Trump admin live updates: White House drops NASA nominee with Musk ties
The Senate was expected to vote on Jared Isaacman next week.
President Donald Trump on Friday claimed China violated its trade agreement with the U.S. and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said talks between the world's two largest economies stalled.
This week, Trump's global tariff policy hit a major roadblock as two federal courts ruled he does not have the power to unilaterally impose some levies. The tariffs can stay in place, for now, as the court considers the administration's appeal.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk is leaving his role as a "special government employee" but is expected to remain an unofficial adviser to Trump.
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Trump claims DOGE cost savings could 'double and triple'
President Donald Trump said the Department of Government Efficiency has done "substantial" cost savings, and that the "numbers could double or triple" in Elon Musk's wake.
"We don't want to go out with them until we're sure, but we've found things that are unbelievably stupid and unbelievably bad," Trump said.
Trump, Musk speaking in Oval Office now
President Donald Trump has kicked off his news briefing with Elon Musk, saying Musk has done a "fantastic job."
Trump criticizes Congressional Budget Office over recent economic report
President Donald Trump is blasting the Congressional Budget Office, claiming in a social media post that it is "Democrat inspired and 'controlled'" while alleging the non-partisan office "purposefully" gave the U.S. "an EXTREMELY LOW level of Growth."
"The information they recently released is even more absurd and indefensible. I predict we will do 3, 4, or even 5 times the amount they purposefully "allotted" to us (1.8%) and, with just our minimum expected 3% Growth, we will more than offset our Tax Cuts (which will, in actuality, cost us no money!)," Trump said in the post on his conservative social media platform, Truth Social.
Trump appears to be referring to a recent (though not the most recent) economic outlook report, which projected that "real GDP grows by 1.9% in 2025 and 1.8% in 2026."
The CBO is designed to generate, "objective, nonpartisan information to support the Congressional budget process and to help the Congress make effective budget and economic policy," according its webpage.
--ABC News' Michelle Stoddart
State Dept. instructs embassies to intensify social media screening of visa applicants connected to Harvard
As it prepares to expand vetting of student visa applicants' social media accounts across the board, the State Department is zeroing in on Harvard first—instructing embassies and consulates to "conduct a completely screening of the online presence" of all nonimmigrant visa applicants who intend to travel to the university "for any purpose," according to an internal cable reviewed by ABC News.
The cable instructs consular officers to pay close attention to whether the applicants' social presence indicates antisemitic views, but does not specifically say what kinds of posts might be cause for rejecting an application.
Additionally, the cable instructs consular officers to examine whether a small online footprint or private social accounts may be a sign of "evasiveness." It also specifies that the vetting should begin immediately.
This comes as the State Department plans to scrutinize not only the visas of students currently attending Harvard, but also the visas of other foreign nationals connected to the institution, multiple officials tell ABC News.
--ABC News' Shannon Kingston