ELON MUSK SPORTED A BLACK EYE as President Trump bid him farewell Friday at an Oval Office press conference to celebrate the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) efforts to cut wasteful spending.

Musk is leaving the administration after completing a 130-day term as a special government employee. He had recently already begun to step back from government work to focus on his companies, which have suffered during his polarizing foray into politics.

“He’s one of the greatest innovators the world has ever produced,” Trump said Friday. “He stepped forward to put his talents in to the service of our nation and we appreciate it. He’s worked tirelessly to enact the most sweeping and consequential government reform program in generations.”

Musk, who wore a “DOGEFATHER” T-shirt, said the black eye was from “horsing around” with his 5-year-old son named X.

Trump gifted Musk a golden key in a wooden box, saying he “accepted the outrageous abuse, slander, lies and attacks because he loves our country.”

“He had to go through the slings and arrows, which is a shame, because he’s an incredible patriot,” Trump said.

The DOGE website claims to have saved taxpayers more than $150 billion in waste and fraud so far, short of Musk’s stated goal of $1 trillion.

However, most of the DOGE team will remain in place and Musk said he expects they’ll reach their goal in the months and years ahead.

Musk described government sprawl as “the banal evil of bureaucracy” and likened his efforts to cut waste to practicing Buddhism.

“It’s a way of life,” Musk said. “I’m confident over time we’ll see a trillion dollars of waste and fraud reduction.”

Trump said that so far “70,000 bureaucrats have voluntarily left their taxpayer-funded jobs” and that “countless wasteful and unnecessary contracts have been terminated.”

Musk said he’d continue to act as an outside adviser to Trump.

“If there’s anything the president wants me to do, I’m at the president’s service,” he said.

Musk dodged a question about a New York Times report detailing his extensive recreational drug use, including large quantities of ketamine and psychedelic mushrooms, which reportedly alarmed those around him.

“The New York Times, is that the same publication that got a Pulitzer Prize for false reporting on RussiaGate? I think it is… Let’s move on to the next question,” he said.

White House adviser Stephen Miller addressed the controversy earlier in the day.

“The drugs we’re concerned about are the drugs running across the southern border,” he said.

Trump is traveling to West Mifflin, Pa., this afternoon for a 5 p.m. rally to celebrate a deal with the Japanese firm Nippon Steel that guarantees U.S. Steel will remain American owned and operated.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) praised the deal, calling it a “BFD.”

Both Trump and former President Biden intervened at points to block the sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon, which instead will become an investment partner.

This comes amid global chaos over Trump’s tariffs, which were blocked by two federal courts in recent days. One of those blocks was lifted after an appeal.

Trump is now doubling down in the trade war against China, accusing them of violating an agreement that led to reduced tariffs.

“So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!” Trump posted on social media.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said trade talks with China are “a bit stalled.”

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on CNBC that China is “slow rolling” compliance with the deal.

“I’m sure I’ll speak to President Xi and we’ll figure that out,” Trump said in the Oval Office.

The White House got some good news Friday, with a report showing inflation is falling, despite fears from economists that the trade war would have the opposite affect.

Trump began his Oval Office press conference playing video of reporters on CNBC gushing about the good financial news.

Meanwhile, Trump is lashing out at critics of his tariffs, and blaming the conservative Federalist Society for advising him to nominate judges he believes are sabotaging his agenda.

On social media, Trump called Leonard Leo, the head of the Federalist Society, a “sleazebag” and a “bad person” who “probably hates America.”

Musk’s exit from government coincides with his criticism of Trump’s agenda bill in Congress, which conservative fiscal hawks say will balloon the deficit.

Trump said Friday “there are things maybe I’d like to see cut a little more,” including taxes.

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) handed Democrats a gift at a recent town hall, where she was pressed on cuts to Medicaid in the bill.

“Well, we’re all going to die,” she said during a rowdy exchange with an audience member.

Later, Ernst emphasized: “Medicaid is extremely important here in the state of Iowa.”

“What you don’t want to do is listen to me when I say that we are going to focus on those that are most vulnerable,” she said. “Those that meet the eligibility requirements for Medicaid, we will protect. We will protect them.”

💡Perspectives:

• Wall Street Journal: President Trump isn’t a tariff king.

• CNN: White House grapples with legal rulings hitting Trump agenda.

• The Bulwark: Don’t fall for Trump’s crocodile tears over judicial tyranny.

• The Hill: Trump’s new DEI: Drama, exaggeration and incoherence.

• The Hill: Elon takes his toys and leaves.

Read more: 

• Trump orbit rewarded in year since criminal conviction.

• Musk leaves White House with frustrations, little progress on debt.

• GOP breathes secret sigh of relief as courts put brakes on Trump tariffs.

• What is the Court of International Trade and why can it strike down tariffs?

• GOP runs into voter buzzsaw of criticism on Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’.

• The Federal Aviation Administration is asking SpaceX for an investigation into this week’s Starship test flight that ended up spinning out of control and breaking apart. 

• Texas is set to become the largest state in the nation to mandate that every public school classroom display a copy of the Ten Commandments.

   

• Walmart is being fined after New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) said some of its third-party sellers sold realistic-looking toy guns to New Yorkers.

©  AP Photo/Jon Elswick

The Supreme Court on Friday sided with the Trump administration in revoking former President Biden’s parole program that extended legal protections to hundreds of thousands of migrants from Latin America.

The Biden administration had allowed migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to apply in advance to enter the U.S. through a two-year work permit, if they had U.S.-based financial sponsors.

The program was meant to ease the pressure of illegal border crossings.

In a scathing dissent, liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote that the majority ruling “undervalues the devastating consequences of allowing the Government to precipitously upend the lives and livelihoods of nearly half a million noncitizens while their legal claims are pending.”

Critics of the program said waiving requirements for those who might not otherwise meet immigration standards should be limited to a case-by-case basis, rather than given broadly to hundreds of thousands of people.

The Supreme Court previously sided with the Trump administration in ending temporary protected status for 300,000 Venezuelans in the U.S.

MEANWHILE…

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is ramping up pressure on sanctuary cities, publicly listing more than 500 jurisdictions they say are obstructing the enforcement of immigration laws.

The jurisdictions will receive a formal notice that the Trump administration views them as non-compliant, while asking them to alter their policies.

“These sanctuary city politicians are endangering Americans and our law enforcement in order to protect violent criminal illegal aliens,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. 

“We are exposing these sanctuary politicians who harbor criminal illegal aliens and defy federal law. President Trump and I will always put the safety of the American people first,” Noem added. “Sanctuary politicians are on notice: comply with federal law.”

💡Perspectives:

• Commentary: Nation’s well-being depends on a two-party system.

• Washington Examiner: Trump dumps Harvard.

• Whole Hog Politics: Filibuster follies to hover over Trump agenda bill

Read more: 

• Trump administration bans race, gender data in federal workforce hiring.

• US looking into attempt to impersonate Trump chief of staff Susie Wiles.

• Hegseth orders Pentagon’s testing office staff cut by more than half.

• DOJ cutting American Bar Association access to judicial nominees.

• Trump nominates Paul Ingrassia to lead Office of Special Counsel.

Here’s who’s talking Sunday…

NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday”: Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.); Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.); Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R).

CNN’s “State of the Union”: Office of Management and Budget head Russell Vought; House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.); Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).

CBS’s “Face the Nation”: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent; Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.); Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.); Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Martin Makary.

Fox’s “Fox News Sunday”: Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.); Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.).

©  AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said his party is undergoing a “generational change,” as Democrats seek a new identity during President Trump’s second term.

Speaking on SiriusXM’s “Mornings with Zerlina,” Jeffries said the youth movement would play out through primary challenges to entrenched incumbents.

“You’re going to see the next generation of voices present themselves to the Democratic electorate during the primary process, which I expect to be very active,” he said.

Democrats have been dealing with a steady drip of revelations about how President Biden’s inner circle conspired to hide his decline. A younger generation of Democrats are advocating for change in Washington, believing that many of their aging leaders are holding onto power for too long, underscored by the three House Democrats who have died in office this year.

The race to be the next ranking member on the powerful House Oversight Committee could divide Democrats along ideological and generational lines.

Reps. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.), 76, and Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), 70, launched their bids this week to replace former Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), who died of cancer last week.

Mfume said he’s “prepared to meet that moment; as my lifelong friend, successor, and predecessor Elijah Cummings did when he was Oversight Chair under the first twisted Trump administration.”

Lynch, the acting ranking member on the committee, touted his more than two decades of experience on Oversight, which he said would make him “well-prepared to… fight like hell against every action taken by the Trump Administration.”

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), 47, is already in the race and Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), 44, is said to be eyeing a bid.

The election will take place on June 24.

ELSEWHERE…

Biden made his first public appearance on Friday since announcing he has cancer at a ceremony in Delaware to mark Memorial Day.

The former president did not mention any of the controversies surrounding his presidency in his speech, instead honoring those who serve in the military and calling for a defense of democracy.

“We come together to remember the debt we owe to the American military,” Biden said. “The military is the solid spine of our nation.”

He also noted that Friday marks the 10th anniversary of the death of his son, Beau, who served in Iraq and died from brain cancer.

Republican Sens. Eric Schmitt (Mo.) and John Cornyn (Texas) announced a hearing next month on Biden’s “cognitive decline while in office and the mainstream media’s subsequent coverup.”

“It’s time to expose how a cadre of Biden aides and family members were the de-facto commander-in-chief, while President Biden was sidelined,” Schmitt said. “I look forward to getting the American people the answers they deserve.”

It’s the first hearing of its kind on the matter, which has been all over the news since the release of the book “Original Sin” by journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson.

Biden was asked about the book on Friday after his speech.

“You can see that I’m mentally incompetent and I can’t walk,” Biden said jokingly. “And I can beat the hell out of both of them.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing will take place on June 18.

💡Perspectives:

• BIG: How big homebuilders, private equity made American cities unaffordable.

• The Liberal Patriot: Tariffs make defense production more expensive.

• Semafor: Universities’ nightmare scenario.

Read more: 

• Rahm Emanuel flirts with Democratic run for the White House.

• Gallego: Concerns about trans athletes ‘legitimate’.

• International students in chaos as Trump broadens attacks on visas.

• Absent Trump support, GOP leery of approving tougher Russian sanctions.

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