President Donald Trump spoke at a University of Alabama commencement event in Tuscaloosa on Thursday evening, where he slammed trans athletes and asked students to give him grace as he gets “acclimated” to the presidency.
Trump walked onto the stage to the cheers of nearly 3,000 students chanting “USA! USA!”
The president used the opportunity to encourage graduates to pursue their dreams, while touting his administration’s recent accomplishments on tariffs and immigration policy.
Much of Trump’s remarks mimicked speeches he gave on the campaign trail. On Tuesday, the president celebrated the first 100 days of his administration amid tanking poll numbers.
Still, he told graduates they were about to launch their careers in the “golden age of America” as he tries to “make America great again.”
He urged them to be part of that change.
“Each of the graduates in this arena will soon have the chance to help lead this project of national renewal,” Trump said.
“You’ll embrace this moment and you’ll step forward with strength and grit, faith and patriotism to put America on a new trajectory for your children. And then you’ll take your place among the greatest generations in the history of our country.”
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Key points
- Trump nominates Waltz to be UN ambassador, removing him from NSA role
- Waltz 'deeply honored' to continue service in Trump administration
- Analysis: Waltz may have a shiny new job – but forcing him out of Trump’s inner circle is still a win for MAGA
- Trump uses National Day of Prayer to insult Biden, spread election lies and claim he was sent by god
- Stephen Miller claims Trump ‘has literally saved America’ as White House deflects from bad economic news
- Kamala Harris blasts Trump tariffs as ‘greatest man-made economic crisis in modern presidential history’
Will Trump ruin Christmas?
Wednesday 30 April 2025 14:54
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Oliver O'Connell
It may be many months away, but hundreds of toymakers have canceled orders since President Donald Trump imposed hefty tariffs on China, raising the prospect of a nightmare before Christmas.
Kelly Rissman reports.
Five bills and 142 executive orders signed in Trump's first 100 days
Wednesday 30 April 2025 15:00
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James Liddell
Wednesday 30 April 2025 15:05
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Oliver O'Connell
With a mediation hearing scheduled for today in Donald Trump’s suit against CBS and Paramount regarding his allegations about the 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, the president now appears to be trying to include The New York Times in the case, alleging “tortious interference” for reporting that the case is baseless.
Here’s what the president wrote on Truth Social:
The case we have against 60 Minutes, CBS, and Paramount is a true WINNER. They cheated and defrauded the American People at levels never seen before in the Political Arena. Kamala Harris, during Early Voting and, immediately before Election Day, was asked a question, and gave an answer, that was so bad and incompetent that it would have cost her many of the Votes that she ended up getting. It was a disastrous answer! 60 Minutes and its corporate parents, in order that this not have a negative impact on her, removed and deleted Kamala’s entire answer, every word of it, and replaced it with a response that she gave later on to an entirely different question. The new answer was not good, but it didn’t show Gross Incompetence like the one that was removed by 60 Minutes. In other words, 60 Minutes perpetrated a Giant FRAUD against the American People, the Federal Elections Commission, and the Federal Communications System. Despite all of the above, and Paramount’s/CBS’/60 Minutes’ admittance to this crime and, with other similar corrupt removals of answers to questions, the Failing New York Times, which is Fake News both in writing and polling, claims that “people” said that the case is baseless. They don’t mean that, they just have a non curable case of TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, possibly to the point where the Times’ interjection makes them liable for tortious interference, including in Elections, which we are intently studying. The bottom line is that what 60 Minutes and its corporate owners have committed is one of the most egregious illegalities in Broadcast History. Nothing like this, the illegal creation of an answer for a Presidential Candidate, has ever been done before, they have to pay a price for it, and the Times should also be on the hook for their likely unlawful behavior. It is vital to hold these Liars and Fraudsters accountable!
Here’s our recent coverage of Trump’s feud with 60 Minutes:
And the fallout from the departure of the show’s producer:
Girl, 2, marooned in US foster care after parents deported
Wednesday 30 April 2025 15:21
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James Liddell
A two-year-old girl has been marooned in foster care in the U.S. after her Venezuelan parents were deported to countries 1,500 miles apart.
Yorely Bernal Inciarte and Maiker Espinoza Escalona arrived with their child Maikelys Antonella Espinoza Bernal in Texas on May 14 last year. Neither held valid entry documents so they immediately surrendered to immigration authorities, according to ABC News.
After being held in separate detention facilities in the Lone Star State for several months, able to communicate with one another only by phone, Inciarte was abruptly returned to Venezuela earlier this month – but without her daughter.
She was subsequently shocked to learn that Escalona had been sent first to Guantanamo Bay and then to the notorious CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador on March 30, meaning their child was without access to either parent.
Joe Sommerlad has more:
Navarro says trade deals are coming 'just be patient'
Wednesday 30 April 2025 15:35
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Oliver O'Connell
Coming up to a quarter of the way through Donald Trump’s 90-day tariffs pause, trade adviser Peter Navarro told reporters at the White House this morning, “deals are coming, just be patient.”
He previously said there would be 90 deals in 90 days.
About 20 days into President Trump's 90 day reciprocal tariff pause Trump's Trade Advisor Peter Navarro told reporters this morning, "deals are coming, just be patient."
— Libbey Dean (@LibbeyDean_) April 30, 2025
Navarro previously forecasted 90 trade deals in 90 days.
Top Dems planned all-nighter to mark Trump’s ‘100 days of hell’
Wednesday 30 April 2025 15:42
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James Liddell
Top Democrats planned to hold the Senate floor late into the night Tuesday to mark what Minority Leader Chuck Schumer coined as Donald Trump’s “100 days of hell.”
That evening, Schumer tweeted: “RIGHT NOW: We are holding the Senate floor to fight back against the hell American families have gone through in Trump’s first hundred days.”
Before the planned all-nighter, Schumer said that Trump is a “threat to our democratic republic,” adding that: “He's acting like a king, a mob boss, a wannabe dictator.”
“Let us commit ourselves, all of us Democrats here in the Senate, against this administration, and to uphold the core values and principles of this beautiful nation which we must fight to preserve and protect,” he said.
Senate Democrats are due to join members of the House on the steps of the upper chamber on Wednesday in protest against Trump’s agenda.
Watch: Agriculture sec dismisses shrinking GBP
Wednesday 30 April 2025 15:44
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Oliver O'Connell
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins dismisses the latest GDP numbers that show the U.S. economy contracted in the first quarter of 2025 — the first time it has shrunk in three years.
“We remain convinced and confident this president knows exactly what he is doing. He is the ultimate deal-maker,” Rollins told Fox News this morning, towing the party line in a manner we will likely see echoed at today’s Cabinet meeting.
Brooke Rollins dismisses shrinking GDP: "We will get back to the GDP, etc., moving forward, and we remain convinced and confident this president knows exactly what he is doing. He is the ultimate deal-maker." pic.twitter.com/wLn86CnLbb
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 30, 2025
Musk no longer working from White House, Trump’s chief of staff reveals
Wednesday 30 April 2025 15:50
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Oliver O'Connell
Elon Musk is no longer working from the White House, Donald Trump’s chief of staff has revealed.
The president’s so-called First Buddy has been a looming presence during Trump’s first 100 days back in office. But earlier this month the Tesla CEO said he would be spending more time working on his troubled car company.
Now Susie Wiles has said that Musk is “not as present as he was” - physically at least.
He will reportedly be at this morning’s Cabinet meeting.
Here’s Madeline Sherratt’s report.
How did Trump's first 100 days impact the dollar?
Wednesday 30 April 2025 16:01
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James Liddell
Watch LIVE: President Trump holds first cabinet meeting after celebrating 100 days in office
Wednesday 30 April 2025 16:05
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Oliver O'Connell
Vance's absence from pope's funeral may have led to a more cordial Trump-Zelensky meeting
Wednesday 30 April 2025 16:21
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James Liddell
JD Vance’s absence from the Vatican for Pope Francis’ funeral Saturday may have led to a more cordial meeting between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky than February’s explosive Oval Office spat.
Sources told Axios that the recent Trump-Zelensky meeting was more positive without the Vice President and White House envoy Steve Witkoff.
Those close to the meeting said it lasted about 15 minutes and that the Ukrainian leader urged Trump to take a tougher line with Russian President Vladimir Putin to push for a ceasefire.
‘I’m not afraid of you’: Columbia student activist rebukes Trump after release from ICE detention
Wednesday 30 April 2025 16:40
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Oliver O'Connell
A Columbia University student who was arrested at his citizenship interview and hauled off in handcuffs had some words for Donald Trump’s administration after a federal judge in Vermont ordered his release.
Mohsen Mahdawi, holding up two “peace” signs, was greeted by cheering supporters as he walked out of the courthouse on Wednesday.
“To President Trump and his cabinet,” he said, “I am not afraid of you.”
Alex Woodward reports.
Watch: 'Schoolchildren could fact-check Trump,' CNN hosts quip after Michigan rally
Wednesday 30 April 2025 16:42
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James Liddell
Trump Cabinet meeting: President continue to blame Biden for economy
Wednesday 30 April 2025 16:45
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Oliver O'Connell
President Donald Trump continues to blame his predecessor, President Joe Biden, for the state of the economy.
“You probably saw some numbers today. I have to start off by saying that's Biden, not Trump. Because we came in on January — these are quarterly numbers, and we came in, and I was very against everything that Biden was doing in terms of the economy, destroying our country in so many ways,” the president said at today’s Cabinet meeting.
Presumably, that means he is responsible for just over two-thirds of the data?
Trump on GDP: You probably saw some numbers today. I have to start off by saying that's Biden, not Trump. Because we came in on January -- these are quarterly numbers pic.twitter.com/u030PzjF6A
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 30, 2025
Trump began the meeting by attacking judges for ruling against him.
He said: “We're having some judge problems, as everybody's reading. Some judges that don't like known killers, murderers being thrown out of the country. So I don't know what their problem is.”
Trump asks Cabinet for updates, starting with Hegseth
Wednesday 30 April 2025 16:50
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Oliver O'Connell
President Donald Trump asks for an update from his Cabinet, joking that he will be starting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth because “he's my least controversial person.”
Amid laughter, Hegseth replies: “I think we're controversial because we're over the target.”
Hegseth: "Well Mr. President, I think we're controversial because we're over the target." pic.twitter.com/zHx3lh7jj1
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 30, 2025
'Gulf of America' hats for everyone
Wednesday 30 April 2025 16:53
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Oliver O'Connell
Watch: Lutnick claims dinner companion wanted 10 Trump gold cards
Wednesday 30 April 2025 17:00
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Oliver O'Connell
Lutnick: "The attention on the Trump gold card -- I mean, it makes me very popular. Last night, I was out for dinner and somebody came up and said, 'Can I buy 10?' And I'm like, that's pretty good, that's $50 million for dinner. So it's paying for my dinner." pic.twitter.com/TIaxO2bTDG
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 30, 2025
Here’s what you need to know about the Trump gold card:
Trump says he could free Abrego Garcia, but won’t — that's not what his cabinet have said
Wednesday 30 April 2025 17:01
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Oliver O'Connell
President Donald Trump confirmed on Tuesday night that he could bring back Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly deported to El Salvador – contradicting statements from the administration, which asserted it couldn’t do anything to return him.
Ariana Baio has the story.
Watch: Duffy says brand new air traffic control system needed
Wednesday 30 April 2025 17:04
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Oliver O'Connell
Duffy: "If we don't build a brand new system, there are going to be failures and people will lose their lives."
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 30, 2025
Good luck air travelers! pic.twitter.com/rdD02VtExz
'Don't p*** down my back and tell me it's raining': Dave Portnoy reacts to Trump blaming Biden for stock market
Wednesday 30 April 2025 17:06
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Oliver O'Connell
What’s that old expression? Don’t piss down my back and tell me it’s raining? Well that applies here. The stock market is a direct reflection of Trumps 1st 100 days in office. Doesn’t mean it won’t get better and that we don’t need to be patient, but this is his market not Bidens pic.twitter.com/GVDCyL8NKH
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) April 30, 2025
'Most powerful women in the world' makes rare on-camera comments
Wednesday 30 April 2025 17:19
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Oliver O'Connell
Donald Trump’s White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles made rare on-camera comments during today’s Cabinet meeting when called on by the president as “the most powerful woman in the world.”
Wiles: Congratulations to everyone on 100 days.. it’s unparalleled in my memory and best I can tell, ever. pic.twitter.com/B7tyihOtGH
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 30, 2025
How Democrats are trying to turn MAGA’s ‘flood the zone’ strategy against Trump
Wednesday 30 April 2025 17:20
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Oliver O'Connell
John Bowden writes:
Democrats may have finally learned Steve Bannon’s favorite strategy: “Flood the zone”.
With Donald Trump’s presidency reaching its 100th day and the US president plummeting in approval polling on issues that have historically been his strongest areas with voters, the broader left and a wide coalition of groups are coming together to capitalize on a groundswell of discontent caused by the administration’s slash-and-burn tactics.
Read on...
New York Times responds to legal threat from Trump
Wednesday 30 April 2025 17:25
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Oliver O'Connell
The New York Times has responded to this morning’s legal threat from President Donald Trump regarding its reporting that described his suit against 60 Minutes as baseless.
A spokesperson for the outlet said: “President Trump's post today follows a long list of legal threats aimed at discouraging or penalizing independent reporting about the administration. The law is clear and protects a strong free press and favors an informed American public. The New York Times will not be deterred by the administration’s intimidation tactics. We will continue to pursue the facts without fear or favor and stand up for journalists’ First Amendment right to ask questions on behalf of the American people.”
New: Statement from New York Times spokesperson
— Natalie Korach (@NatalieKorach) April 30, 2025
"President Trump's post today follows a long list of legal threats aimed at discouraging or penalizing independent reporting about the administration. The law is clear and protects a strong free press and favors an informed… https://t.co/F5Xqbru7Yy
Bessent says next 100 days will be 'harvesting' work of first 100
Wednesday 30 April 2025 17:30
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Oliver O'Connell
When it comes to his turn to speak at the Cabinet meeting, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the first 100 days of the Trump administration were “setting the table” for peace, trade, and tax deals.
“The next 100 days will be harvesting,” he says.
Bessent: Sir, it's been a momentous 100 days with you at the helm pic.twitter.com/Hlb0WR5rua
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 30, 2025
Vance describes past presidents as 'place holders'
Wednesday 30 April 2025 17:33
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Oliver O'Connell
At the Cabinet meeting, Vice President JD Vance tells President Donald Trump: “You sit in the oval office and see portraits of presidents past and most of them have been place holders, people who allowed their staff to sign executive orders with an auto pen instead of men of action.”
Vance: you sit in the oval office and see portraits of presidents past and most of them have been place holders, people who allowed their staff to sign executive orders with an auto pen instead of men of action pic.twitter.com/QIRzmo1UNd
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 30, 2025
Attacking the media, Vance claimed that “the most under-reported fact of the first 100 days” is that enlistment numbers are up.
“We now have people breaking down the doors to join our military,” he said.
Continuing to scold the press, the vice president attacks coverage of the wrongful deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
Vance scolding the Press: how much time have you focused on the fact we deported an ms-13 gang member with valid deportation order and why is the press so focused on the fake bs rather than what is going on in the country? pic.twitter.com/hR7cDozYAO
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 30, 2025
Bondi claims 258 millions lives saved by fentanyl seizures
Wednesday 30 April 2025 17:39
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Oliver O'Connell
Attorney General Pam Bondi says the Trump administration's efforts to seize fentanyl have saved 258 million lives.
The entire population of the U.S. is approximately 340 million.
Bondi also gave, probably by far, the most fawning remarks directed at the president about his first 100 days.
Bondi: Your first 100 days has far exceeded that of any other presidency in this country. Ever. Ever. Never seen anything like it. Thank you pic.twitter.com/YUlAaykwZz
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 30, 2025
Judge says arrests of student activists akin to McCarthyism
Wednesday 30 April 2025 17:43
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Alex Woodward
In Judge Geoffrey Crawford’s order to release Mohsen Mahdawi, he compares the arrests of student activists to McCarthyism and the Red Scare.
The Obama-appointed judge also dismissed the government’s introduction of decade-old allegations that Mahdawi visited a gun shop and mentioned killing Jews. In 2019, the FBI had followed up on those allegations, found them unfounded, and closed the investigation.
His continued detention “would likely have a chilling effect on protected speech” and “would not benefit the public in any way,” the judge wrote.
His release would “benefit the community, which appears to deeply cherish and value him.”
Here’s Mahdawi outside the court earlier:
“To President Trump and his Cabinet: I am not afraid of you.”
— The Recount (@therecount) April 30, 2025
— Palestinian Columbia student Mohsen Mahdawi after being freed from ICE custody by a Vermont judge pic.twitter.com/XFexSoXwY9
Vance calls out media for not covering jump in military applications...
Wednesday 30 April 2025 17:48
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Oliver O'Connell
...that began under Biden.
Per the Pentagon in October 2024:
The Defense Department's armed services branches recruited 12.5% more people in fiscal year 2024 than in the year prior despite a challenging and disinterested recruiting market.
While speaking at a multiservice panel on 2025 recruiting issues at the Pentagon earlier this week, Director of Military Accession Policy Katie Helland said that the services increased the number of recruits from 200,000 in FY 2023 to 225,000 in FY 2024, which ended September 30.
Additionally, she said, the services had a 35% increase in written contracts, and the active components' delayed entry program started FY 2025 with a 10% larger pool.
Musk wears two Trump hats, president notes he may want to get back to Tesla
Wednesday 30 April 2025 17:53
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Oliver O'Connell
“I love the double hat,” says President Trump.\
“Let us say I wear a lot of hats. Even my hat has a hat,” replies Musk.
Trump: I love the double hat.
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 30, 2025
Musk: Let us say I wear a lot of hats. Even my hat has a hat pic.twitter.com/9dGjAyzSwz
Trump says, “You're invited to stay as long as you want,” before adding to the Cabinet, “He probably wants to get back to his cars.”
Tesla stock is down more than five percent today.
"At some point he wants to get back home to his cars" -- it certainly sounds like Trump is trying to nudge Elon out the door pic.twitter.com/lmFd39eoe3
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 30, 2025
Kamala Harris blasts Trump tariffs as ‘greatest man-made economic crisis in modern presidential history’
Thursday 1 May 2025 10:06
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Joe Sommerlad
Former vice president Kamala Harris has mercilessly rebuked President Donald Trump in her first extensive remarks since leaving Washington, D.C., in January, calling his tariff-based trade war the “greatest man-made economic crisis in modern presidential history.”
Harris, the defeated Democratic nominee in last year’s presidential election, spoke in San Francisco at the 20th anniversary gala for Emerge America, an organization that supports left-leaning women for public office.
“I know tonight’s event happens to coincide with the 100 days after the inauguration and I’ll leave it to others to give a full accounting of what has happened so far,” Harris said at the Palace Hotel gala.
“But I will say this, instead of an administration working to advance America's highest ideals, we are witnessing the wholesale abandonment of those ideals.”
Harris took aim at Trump’s shrinking of the federal workforce and his tariffs, which, “as I predicted, are clearly inviting a recession.”
She also championed protesters who have stood up to the administration’s actions, “saying it is not okay to detain and disappear American citizens or anyone without due process.”
Watch: Harris accuses Trump of abandoning American ideals
Thursday 1 May 2025 10:25
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Joe Sommerlad
Here’s the former VP and Democratic presidential candidate taking the Republican to task as he celebrated his first 100 days back in office.
She also attempted to inspire those opposed to the administration’s policies, telling them that “courage is contagious.”
Trump administration signs minerals deal with Ukraine in key move for Russian peace
Thursday 1 May 2025 10:45
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Joe Sommerlad
The Trump administration reached a deal with Ukraine to give U.S. investors preferential access to Ukraine’s supply of rare earth minerals on Wednesday, weeks after an Oval Office blow-up between Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky put it on hold.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the news in a press release later that described the agreement as a recognition of the “significant financial and material support that the people of the United States have provided to the defense of Ukraine.”
“As the president has said, the United States is committed to helping facilitate the end of this cruel and senseless war,” said Bessent.
“This agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term.”
John Bowden and Sam Kiley report.
Analysis: Ukraine has prised Trump away from the Kremlin with minerals deal in triumph of diplomacy
Thursday 1 May 2025 11:05
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Joe Sommerlad
The U.S.-Ukraine mineral deal is good for both countries and the first sign that Trump may turn away from Vladimir Putin, says Sam Kiley.
Trump suddenly slow-walks tariff deals at town hall: ‘I’m in less of a hurry than you’
Thursday 1 May 2025 11:25
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Joe Sommerlad
The president hit back at suggestions that his international tariff deals were taking time to materialize, telling moderators at a televised town hall to mark his first 100 days back in office: “I’m in less of a hurry than you.”
The president, who joined the NewsNation event on Wednesday night via phone, appeared to row back on claims he had already made agreements with hundreds of countries, downgrading them to just a handful of “potential deals.”
But he also insisted that over 100 countries had been calling his administration “morning, noon and night – dying to make a deal.”
Elon Musk and Tesla chair deny board is looking for new CEO despite profits plunge
Thursday 1 May 2025 11:45
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Joe Sommerlad
The world’s richest man and company chair Robyn Denholm have reacted angrily to a report the electric car manufacturer is headhunting for a new CEO to replace the world’s richest man.
On Wednesday The Wall Street Journal suggested Tesla reached out to executive search firms a month ago following a drastic drop in profits, to get the ball rolling on a successor.
Lashing out at on X, Musk wrote: “It is an EXTREMELY BAD BREACH OF ETHICS that the WSJ would publish a DELIBERATELY FALSE ARTICLE and fail to include an unequivocal denial beforehand by the Tesla board of directors!”
His post echoed comments from Denholm dismissing the story as “absolutely false” and reiterating: “The CEO of Tesla is Elon Musk and the board is highly confident in his ability to continue executing on the exciting growth plan ahead.”