Trump angrily denies Elon Musk can be a part of delicate Pentagon briefing on China: Live updates
Donald Trump has angrily denied claims in a New York Times report that Elon Musk is scheduled to receive a Pentagon briefing on Friday about the U.S. military’s top-secret plans for combating aggression from China.
“The Fake News is at it again, this time the Failing New York Times. They said, incorrectly, that Elon Musk is going to the Pentagon tomorrow to be briefed on any potential ‘war with China,’” he said.
“‘How ridiculous?’ China will not even be mentioned or discussed. How disgraceful it is that the discredited media can make up such lies. Anyway, the story is completely untrue!!!”
On Thursday, the president signed an executive order directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “begin eliminating” the Department of Education in favor of leaving decision-making up to individual states.
On Friday, Trump said special needs and nutrition programs will come under the health department and student loans will become the remit of the Small Business Administration.
The president also awarded the sixth-generation F-47 fighter jet program to Boeing, a much-needed win for the troubled aviation giant.
Full story: Trump says Boeing will build ‘F-47’ fighter for Air Force
President Donald Trump on Friday said the Pentagon was awarding a contract to Boeing to build and support a sixth-generation fighter jet that will be known as the F-47, calling the new manned warplane “something the likes of which nobody has seen before.”
Speaking in the Oval Office alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and top Air Force leaders, Trump said the planned fighter had “been in the works for a long period of time” and would be built by Boeing after “a rigorous and thorough competition between some of America’s top aerospace companies” for a program that the Defense Department has been calling the “Next Generation Air Dominance” platform.
Andrew Feinberg reports from Washington, D.C.
Meanwhile, in court…
Judge Ana Reyes is laying into government attorneys who — after asking to block her order that temporarily strikes down the Trump administration’s ban on trans service members in the military — cannot answer her questions about who even came up with the rule.
She has absolutely lost her patience after three hours-long hearings on this and has yelled over a Justice Department attorney several times.
Reyes is asking them for any bit of evidence that a ban on trans service members is addressing any problem in the military or is just being used as a pretext for discrimination. They can’t say.
“Everything in the record is that it’s a pretext. There is nothing in the record that this was a deliberative process,” she said.
“I’m not doing it for sport,” she said. “As of today, you can’t even tell me if Secretary Hegseth looked at this. … You won’t tell me because you don’t know.”
Watch: Trump unconcerned Canada would be ‘very very blue state’ if part of union
Trump and Hegseth deny Musk shown China plans
“Elon was over there today to talk about costs” at the Pentagon, President Donald Trump says when asked about The New York Times report that billionaire Elon Musk would be briefed on China policy.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also disputed the reporting.
Trump went further on why he doesn’t want to show Musk war plans for China: “Certainly you wouldn’t to a businessman who is helping us so much … Elon has businesses in China. And he would be susceptible, perhaps, to that.”
Hegseth also said: “Musk is a patriot, an innovator, and provides a lot of capabilities our government and military rely on. I’m grateful for that.”
Trump says Rubio’s authority to deport people can’t be stopped by a judge
Further on deportations, President Donald Trump says of his secretary of state: “Marco Rubio has a lot of big decisions to make … he’s got the authority to get bad people out of our country, and you can’t stop that with a judge sitting behind a bench.”
Trump claims law says he has authority to round up and deport people with no evidence
President Donald Trump was asked by a reporter in the Oval Office: “Do you think you have the authority to round up people, deport them, and then you’re under no obligation to a court to show the evidence against them?”
The president responded: “Well, that’s what the law says. And that’s what our country needs.”
Germany and Britain issue warnings about travel to U.S.
Britain and Germany have issued new warnings to their citizens about traveling to the U.S. in the wake of some visitors’ horrifying experiences coming to the country in the shadow of Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration.
Mary Papenfuss reports.
Trump says he was told deported Venezuelans ‘went through a very strong vetting process’
Taking question in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump says he was “told” that Venezuelans deported to El Salvador “went through a very strong vetting process.”
“We don’t want to make that kind of mistake.”
His administration already admitted “many” of them don’t have any criminal records. Many were also waiting for their asylum hearings and didn’t have any orders for removal.
Experimental version of new fighter jet has been flying for five years
President Donald Trump says the U.S. Air Force will move forward with the Sixth-Generation fighter jet program, to be known as the F-47 — after Trump, the 47th commander-in-chief.
As reported earlier, the contract is going to Boeing.
Trump revealed that an experimental version of the aircraft has been flying for almost five years and is equipped with stealth technology.
“The F-47 will be the most advanced, most capable, most lethal aircraft ever built. An experimental version of the plane has secretly been flying for almost 5 years and we’re confident that it massively overpowers the capabilities of any other nation.”
The new fleet will be built over the next couple of years.
The president was joined for the announcement in the Oval Office by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
Hegseth says the announcement of the 6th generation fighter jet the F-47, “sends a direct, clear message to our allies that we’re not going anywhere and to our enemies that we can and will project power around the globe.”
Trump moves critical functions out of Department of Education
As the dismantling of the Department of Education began President Donald Trump began his Oval Office remarks on the new fighter jet contracts by revealing the future of critical functions of the department.
The Small Business Administration, headed by Kelly Loeffler, will take over the handling of the student loan portfolio.
The Department of Health and Human Services, headed by Robert F Kennedy Jr. will take over special needs and nutrition programs.
Source: independent.co.uk
