Trump wants to see bigger tax cuts in the budget bill
Trump says he wants to see bigger tax cuts in the budget bill (which passed the House by the skin of its teeth).
“I’d like to see a bigger cut in taxes,” Trump says. “ The bill is a great bill. It’s going to be jiggered around a little bit, it’s going to be negotiated with the Senate.”
Musk was also asked to chime in by the reporter about what changes he wants to see (following his criticisms this week) but Trump moves on.
Key events
‘My stomach just dropped’: foreign students in panicked limbo as Trump cancels visa interviews
Anna Betts
Students around the world who were gearing up to study in the United States this fall face growing uncertainty after the Trump administration temporarily halted student visa appointments this week.
On Tuesday, a state department directive ordered US embassies globally to immediately stop scheduling visa interviews for foreign students while it prepares to implement expanded social media screening for all international visa applicants.
While interview appointments that were already scheduled can proceed, the announcement sparked panic among students who have yet to secure interviews. Students who spoke with the Guardian expressed anxiety over delays in visa processing that could jeopardize scholarships, on-campus housing, their ability to start classes on time – and their very academic futures.
“My stomach just dropped,” said Oliver Cropley, 27, a student at the University of East Anglia in the UK, who is meant to attend the University of Kansas beginning this August for a year abroad.
The directive came amid a series of recent policy shifts targeting international students at US universities. This week, the Trump administration issued new measures targeting Chinese students, announcing it would focus on the visas of those studying in “critical fields” and of students with ties to the Chinese Communist party, and implement heightened scrutiny for all future applicants from China and Hong Kong.
Last week, the Department of Homeland Security said it would immediately ban Harvard University from enrolling international students, forcing the university’s international student body to either transfer or leave the country. A federal judge blocked that effort on Thursday, but its long-term outcome remains uncertain.
The changes have left many international students who are planning to come to the US for the 2025-2026 academic year scrambling and in limbo.
Cropley said that he paid all of the application fees for the US visa including the last administrative fee last week to schedule his visa interview, but he has been unable to schedule it or reach anyone at the US embassy.
“It has demoralized me,” Cropley said. “It’s a stressful enough process, and then to get this sort of knockback at this stage … I’m supposed to be there on August 4.”
Key takeaways from Trump-Musk press conference
Despite brief tangents about black eyes, gold ceilings and autopens, that meeting basically consisted of Trump showering Musk with praise as his turbulent tenure at Doge comes to an end, at least officially. “Elon’s service to America is without comparison in modern history,” said Trump from behind the Resolute Desk, in a show of unity with the world’s richest person, who stood to his right in a black Doge hat and “Dogefather” t-shirt. “Elon has worked tirelessly helping lead the most sweeping and consequential government reform program in generations,” Trump said, adding that Musk had delivered a “colossal change” in how Washington does things.
But despite the fanfare, both men said that Musk isn’t really going anywhere. He will continue to be “a friend and adviser” to the president and will still be “back and forth” to the White House, Musk said, with “most” Doge workers “staying on” to continue its work to cut “wasteful” federal spending. As if anyone needed reminding, in the last 130 days Doge under Musk has caused chaos as it haphazardly eliminated thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in contracts – all without actually saving the country very much at all. Acknowledging that Doge had failed to deliver the $2tn savings promised, Musk defended his efforts and insisted he was confident it would get to that number “in time”.
The two glossed over questions pertaining to Musk’s criticisms of Trump’s “big, beautiful” tax bill, which will add massively to the national deficit and undermine Doge’s mission to cut spending (though Trump did say he wants to see bigger tax cuts in the bill), and to Musk’s alleged intense drug use over the course of his chaotic tenure in the White House. They focused instead on previously debunked claims about Doge’s “achievements”, with the president saying his government plans to make many of Doge’s cuts permanent, while the billionaire declared: “This isn’t the end of Doge, it’s more the beginning … It’s a way of life.”
Trump says he had a “good meeting” with Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, in a hurried response as reporters are ushered out of the room.
And that’s it, the briefing is over. I’ll post a short summary soon.
Léonie Chao-Fong
Elon Musk dodged a question about a New York Times report published this morning about his alleged drug use while serving as one of Trump’s closest advisers.
According to the report, Musk was using drugs far more intensely than previously known, regularly consuming ketamine, ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms during his rise to political prominence.
His use of ketamine was so heavy that he told people it caused bladder problems, the report says. Sources told the paper that he had a serious ketamine habit, consuming the powerful anesthetic sometimes daily rather than the “small amount” taken “about once every two weeks” he claimed in interviews.
Trump says both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskiy are stubborn as he tries to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.
Asked if he believes Putin is stubborn, Trump says he was surprised and disappointed by Russian bombing in Ukraine while he was trying to arrange a ceasefire.
Trump says he still wants foreign students to attend US colleges despite his fight with Harvard over how many students it enrolls from outside the country.
Musk says his bruised eye was caused by ‘horsing around’ with his son
Asked about his black eye, Musk claims he was punched in the face by his five-year-old son while they were “horsing around”.
Trump wants to see bigger tax cuts in the budget bill
Trump says he wants to see bigger tax cuts in the budget bill (which passed the House by the skin of its teeth).
“I’d like to see a bigger cut in taxes,” Trump says. “ The bill is a great bill. It’s going to be jiggered around a little bit, it’s going to be negotiated with the Senate.”
Musk was also asked to chime in by the reporter about what changes he wants to see (following his criticisms this week) but Trump moves on.
Léonie Chao-Fong
Fact check: Trump claims Musk’s Doge uncovered the Biden administration “spent $8m on making mice transgender”.
Trump made this claim during his address to Congress in March, and it’s unclear where he got this figure from.
Multiple outlets have suggested that he was referring to health studies that involve “transgenic” mice, which are lab research mice that have been genetically modified to better model human disease response.
The White House released a statement after Trump’s initial comments in March that referenced studies on the effects of hormone therapy. None of the studies listed were specifically focused on “making mice transgender”.
Trump on Macron being shoved in face by his wife: ‘make sure the door remains closed’
Trump says his advice for French president Emmanuel Macron, who has been shown on a video through an open plane door being pushed in the face by his wife, was “make sure the door remains closed”.
Trump says he had spoken to Macron in the wake of the video that showed his wife, Brigitte, giving him a shove on their plane.
Macron has shrugged off the incident as a moment of playfulness. “He’s fine,” Trump says.
Asked if he would consider pardoning Diddy, Trump says nobody has asked him to, but: “I know people are thinking about it … I think people have been very close to asking.”
“I would look at the facts,” he adds.
Trump cites previously debunked claim in list of Musk’s achievements
Robert Mackey
In support of his claim that Elon Musk helped identify and cut wasteful government spending, Trump just cited the cutting of what he called “$45m for diversity, equity and inclusion scholarships in Burma”.
“In Burma”, the president added. “Does anyone know about Burma?”
As we first reported in February, there is no evidence that any such scholarships were ever planned. As the former representative Tom Malinowski pointed out, when this claim was first made by Musk’s “department of government efficiency”, this appears to be a reference to a very kind of different program, the USAid Lincoln Scholarships, which helped educate young people struggling for freedom against Burma’s military dictatorship.
It is not clear why Trump or Musk wrongly thought that these were scholarships aimed at promoting “diversity, equity and inclusion”, but, as Malinowski noted, the USAid project description did specify that the scholars were Burmese students “from diverse backgrounds”. In the context of that country, where a military dictatorship has exploited ethnic and religious divisions to stay in power, helping to educate young leaders from all of the country’s ethnic groups seems like sound policy.
Fact check: Trump’s claim about hotels housing migrants in New York
Léonie Chao-Fong
Fact check: Trump claims that Elon Musk’s Doge “cancelled $59m for illegal alien hotel rooms in New York City”.
Musk claimed in February that his team had discovered the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) had sent $59m to “luxury hotels” in New York City to house illegal migrants. He claimed the money had been “meant for American disaster relief”.
Musk gave no evidence to support this claim. Multiple outlets have reported that the money was appropriated by Congress and allocated to the city – not directly to the hotels – last year by Fema.
Musk’s claim likely referred to payments made by the Shelter and Services Program, which gives money to reimburse cities, towns or organizations for immigration-related expenses, according to Associated Press.
A New York City office spokesperson told the news agency that only some of the $59m was for hotel costs, and that the city has never paid luxury rates.
Musk again says he expects to continue to provide Trump with advice, to which Trump says: “I hope so.”
Trump says he feels they’re “very close” to an agreement on Gaza, and feels he’s “fairly close” to a deal with Iran also.
Trump says he’s sure he will speak to China’s Xi Jinping to hopefully work out trade dispute
Trump repeats his claim that China “violated a big part of” the agreement they made, but he doesn’t expand on what he’s alleging China did.
He says he’s sure he’ll speak to the Chinese president to work it out.
Musk dodges question about reported drug-taking
Musk was about to be asked about the NYT report that he allegedly took large amounts of drugs including ketamine while advising Trump, but he cuts the reporter off and dodges the incoming question entirely.
Musk says he’ll continue visiting the White House as a “friend and adviser to the president”, before veering off to compliment the “stunning” Oval Office, in particular “the gold on the ceiling”.
Musk says his time as special government employee had to end, but this isn’t the end of Doge, it’s more the beginning, he says, adding: “It’s a way of life.”
He says he’s confident that “over time” that Doge will reach $1tn of savings he promised (in the last 130 days it hasn’t come close).
