co-sponsored the House's version of Cruz's bill.

• The lawmakers were in the Oval Office as the public X feud between Trump and Musk heated up.

Five leaders of the Proud Boys sued the federal government on Friday, alleging their constitutional rights were violated when they were prosecuted for their actions on Jan. 6, 2021.

The big picture: The members of the right-wing extremist group, four of whom were convicted for engaging in seditious conspiracy, were among those pardoned in President Trump's unprecedented act of clemency for defendants charged with participating in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Senior Trump political adviser Chris LaCivita is joining a super PAC bolstering Florida Sen. Ashley Moody in next year's midterm election, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: LaCivita gives Moody, who has filled the seat formerly held by now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the imprimatur of support from President Trump's orbit.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) is pushing to give controversial pro-school choice measures in the "One Big, Beautiful Bill" an extra boost— taking his pitch straight to President Trump this week, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: Reconciliation presents a rare opportunity to pass GOP priorities along party lines. Hill leaders are pushing for as much as they can.

Democrats are making clear Elon Musk has no place in their party as the billionaire former DOGE head quickly becomes persona non grata among Republicans.

Why it matters: While Democrats are basking in Musk's open break with President Trump, they see little political value — and potentially great risk — in actually embracing him as an ally.

Cash from Elon Musk's companies has prompted finger-pointing in Democratic primaries, with candidates targeting donations their opponents received in some cases years before Musk's full embrace of the MAGA movement.

Why it matters: It has turned into a de facto purity test, with Democratic candidates in New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois and Minnesota facing questions about donations from Musk's SpaceX's political arm and its lobbyists.

Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) posted — then quickly deleted — that a Sikh should have "never been allowed" to lead the House of Representatives' daily prayer on Friday after initially incorrectly calling the man a Muslim.

Why it matters: This is not the first time Miller has fallen into hot water for inflammatory remarks. Shortly before she took office in 2021, she made headlines for saying "Hitler was right about one thing."

President Trump is considering selling his new Tesla as his scuffle with Elon Musk escalates, a White House official confirmed to Axios.

The big picture: The feud between the president and the billionaire is costing them billions, and Tesla shares specifically dropped 14.3% as of Thursday at a price tag of just under $20 billion for Musk.

Republicans overwhelmingly said they'd side with President Trump over Elon Musk in the duo's explosive feud, according to Thursday polling.

Why it matters: Republicans' loyalty to Trump remains strong, and the acrimony only adds to Americans' existing dissatisfaction with the former head of DOGE.

Two nonpartisan groups are launching a $5 million advertising campaign urging vulnerable Republican senators to oppose the GOP's mega budget reconciliation bill, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: It's one of the first major media campaigns against the tax and spending cut package, landing as Senate Republicans negotiate changes to the bill.

Just a few months ago, investors were willing to massively increase the valuations of Elon Musk's companies, in part because of his proximity to Donald Trump and the centers of Washington power. That ended yesterday.

Why it matters: Markets and private investors attributed literally hundreds of billions of dollars of value to the idea that Musk's privileged access would flow to the success of Tesla, SpaceX, xAI and the like.

U.S. Steel workers and shareholders remain in limbo as to the status of its pending takeover by Japan's Nippon Steel, one week after President Trump suggested it was a done deal.

The big picture: We may not get a White House decision today, despite widespread expectations to the contrary.

New polling shows steep declines in Republicans' support for solar and especially wind power — data that lands as GOP lawmakers weigh bills to curtail incentives.

Why it matters: The Pew Research Center survey reveals Democrats' challenge in trying to exact a political price for scuttling IRA credits.

Elon Musk's threat Thursday to decommission SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft would have left NASA reliant on Russian capsules to get its astronauts into space.

Why it matters: Musk's rift with President Trump exposes how reliant NASA has become on a single private sector partner to reach the International Space Station after ending the space shuttle program in 2011.

The U.S. economy added 139,000 jobs in May, while the unemployment rate held at 4.2%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Friday.

Why it matters: The labor market's headline numbers were healthy as President Trump's volatile trade war played out last month.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday on CNBC that he hopes the stunning feud between Elon Musk and President Trump is quickly resolved.

Why it matters: Musk personally targeted Johnson (R-La.) in a series of posts on Thursday. Johnson refers to Musk as a friend, and said he and Musk had a "very friendly conversation" as recently as Monday.

Shortly after President Trump unexpectedly withdrew Elon Musk's pick to lead NASA last weekend, one name quickly surfaced as a major force behind the surprise decision: top White House aide Sergio Gor.

Why it matters: Trump acknowledged Thursday that canceling Jared Isaacman's NASA nomination had "upset" Musk, who's close to Isaacman. It was a factor, among many, that led to Thursday's shocking falling out between the president and his one-time "First Buddy," the world's richest person.

To honor the end of Elon Musk's "incredible" government service, President Trump presented his friend, adviser and billionaire benefactor with a golden key to the White House.

• Six days later, Musk lit the place on fire.

Why it matters: The most powerful civilian ever has effectively declared war on the president of the United States, incinerating their relationship — at least for now — in one of history's most extraordinary political meltdowns.

The Trump administration announced sanctions on four International Criminal Court judges on Thursday over what Secretary of State Marco Rubio called "illegitimate actions" that he said targeted the U.S. and Israel.

The big picture: The sanctions are in response to the ICC issuing arrest warrants in November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant and the court's investigation into alleged U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan.

President Trump and Elon Musk struck more conciliatory tones on Thursday night, hours after their feud ignited and then escalated over social media.

The big picture: After a day that was marked by Trump threatening to cancel billions of dollars of government contracts with Musk's companies and the world's richest person calling for the president's impeachment, there are signs that tensions between them might be easing.

A federal judge temporarily blocked President Trump's proclamation that suspended the entry of international students seeking to attend Harvard University.

Why it matters: U.S. District Court Judge Allison Burroughs' temporary restraining order marks the latest legal blow for Trump in his attempt to strip Harvard of its ability to host international students amid a weeks-long legal battle with the Ivy League school.

Elon Musk unleashed a fresh round of tweets late Thursday afternoon, calling for President Trump to be impeached and declaring that SpaceX would begin decommissioning a spacecraft essential to NASA's operation — though he later backtracked on this threat.

Why it matters: Trump's threat to cancel billions of dollars of government contracts with Musk's companies has ignited a new round of escalation in the explosive civil war between the two former allies.

House Democrats are asking the Department of Justice and FBI whether it is true, as Elon Musk now claims, that President Trump is in the Epstein files, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: It's the starkest example to date of how the highly public feud between the president and his onetime lieutenant is playing right into the hands of the Trump's political opponents.