Elon Musk goes off on ‘big, beautiful bill’ days after leaving Trump administration
Elon Musk has slammed Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful’ megabill in a tirade on X just days after quitting his political life in the White House. Follow updates.
World
Don't miss out on the headlines from World. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Tech mogul Elon Musk went on a tirade against President Trump’s marquee ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act’ days after leaving the administration — ripping the legislation as an “abomination” and condemning politicians who supported it.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” the Tesla and SpaceX CEO wrote on his X platform. “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.
“Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
Musk had previously dropped hints of his disdain for the megabill, politely telling “CBS Sunday Morning” in an interview that he was “disappointed” to see that the legislation increases the deficit and “undermines the work that the DOGE team.”
“The president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters in response to Musk’s tirade. “It doesn’t change his opinion.”
The South Africa-born billionaire marked his final day as a special government employee this past Friday, with President Trump giving him a formal send-off in the Oval Office.
FOLLOW UPDATES:
TRUMP THREATENS CALIFORNIA WITH FINES AFTER TRANS WIN
US President Donald Trump has declared that “large scale fines” will be slapped on California after a transgender athlete racked up a pair of wins at a girls’ high school track and field championship, despite his ban on trans women in women’s sports.
AB Hernandez, of Jurupa Valley High School in Southern California, captured first place in the girls’ high jump and triple jump events at the May 31 meet in Clovis.
“A Biological Male competed in California Girls State Finals, WINNING BIG, despite the fact that they were warned by me not to do so,” Mr Trump declared on Truth Social.
“As Governor Gavin Newscum fully understands, large scale fines will be imposed!!!”
Last week, under pressure from the Trump administration, the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), which governs high school sports in the state, adjusted its rules to allow biological females who lost qualifying positions to transgender athletes to compete.
The CIF also awarded first-place medals to the best biological female athlete in both events, creating an awkward situation in which Hernandez had to share the first-place step with a rival.
Hernandez easily won the girls’ high jump with a leap of 5 feet, 7 inches with no failed attempts.
Female competitors Jillene Wetteland and Lelanie Laruelle also cleared that mark, allowing them to share the podium with Hernandez.
Additionally, Hernandez easily won the triple jump with a distance of 42 feet, 2 inches. The closest rival was Kira Grant Hatcher with a jump of 40 feet, 5 inches.
Mr Trump previously warned that federal funding would be “held back, maybe permanently,” if the Golden State didn’t adhere to his February executive order to safeguard women’s sports.
The president also said at the time that he would order “local authorities, if necessary, to not allow” a transgender athlete to compete in the women’s track and field contest, though he did not mention Hernandez by name.
Newsom’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In March, Newsom made a shocking public admission to conservative pundit Charlie Kirk that he believes it’s “deeply unfair” to allow transgender athletes to compete against biological women.
The Trump administration previously launched an inquiry into Maine to determine whether it was breaking Title IX rules by allowing transgender athletes to compete, putting at least $250 million in annual federal funding for the state in the crosshairs.
‘BOGUS’: CHINA RIPS INTO US TARIFFS CLAIM
China said it “firmly rejects” claims by the United States that it had violated a deal struck last month to lower crippling tariffs between the world’s two largest economies.
Washington “has made bogus charges and unreasonably accused China of violating the consensus, which is seriously contrary to the facts,” Beijing’s commerce ministry said, adding
“China firmly rejects these unreasonable accusations”.
A logjam in the trade talks between the United States and China could be broken once Mr Trump and Xi Jinping speak, US officials said – a conversation they said could happen soon.
Mr Trump has accused Beijing of violating a deal reached last month in Geneva to temporarily lower staggeringly high tariffs the world’s two biggest economies had imposed on each other, in a pause to last 90 days.
China’s slow-walking on export license approvals for rare earths and other elements needed to make cars and chips have fuelled US frustration, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday — a concern since confirmed by US officials.
But US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent seemed to take the pressure down a notch on Sunday, telling CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the gaps could soon be bridged.
“I’m confident that when President Trump and Party Chairman Xi have a call that this will be ironed out,” Mr Bessent said, however noting that China was “withholding some of the products that they agreed to release during our agreement.”
When asked if rare earths were one of those products, Mr Bessent said, “Yes.”
“Maybe it’s a glitch in the Chinese system. Maybe it’s intentional. We’ll see after the president speaks with” Xi, he said.
On when a Trump-Xi call could take place, Mr Bessent said: “I believe we will see something very soon.”
Kevin Hassett, director of the White House’s National Economic Council told America’s ABC News that the call could happen “this week” but that he had no confirmation of a scheduled time.
Since Mr Trump returned to the presidency, he has slapped sweeping tariffs on most US trading partners, with especially high rates on Chinese imports.
New tit for tat levies on both sides reached three digits before the de-escalation this month, where Washington agreed to temporarily reduce additional tariffs on Chinese imports from 145 per cent to 30 per cent.
China, meanwhile, lowered its added duties from 125 per cent to 10 per cent.
Separate from the China deal, Mr Trump said on Friday he would double sector-specific tariffs on steel and aluminium to 50 per cent starting June 4.
Mr Hassett said China’s dumping of low-cost steel was hurting US industry — which in turn was hindering US military preparedness.
“The bottom line is that we’ve got to be ready in case things don’t happen the way we want, because if we have cannons but not cannonballs, then we can’t fight a war,” Mr Hassett told the This Week program.
“And if we don’t have steel, then the US isn’t ready, and we’re not preparing ourselves for something,” he added.
“We have to have a steel industry that’s ready for American defence.”
TOP TRUMP ADVISER VOWS: TRUMP TARIFFS NOT GOING AWAY
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Donald Trump’s “tariffs are not going away” and the US President is not planning to extend the 90-day pause on some of his steepest rates when it expires in July.
Mr Lutnick downplayed the impact of legal uncertainty over the tariffs during an interview with Fox News Sunday, saying the talks were ongoing.
“You can’t listen to silly people making silly comments,” Mr Lutnick said.
“All of the countries that are negotiating with us understand the power of Donald Trump and his ability to protect the American worker.”
In response to the ongoing court challenges, Mr Lutnick said: “Tariffs are not going away”.
He added that the US “could sign lots of deals now” but the Trump administration is working to “make them better”.
“You’re going to see over the next couple of weeks, really, first class deals for the American worker,” he said.
Mr Lutnick said Mr Trump has many other authorities that even in the “weird and unusual circumstance where this was taken away, we just bring on another or another or another.”
– with AFP
More Coverage
Originally published as Elon Musk goes off on ‘big, beautiful bill’ days after leaving Trump administration