Billionaire Breakup: Trump and Musk Torch Their Bromance
After a social media blowup, Trump threatens Musk’s government contracts while Musk withholds promised campaign support. Advisers brace for a long battle as pressure mounts on both to de-escalate
President Trump has no plans to call Elon Musk on Friday, two Trump administration officials said, as the acrimonious blowup of their partnership left both men — who lobbed insults and threats at each other on their respective social platforms on Thursday — with a lot at risk. Mr. Musk, the world’s richest person, who spent about $275 million helping elect Mr. Trump in 2024, had promised to give $100 million to groups controlled by the president’s team before the 2026 midterms. Those funds have yet to be delivered and are now very much in doubt. Mr. Trump not only must confront the choking-off of election support, but also the wrath of an ally-turned-foe who appears determined to undermine his standing on the right. Mr. Musk’s companies, including SpaceX, have benefited from billions of dollars in government contracts and were positioned to receive billions more, a lucrative revenue source for his business empire that Mr. Trump is now threatening. It was unclear whether the feud would quiet down, and the two administration officials said that no call between the men was scheduled. Late Thursday, Mr. Musk appeared to signal interest in de-escalation, backing off a threat to “immediately” decommission SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, which transports NASA astronauts and supplies to and from the International Space Station. A short time later, when Bill Ackman, the hedge-fund billionaire, posted on social media that the two men “should make peace for the benefit of our great country,” Mr. Musk responded, “You’re not wrong.” Still, Mr. Trump’s political advisers are preparing for a possible drawn-out war against Mr. Musk in which allies of both men in tech and politics are forced to choose sides, according to one person close to the president who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal conversations - NYT
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has again shut all of its aid distribution points in the Strip, telling starving Palestinians to stay away “for their safety”. Earlier this week, the GHF ceased operations for more than a day after hundreds of aid seekers were killed and wounded by the Israeli military. The UN says that the number of Gaza children facing acute malnutrition has soared since February, with more than 2,700 now suffering from it - Al Jazeera
More than $12 million worth of contraceptives and HIV-prevention medications purchased by the U.S. government as aid for developing countries under programs that have since been discontinued will probably be destroyed unless officials sell or otherwise off-load them, an examination by The Washington Post found. Government records obtained by The Post reveal that virtually all of the supplies have been sitting in distribution centers — one in Belgium and one in the United Arab Emirates — since January, when President Donald Trump halted spending by the U.S. Agency for International Development, saying it was “not aligned with American interests.” Much of the material is already closer to expiration than many countries would typically accept. International humanitarian groups and other organizations have been in talks with government representatives about taking control of the products and distributing them, people with knowledge of the matter said. But negotiations have stalled amid shifting directives from the agency’s political leadership, including demands that the groups pay for the materials and that any USAID labeling be removed, according to individuals familiar with the talks - Washington Post
Overnight, at least 49 people were wounded, and at least four people were killed - including three firefighters - during a massive Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine. The attack involved one of the largest amount of missiles and drones since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022 - 452 objects, of which 406 were successfully intercepted, officials said. The attacks took place as far east as Kremenchuk and as far west as Ternopil and Lutsk near the Polish border. Four people were killed and at least 20 were wounded in Kyiv overnight in a missile and drone attack, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said early on June 6. The intense attack lasted several hours and reportedly involved cruise missiles and kamikaze drones. Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv's military administration, said drones had struck the upper floors of a high-rise apartment building on the east side of the city and started a fire. Ukraine's air force said the city had been targeted by drones and Kalibr cruise missiles. The sound of Russian kamikaze drones buzzing overhead accompanied by the sounds of Ukrainian anti-aircraft fire could be heard during the attack, Reuters reported
During a meeting at the White House on Thursday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said President Donald Trump is the one person who could help end the war. “We both agree on this war and how terrible this war is going on, and we are both looking for ways to stop it very soon. And I told the president … he is the key person in the world who can really do that now by putting pressure on Russia,” Merz said - CNN
Ukrainian authorities on Friday denied claims from pro-Russian officials that the two countries had begun a major operation to return the remains of fallen soldiers. “Statements by representatives of the aggressor state claiming that the return of bodies or repatriation efforts have supposedly begun following the Istanbul agreements do not reflect reality,” Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said in a statement on Telegram.
Earlier on Friday, a pro-Kremlin official said that Russia received the bodies of 42 soldiers in exchange for the remains of 503 Ukrainian troops. Moscow did not publicly confirm that claim. Russian and Ukrainian delegates met in Istanbul on Monday, where they failed to reach a ceasefire in the war but agreed to a new prisoner swap and the return of 6,000 bodies of dead soldiers each. “Preparations are still underway for the exchange of severely ill and wounded individuals, young people and the return of the bodies of fallen defenders,” Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said. “Any unilateral statements or actions by representatives of the aggressor state are nothing more than another attempt to manipulate a sensitive and important issue.” Russia and Ukraine have regularly exchanged prisoners and the remains of fallen troops since the early months of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Since October, the two sides have carried out at least nine body exchanges involving 500 or more soldiers - Moscow Times
A London court set an April trial date for two Ukrainian men charged with orchestrating a series of arson attacks that targeted property linked to Prime Minister Kier Starmer. Neither of the two men -- Roman Lavrynovych and Petro Pochynok-- nor a Romanian man, Stanislav Carpiuc, who is also charged in the case -- entered pleas at the June 6 hearing, held at London’s Old Bailey court, a Crown Prosecution Service spokesman told RFE/RL. Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb ordered the three held in custody until their next hearing in October, with a trial date scheduled for April 2026. British counterterrorism police have been investigating how and why the three men, plus an unnamed fourth, allegedly set fire to a car and two houses linked to the British prime minister. No one was injured in any of the blazes, which took place in May. The fourth man was arrested at London's Stansted Airport in connection with the arson earlier this week and released on bail - RFE/RL
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March, has been returned to the United States to face federal criminal charges, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday. For months, the Trump administration has been locked in an intense standoff with the federal judiciary over court orders for the government to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return from El Salvador, where he was mistakenly deported in mid-March, in a situation that one federal judge warned could present an “incipient crisis” between the two branches. Abrego Garcia has been indicted on two criminal counts in the in the Middle District of Tennessee: conspiracy to unlawfully transport illegal aliens for financial gain and unlawful transportation of illegal aliens for financial gain. The indictment unsealed Friday afternoon accuses Abrego Garcia and others of partaking in a conspiracy in recent years in which they “knowingly and unlawfully transported thousands of undocumented aliens who had no authorization to be present in the United States, and many of whom were MS-13 members and associates.” The administration’s posture and legal arguments in the case had consistently frustrated both conservative and liberal jurists alike, who raised alarm bells about officials’ apparent disregard for due process rights given their cavalier response to the deportation, which several different administration lawyers described as an “administrative error” that they were powerless to rectify - CNN
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Chinese Premier Li Qiang have agreed to regularize channels of communication between the two countries. A readout from Carney's office also says the leaders committed to working together to address the fentanyl crisis. Canada and China have been involved in a trade dispute. China has imposed tariffs on Canadian canola oil and meal, peas and seafood in retaliation to Canadian levies on Chinese-made electric vehicles, steel and aluminum. In his conversation with Li, Carney raised the issue of trade affecting agriculture and agri-food products, including canola and seafood, as well as other issues. Carney said earlier this week that Ottawa is working urgently to remove Chinese tariffs on Canadian agriculture and seafood products - CP
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