Supreme Court allows DOGE team to access Social Security systems for now. Here’s a recap.

By the Associated Press

Federal immigration authorities carried out enforcement activities at businesses across Los Angeles on Friday, prompting clashes outside at least one location as authorities threw flash bangs to try to disperse a crowd that had gathered in protest.

Immigration advocates confirmed at least 45 people were arrested without warrants across seven locations, including two Home Depots, a store in the fashion district and a doughnut shop, said Angelica Salas, executive director for the Coalition of Humane Immigrant Rights, or CHIRLA, at an afternoon press conference denouncing the activity.

Federal immigration authorities have been ramping up arrests across the country to fulfill President Donald Trump’s promise of mass deportations. Todd Lyons, the head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defended his tactics earlier this week against criticism that authorities are being too heavy-handed. He has said ICE is averaging about 1,600 arrests per day and that the agency has arrested “dangerous criminals.”

Protests recently broke out after an immigration action at a restaurant in San Diego and in Minneapolis when federal officials in tactical gear showed up in a Latino neighborhood for an operation they said was about a criminal case, not immigration.

In Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass said the activity was meant to “sow terror.”

“As Mayor of a proud city of immigrants, who contribute to our city in so many ways, I am deeply angered by what has taken place. These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city,” Bass said.

READ MORE

By the Associated Press

Abrego Garcia wore a short-sleeved, white, button-down shirt during his appearance after being returned from El Salvador.

Asked if he understood the charges against him, he told the judge: “Sí. Lo entiendo.” An interpreter then said: “Yes. I understand.”

Federal Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes in Nashville determined that he will be held in custody until at least next Friday, when there will be an arraignment and detention hearing.

By the Associated Press

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit at the center of the case called the decision “a sad day for our democracy and a scary day for millions of people.”

“Elon Musk may have left Washington, D.C., but his impact continues to harm millions of people,” the plaintiffs said.

By the Associated Press

When he first ran for office, the president appeared to be a new kind of Republican when it came to gay rights.

Years earlier he overturned the rules of his Miss Universe pageant to let a transgender contestant compete. He said Caitlyn Jenner could use any bathroom at Trump Tower that she wanted. And he was the first president to name an openly gay person to a Cabinet-level position.

But since returning to office this year, Trump has engaged in what activists say is an unprecedented assault on the LGBTQ+ community.

“I am deeply concerned that we’re going to see it all be taken away in the next four years,” said Kevin Jennings, who leads the advocacy group Lambda Legal.

Trump’s defenders insist he has not acted in a discriminatory way, and they point to public polling that shows widespread support for policies like restrictions on transgender athletes.

“He’s working to establish common sense once again,” said Ed Williams, executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans.

READ MORE

By the Associated Press

 A political consultant who sent voters artificial intelligence-generated robocalls mimicking former President Joe Biden last year went on trial Thursday in New Hampshire, where jurors are being asked to consider not just his guilt or innocence but whether the state actually held its first-in-the-nation presidential primary.

“This case is about a brazen attack on the integrity of the 2024 New Hampshire presidential primary election,” Assistant Attorney General Brendan O’Donnell said in opening statements in Belknap County Superior Court.

Steven Kramer, who faces decades in prison if convicted of voter suppression and impersonating a candidate, has admitted orchestrating a message sent to thousands of voters two days before the Jan. 23, 2024, primary. The message played an AI-generated voice similar to the Democratic president’s that used his catchphrase “What a bunch of malarkey” and, as prosecutors allege, suggested that voting in the primary would preclude voters from casting ballots in November.

“It’s important that you save your vote for the November election,” voters were told. “Your votes make a difference in November, not this Tuesday.”

Kramer, who owns a firm specializing in get-out-the-vote projects, has said he wasn’t trying to influence the election but rather wanted to send a wake-up call about the potential dangers of AI when he paid a New Orleans magician $150 to create the recording.

“Maybe I’m a villain today, but I think in the end we get a better country and better democracy because of what I’ve done, deliberately,” Kramer told The Associated Press in February 2024.

READ MORE

By the Associated Press

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, he said that during his call Thursday with Xi Jinping, the Chinese president agreed to restore the exports.

China had slowed them amid the countries’ trade war, threatening a range of U.S. manufacturers that relied on the critical materials.

The was no immediate confirmation from China.

By the Associated Press

The blowup between the president of the United States and the world’s richest man has played out on social media in real time, the latest, perhaps ultimate example of how X has become Elon Musk’s personal platform, his own reality show where anyone can tune in to watch the mercurial twists and turns of his unpredictable personality.

And tune in they did.

The feud has birthed countless memes, hot takes and speculation, with some X users bringing out the popcorn emojis while rejoicing that the site has returned to its “fun” roots — back when it was called Twitter. While it’s not yet clear if the feud will have any permanent effects on X’s audience size or advertising business, its owner reposted a meme late Thursday suggesting that, at least for now, it was good for getting active users to tune into the platform. CEO Linda Yaccarino agreed.

“X operates as a personality-driven platform, and Musk’s high-profile conflicts can fuel engagement at least in the short term,” said Sarah Kreps, director of Cornell University’s Tech Policy Institute. “The platform has leaned into spectacle as a growth strategy, and controversy often drives traffic.”

By the Associated Press

The feud between Elon Musk and Donald Trump could mean Tesla’s plans for self-driving cars hit a roadblock, SpaceX flies fewer missions for NASA, Starlink gets fewer overseas satellite contracts and the social media platform X loses advertisers.

Maybe, that is. It all depends on Trump’s appetite for revenge and how the dispute unfolds.

Joked Telemetry Insight auto analyst Sam Abuelsamid, “Since Trump has no history of retaliating against perceived adversaries, he’ll probably just let this pass.”

Turning serious, he sees trouble ahead for Musk.

“For someone that rants so much about government pork, all of Elon’s businesses are extremely dependent on government largesse, which makes him vulnerable.”

Trump and the federal government also stand to lose from a long-running dispute, but not as much as Musk.

By the Associated Press

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Biden-era fuel economy standards for gas-powered cars and trucks were illegal and moved to reverse them.

Combined with Senate language in the pending budget bill to eliminate penalties for exceeding standards regulating how far vehicles must travel on a gallon of fuel, automakers could come under less pressure from regulators to reduce pollution. Ultimately the nation’s use of electric vehicles could be slowed.

The moves align with the administration’s ongoing efforts to slash federal support for EVs. Trump has pledged to end what he called an EV “mandate,” referring incorrectly to former President Joe Biden’s goal for half of all new vehicle sales to be electric by 2030.

No federal policy has required auto companies to sell — or car buyers to purchase — EVs, although California and other states have imposed rules requiring all new passenger vehicles sold in the state to be zero-emission by 2035.

By the Associated Press

The department says it is “actively assessing how to reintegrate” the workers after a judge blocked the agency’s sweeping downsizing.

A department email told workers on leave that they will not be terminated June 10 as originally planned. It asked them to share whether they have gained other employment, saying that request aims to “support a smooth and informed return to duty.”

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to pause a court order blocking the layoffs. A department spokesperson said the agency is complying with the order but intends to win its legal battle over the downsizing.

The department laid off about 1,300 employees in March, reducing its staff by about half. Workers have been on paid leave since then, and none have been asked to return to their jobs, according to their union.

A federal judge in Boston blocked the layoffs in May in response to two lawsuits.

By the Associated Press

In a separate DOGE-related case, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington argued the group is a federal agency and must be subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

But the Trump administration says DOGE is just a presidential advisory body aimed at rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government, which would make it exempt from requests for documents under FOIA.

The justices did not decide that issue Friday, but the conservative majority held that US District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled too broadly in ordering documents be turned over to CREW.

The Supreme Court’s three liberal judges dissented.

By the Associated Press

“What happened today is an abuse of power,” said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, an attorney for Abrego Garcia. He said he plans to meet with him soon and will “vigorously defend” him against the new charges.

“This administration … instead of simply admitting their mistake, they’ll stop at nothing at all, including some of the most preposterous charges imageable, just to avoid admitting they made a mistake, which is what everyone knows happened in this case,” he said.

By the Associated Press

The lawsuit was originally filed by a group of labor unions and retirees represented by the group Democracy Forward. It’s one of more than two dozen lawsuits filed over DOGE’s work, which has included deep cuts at federal agencies and large-scale layoffs.

The Trump administration says DOGE needs access to Social Security systems to carry out its mission of targeting waste and fraud in the federal government, which Musk called an alleged hotbed of fraud.

U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander in Maryland found that DOGE’s efforts at Social Security amounted to a “fishing expedition” based on “little more than suspicion” of fraud and allowing unfettered access puts Americans’ private information at risk.

Her ruling did allow access to anonymous data for staffers who have undergone training and background checks, or wider access for those who have detailed a specific need. The Trump administration has said DOGE can’t work effectively with those restrictions.

An appeals court then refused to immediately lift the block on DOGE access, though it split along ideological lines. Conservative judges in the minority said there’s no evidence that the team has done any “targeted snooping” or exposed personal information.

The Supreme Court was also split along ideological lines, with only the three liberal judges dissenting.

By the Associated Press

The five members of the far-right militant group claim their constitutional rights were violated when they were prosecuted for their participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to a lawsuit filed Friday.

Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, Ethan Nordean and Dominic Pezzola are seeking unspecified compensatory damages plus 6% interest and $100 million in punitive damages plus interest.

The lawsuit claims the men were arrested with insufficient probable cause and government agents later “found” fake incriminating evidence. They also claim they were held for years in pretrial detention, often in solitary confinement.

“The Plaintiffs themselves did not obstruct the proceedings at the Capitol, destroy government property, resist arrest, conspire to impede the police, or participate in civil disorder, nor did they plan for or order anyone else to do so,” the lawsuit says.

Tarrio, Biggs, Rehl and Nordean were all convicted of seditious conspiracy and other crimes for their participation in the Capitol riot. Pezzola was acquitted on the conspiracy charge but convicted of stealing a police officer’s riot shield and using it to smash a window.

Trump granted pardons to nearly all the more than 1,500 people who stormed the Capitol. Tarrio received a pardon, the other four plaintiffs had their sentences commuted.

By the Associated Press

He is also accused of bringing MS-13 gang members into the U.S. from Central America and abusing women he was transporting, according to court documents. An alleged co-conspirator also said he participated in a killing in El Salvador, prosecutors wrote in papers urging a judge to keep him behind bars while he awaits trial.

“Later, as part of his immigration proceedings in the United States, the defendant claimed he could not return to El Salvador because he was in fear of retribution from the 18th Street gang,” prosecutors wrote. “While partially true — the defendant, according to the information received by the Government, was in fear of retaliation by the 18th Street gang — the underlying reason for the retaliation was the defendant’s own actions in participating in the murder of a rival 18th Street gang member’s mother.”

By the Associated Press

Authorities in Tennessee released video of a 2022 traffic stop last month. The body camera recording shows a calm and friendly exchange between officers with the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

Officers then discussed among themselves their suspicions of human trafficking because nine people were traveling without luggage. One of the officers said, “He’s hauling these people for money.” Another said he had $1,400 in an envelope.

An attorney for Abrego Garcia, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said in a statement after the video’s release in May that he saw no evidence of a crime.

“But the point is not the traffic stop — it’s that Mr. Abrego Garcia deserves his day in court,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said.

By the Associated Press

The grand jury found that he made the trips as part of a ring that trafficked guns, drugs, children and women, Attorney General Pam Bondi said.

She said co-conspirators alleged that he abused women he was transporting and played a role in the killing of a rival gang member’s mother.

“They found this was his full time job, not a contractor,” Bondi said of the grand jury. “He was a smuggler of humans and children and women.”

By the Associated Press

The Supreme Court cleared the way Friday for the Department of Government Efficiency to access Social Security systems containing personal data on millions of Americans.

By the Associated Press

Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation to El Salvador became a political flashpoint in the Trump administration’s stepped-up immigration enforcement, was being returned to the United States to face criminal charges related to what the Trump administration said was a massive human smuggling operation that brought immigrants into the country illegally.

He is expected to be prosecuted in the U.S. and, if convicted, will be returned to his home country in El Salvador at the conclusion of the case, officials said.

“This is what American justice looks like,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday.

The charges stem from a 2022 vehicle stop in which the Tennessee Highway Patrol suspected him of human trafficking. A report released by the Department of Homeland Security in April states that none of the people in the vehicle had luggage, while they listed the same address as Abrego Garcia.

Abrego Garcia was never charged with a crime, and the officers allowed him to drive on with only a warning about an expired driver’s license, according to the DHS report. It said he was traveling from Texas to Maryland, via Missouri, to bring people to perform construction work.

READ MORE

By the Associated Press

The orders will help clear the way for companies to use drones beyond operators’ line of sight, while also imposing restrictions to help protect against terrorism, espionage, and public safety threats.

Drones have a wide range of civilian uses, but the war in Ukraine has highlighted some potential threats that concern officials as the World Cup and Olympics approach in the US.

White House officials also say regulations have slowed development of supersonic flights and flying cars.

By the Associated Press

Trump says he’s planning to build a new ballroom at the White House, posting on his social media Friday that he “inspected the site” on the grounds.

Trump pledged it would go up “quickly” and be a “wonderful addition” to the complex, but provided no design details about the location, how much it would cost or who would foot the bill.

Trump has long complained that the East Room is too small for the large events he and other presidents want to host, which often necessitates the installation of tents on the South Lawn.

“For 150 years, Presidents, and many others, have wanted a beautiful Ballroom, but it never got built because nobody previously had any knowledge or experience in doing such things,” Trump posted, adding “But I do.”

By the Associated Press

Senior US administration officials will meet with a Chinese delegation on Monday in London for the next round of trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing, Trump said.

“The meeting should go very well,” Trump wrote on his social media platform.

By Washington Post

Early this spring, the Food and Drug Administration fired nearly 50 workers in the Office of Regulatory Policy - only to turn around and order them back to the office with one day’s notice.

After dismissing thousands of probationary employees for fabricated “performance” issues, the IRS reversed course and told them to show up to work in late May.

And some staff at the US Agency for International Development, dismantled in the first days of the Trump administration by a gleeful Elon Musk and his cost-cutting team at the US DOGE Service, checked their inboxes this month to find an unexpected offer: Would you consider returning - to work for the State Department?

Across the government, the Trump administration is scrambling to rehire many federal employees dismissed under DOGE’s staff-slashing initiatives after wiping out entire offices, in some cases imperiling key services such as weather forecasting and the drug approval process.

By the Associated Press

World Pride‘s human rights conference ended with a drag show featuring some of the most prominent stars from Rupaul’s Drag Race ahead of a weekend parade, rally and concerts amid anxieties over an increasingly hostile political environment for the LGBTQ+ community in the U.S.

Courtney Act, the first drag performer in the world to debut on a major label, crooned a slowed-down version of Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” against a backdrop of glittering rainbow pixels. Peppermint, the first trans woman to originate a principal Broadway role, strutted in a shimmering bodysuit to Whitney Houston’s “I’m Your Baby Tonight.”

Bob the Drag Queen, a nonbinary comedian, actor and drag performer, belted Dionne Warwick’s “I Got Love.” And TV personality and actor Mrs. Kasha Davis twirled in a sparkling black gown to Kelly Clarkson singing the words “We are all misfits living in a world on fire. Sing it for the people like us.”

Many LGBTQ+ travelers have expressed concerns or decided to skip World Pride due to anxieties about safety, border policies and a hostile political climate. Yet cross-national strategizing has still been central to the gathering as international attendees at the human rights conference echoed that they wanted to send a clear message of opposition to U.S. officials with their presence.

By The New York Times

For sale at the White House: one bright red Tesla Model S. Should run fine; the owner just seems to have had buyer’s remorse.

Less than 24 hours after President Donald Trump and Elon Musk engaged in a rancorous public spat, Trump has decided to sell the red Tesla he got in March, according to a White House official speaking on the condition of anonymity because the person wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.

The car, which Trump acquired in March and is usually parked on West Executive Avenue at the presidential residence, is one of the first — but likely not the last — tangible casualties of the shattered alliance.

By the Associated Press

A social media account run by recently terminated staffers of the US aid agency that Elon Musk helped destroy had parting words for Musk Friday after his public falling-out with President Donald Trump.

“We’ll see you in the woodchipper,” the group, Friends of USAID, said on Instagram.

Ex-staffers of the U.S. Agency for International Development began the account in the early days of the agency’s dismantling by the Trump administration and Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.The remark referenced Musk’s own Feb. 3 boast on X after his DOGE team helped rout USAID staffers from the agency’s headquarters and computer systems.

“Spent the weekend feeding USAID into a wood chipper,” Musk said then.

Musk and Trump turned on each other this week over the administration’s funding legislation this week. The dispute led Trump to threaten to yank billions of dollars in government contracts from Musk.

The sign-off to Friday’s Friends of USAID post noted DOGE’s hands-on role in cuts at USAID and other federal agencies.

“Sincerely, one of the 50,000 people you laid off by email.”

By the Associated Press

In the final hour of World Pride’s human rights conference, Democratic Rep. Becca Balint, of Vermont, acknowledged that GOP control of the U.S. House limits the ways that Democrats can work to protect LGBTQ+ rights amid mounting threats.

Balint emphasized the importance of working with Republicans across the aisle and with human rights groups that have sued the Trump administration.

The Trump administration has issued executive orders to recognize people as being only male or female, keep transgender girls and women out of sports competitions for females, oust transgender military troops, restrict federal funding for gender-affirming care for transgender people under age 19 and threatened research funding for institutions that provide the care.

All the efforts are being challenged in court, and judges have put some policies on hold.

“In this time of incredible fear and anxiety in our community, of course, it feels like we, as representatives, are not doing enough,” Balint said. “... We have to get creative about how we do this work.”

By the Associated Press

In the final event of World Pride’s human rights conference, Democratic Representative Becca Balint, Vermont’s first woman and first openly gay person to represent the state in Congress, urged Democrats to take advantage of the confusion within the GOP amid Trump and Musk’s public fallout, especially to protect transgender rights.

“We do have an opportunity here because our colleagues don’t know who to support and they’re scared, and we must exploit that,” Balint said.

Representative Emily Randall, who won her race for Washington’s 6th Congressional District in 2024, said the tension between Trump and Musk “is reflective of the chaos within the Republican party.”

Analysis

By James Pindell, Globe Staff

Donald Trump can still win a fight. Just ask Elon Musk.

After Musk criticized Trump’s prized “Big Beautiful Bill,” the signature tax cut package of the president’s second term, Trump lashed out. On Truth Social, he called Musk “a man who lost his mind,” mocked Tesla’s quickly tanking stock price this week, and reminded everyone that SpaceX wouldn’t exist without government contracts he approved.

It was vintage Trump: personal, performative, and politically effective. Republicans on Capitol Hill have galvanized behind Trump, increasing the chances some version of the tax bill will get through. Musk, despite cultivating a following on the right, was swiftly painted as a disloyal elite.

But while Trump still dominates the short-term politics of the Republican Party, Musk holds a very different kind of power, one that may ultimately outlast Trumpism.

Read the full analysis.

By the Associated Press

The House Democratic Leader calls the Trump-Musk breakup feud a “welcome development” in his efforts to defeat the GOP tax breaks and spending cuts package.

“To the extent that Musk has declared the bill a ‘disgusting abomination,’ we agree,” said Representative Hakeem Jeffries.

“The opportunity that exists right now is to kill the GOP tax scam,” he said. “We have to keep the pressure on House Republicans and Senate Republicans to do the right thing.”

By the Associated Press

Senator Tammy Duckworth and 22 other Senate Democrats are calling on the Pentagon to reverse its decision to force transgender service members out of the military.

Active duty troops with gender dysphoria have until today to identify themselves and leave voluntarily, and Guard and Reserve members have until July 7.

After that, the department will begin involuntary removals.

In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the senators said the ban will hurt military readiness, lethality and unit cohesion.

By the Associated Press

The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to pause a court order to reinstate Education Department employees who were fired in mass layoffs as part of Trump’s plan to dismantle the agency.

The Justice Department’s emergency appeal on Friday to the high court said US District Judge Myong Joun exceeded his authority last month when he issued a preliminary injunction reversing the layoffs of nearly 1,400 people and putting the broader plan on hold.

READ MORE

By the Associated Press

Democratic state attorneys general are seeking to block Trump’s proposal for an overhaul of US elections in a case that tests the separation of powers.

The top law enforcement officials from 19 states filed a federal lawsuit after the Republican president signed the executive order in March.

The states say the order steps on states’ power to set their own election rules.

During a hearing, lawyers for the states argued the changes outlined in the order could not be implemented before the next election and could cost California alone $1 billion to implement.

Lawyers for the US government say the next federal election is 18 months away and the harm the states claim is speculative.

By the Associated Press

Tesla shares rose 5% in early trading on Wall Street, pushing the company’s market value back above $1 trillion.

The gain recoups only some of Thursday’s big loss, when Tesla shares fell more than 14% and the EV maker’s market value dropped by about $150 billion.

By the Associated Press

Speaker Mike Johnson is expressing confidence that the growing dispute between Trump and Musk will not harm the GOP’s prospects of passing Trump’s big tax and immigration bill.

Musk has tweeted on X that lawmakers should call lawmakers and “KILL the BILL.”

By the Associated Press

Republican senators have inserted language into the budget bill amid the Musk v. Trump feud that would eliminate fines for gas-powered cars that fall short of fuel economy standards.

Tesla has a thriving side business selling “regulatory credits” to other automakers to make up for their shortfalls.

The credits business was widely thought vulnerable to cuts even before the feud, and Musk has downplayed its importance.

But the changes would hurt Tesla as it reels from boycotts. Credit sales jumped by a third to $595 million in the first three months of the year as total revenue slumped.

By the Associated Press

Musk is dialing back his threat to decommission a capsule used to take astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station for NASA.

The threat came as President Donald Trump and Musk argued on social media on Thursday.

Trump said he could cut government contracts given to Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX. Musk responded by saying SpaceX would begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft.

It was unclear how serious Musk’s threat was, but several hours later — in a reply to another X user — he said he wouldn’t do it.

By the Associated Press

The Pentagon watchdog is looking into whether any of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s aides were asked to delete Signal messages that may have shared sensitive military information with a reporter.

That’s according to two people familiar with the investigation and documents reviewed by The Associated Press. The people weren’t authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Neither the Pentagon nor the inspector general’s office immediately responded to requests for comment.

By the Associated Press

The government’s monthly jobs report, released Friday, showed that employers added 139,000 jobs last month, down slightly from the previous month’s gain of 147,000.

Hiring at that level is typically enough to keep the unemployment rate from rising over time, but represents a slowdown compared with a year ago, when nearly 200,000 jobs were added.

The hiring mostly occurred in the health care, restaurant and hotels, and financial services industries. The Trump administration’s top economists have previously criticized job gains in those areas as mostly either low-paying or, in the case of health care, partly dependent on government spending.

By the Associated Press

Trump’s Friday schedule, according to the White House

• 1:30 p.m. - Trump will sign executive orders
• 2:00 p.m. - Trump will attend the swearing in ceremony for the secretary of the Navy
• 3:00 p.m. - Trump will travel to Bedminster, N.H.
• 9:30 p.m. - Trump will attend a UFC fight at the Prudential Center

By Niki Griswold, Globe staff

The White House hit back at Mayor Wu’s criticisms of federal immigration enforcement efforts in Massachusetts Thursday evening, a day after US Attorney Leah Foley also took issue with Wu’s statements.

Wu in recent days has criticized ICE agents’ tactics, including wearing masks, not displaying or offering identification, and not consistently and readily providing warrants and information for people they detain. She compared masked ICE agents to “secret police,” and mentioned that the New England-based neo-Nazi group NSC-131 also wears masks, while emphasizing that members of local law enforcement, like the Boston Police Department, do not cover their faces in their daily work.

In a press release Thursday evening, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson accused Wu of inciting “hatred” against law enforcement and backing “illegal immigrants over Americans.”

“If the mayor had any shame, she’d be embarrassed for fanning the flames of hate while ICE agents face unprecedented threats to themselves and their families — but that’d be asking too much in today’s Democrat Party,” the White House press release read.

Wu has not, in fact, defended criminals and has regularly repeated that the Boston Police Department cooperates with federal authorities when a person is facing a criminal warrant, regardless of the person’s immigration status.

Wu has also touted the Boston Police Department’s success in lowering violent crime rates in the city, and received an endorsement in her reelection race from the city’s largest police union.

The White House characterized Wu’s comments as “disgusting, dangerous attacks” on federal agents who are removing “criminal illegal immigrants from the streets.” The press release also listed several photos, names, and nationalities of people, described in the release as “sick animals,” who ICE says the department has removed from Massachusetts for alleged crimes.

By the Associated Press

The feud between Trump and Musk is a moving target, with plenty of opportunities for escalation or detente.

However, there appear to be no plans for a call between the two men today.

A source familiar with Trump’s thinking said Musk wants to have a call but the president doesn’t want to do it today. The person requested anonymity to disclose private conversations.

By the Associated Press

After Thursday’s spectacular blow-up between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk - which unfolded in real time - the big question for this Friday is: What next?

In a call with ABC News on Friday, Trump called Musk a “man who has lost his mind.”

According to the network’s correspondent, Jon Karl, the president said he is “not particularly” interested in speaking with Musk directly. Still, Trump said Musk wants to talk to him, Karl reported.

By the Associated Press

A federal judge late Thursday temporarily blocked a proclamation by Trump that banned foreign students from entering the US to attend Harvard University.

Trump’s proclamation was the latest attempt by his administration to prevent the nation’s oldest and wealthiest college from enrolling a quarter of its students, who account for much of Harvard’s research and scholarship.

Harvard filed a legal challenge the next day, asking for a judge to block Trump’s order and calling it illegal retaliation for Harvard’s rejection of White House demands. Harvard said the president was attempting an end-run around a previous court order.

A few hours later, US District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston issued a temporary restraining order against Trump’s Wednesday proclamation. Harvard, she said, had demonstrated it would sustain “immediate and irreparable injury” before she would have an opportunity to hear from the parties in the lawsuit.

Burroughs also extended the temporary hold she placed on the administration’s previous attempt to end Harvard’s enrollment of international students.

By the Associated Press

After long months when Trump and Musk appeared united in their chaotic mission to remake Washington, their relationship imploded this week like a star going supernova.

It began with Musk complaining about the centerpiece of Trump’s legislative agenda, which the president at first took in stride. Eventually, Trump let slip that he was disappointed in his former adviser, prompting Musk to unleash a flood of insults and taunts.

He accused Trump of betraying promises to cut federal spending, shared a suggestion that the president should be impeached and claimed without evidence that the government was concealing information about his association with infamous pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Perhaps most viciously, Musk insisted that Trump wouldn’t have won last year’s election without his help.

Trump, not one to slouch from a fight, could hold back no longer. He posted that Musk had been “wearing thin,” that he had “asked him to leave” his administration, that the tech titan had “gone CRAZY.”

Maybe, Trump threatened, he should save taxpayer money by canceling government contracts and subsidies for Musk’s companies.

By the Associated Press

Investors bought hundreds of billions of dollars of Tesla stock after Trump was elected on a bet that politics were more important than profits.

In three hours Thursday, they learned yet again how dangerous that gamble could be.

Shares of Elon Musk’s electric vehicle maker plunged more than 14% in a stunning wipeout as investors dumped holdings amid a bitter war of words between the president and the world’s richest man.

The disagreement started over the president’s budget bill, then quickly turned nasty. After Musk said that Trump wouldn’t have gotten elected without his help, Trump implied that he may turn the federal government against his companies, including Tesla and SpaceX.

The drop on Thursday partially reversed a big runup in the eight weeks since Musk confirmed that Tesla would be testing an autonomous, driverless “robotaxi” service in Austin, Texas, this month.