Fox News host RIPS despicable Democrat trying to claim President Trump has cognitive issues

 

Fox News host Will Cain ripped into despicable Democrat Dan Goldman who tried to claim today that President Trump has cognitive issues.

Watch below:

If it weren’t for double standards, Democrats wouldn’t have any! Seriously, it’s absolutely laughable that he claims Trump has cognitive issues, when they all lied about Joe Biden until his incoherence blew up right in their faces. Now they suddenly care about the president’s mental health? Just more lies to try and undermine a president that they hate.

https://therightscoop.com/watch-fox-news-host-rips-despicable-democrat-trying-to-claim-president-trump-has-cognitive-issues/

Hundreds of Chinese Workers Protest as Factories Shut Down Due to Trump Tariffs

Hundreds of angry Chinese workers are marching in the streets of China’s industrial cities to protest layoffs and unpaid wages after President Donald Trump’s tariffs forced their factories to shut down.

Unemployment was already a big problem for China’s faltering post-pandemic economy, particularly youth unemployment, and now analysts are predicting Trump’s tariffs could wipe out more than 16 million jobs.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) on Tuesday quoted Goldman Sachs analysts who predicted communications, apparel, and chemical manufacturers would be especially hard hit. One of the biggest strikes and protest marches occurred last week at a factory that produces sporting goods. A company representative hastily hung up the phone when RFA called to ask about the current status of the labor dispute.

Many of the protesting workers have grievances that predate even Trump’s first round of tariffs in February. Unpaid back wages are a frequent complaint, often stretching back into 2024. Workers at a circuit board manufacturer in Sichuan said they have not received social security benefits since 2023. A group of construction workers in Inner Mongolia threatened last week to jump off the roofs of the buildings they have been constructing if their back wages were not paid.

Thousands of workers at China’s electric vehicle (EV) giant BYD walked off the job in March and April, angered by pay cuts and poor working conditions. The protesters said BYD reneged on promises made to its employees during corporate expansion.

Ji Feng, a survivor of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest, told RFA that Chinese businesses were in much worse shape than the regime in Beijing was willing to admit, so the blow of Trump’s tariffs struck much harder than it predicted.

Ji said conditions have grown steadily worse since the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, which forced many businesses into a doom spiral of delaying payroll for as long as possible, then borrowing money to pay back wages once the fury of workers could no longer be contained.

“Some bosses even said that they would rather go to jail than do anything,” Ji said, alluding to the Chinese government’s threats to arrest employers who fail to pay wages for more than three months.

Chinese factory activity is currently experiencing its worst slump since December 2023. Cargo shipments are down by up to 60 percent, while new export orders in April fell to their lowest levels since the pandemic. 

Those estimates are all based on official government data, and since the Chinese government has a long history of fudging its numbers, the true situation is probably much worse. Capital Economics suggested on Tuesday that Beijing’s numbers for the first quarter were overly optimistic, for example.

China was already experiencing terminally low levels of consumer confidence before the tariffs struck, so there is no great domestic market standing by to absorb the goods America is not importing. Other countries do not seem eager to sacrifice their own domestic industries to soak up a tidal wave of Chinese overstock at bargain-basement prices. Beijing’s attempts to defibrillate the morbid economy with stimulus shock paddles during the last months of the Biden administration were considered disappointing by investors.

The next blow from the tariff war will hit China on Friday, when a new 120-percent levy hits packages that fall under the “de minimis” limit of $800 in value. Huge Chinese companies like Shein and Temu built their entire business model around taking orders via the Internet and shipping small parcels of cheap goods directly to American customers. Shoppers are discovering that tariff surcharges can more than double the prices from these Chinese outlets. Based on anecdotal reports, Temu seems determined to tell its customers exactly how much Trump’s tariffs are costing them, while Shein is struggling to absorb the costs as quietly as it can.

American businesses are taking damage from the trade war as well – but that could become another problem for China because those weak export orders are not going to perk up until American importers feel confident in placing big bets on Chinese manufacturing again. The harder China’s retaliatory tariffs hit American companies, the longer it will be before China’s ports begin humming with activity again.

Chinese dictator Xi Jinping and his top officials remain defiant, but on Wednesday Xi hinted that major policy changes could be coming to handle tariff damage. He did not say exactly what his government planned to do, besides creating more propaganda to accuse the United States of being a bully.

During Wednesday’s opening session of China’s rubber-stamp legislature, the National People’s Congress (NPC), Premier Li Qiang pledged to achieve 5% GDP growth and create millions of new jobs despite the Trump tariffs. China’s increasingly agitated workers will not be pleased if their government fails to deliver on those extravagant promises.

https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2025/04/30/hundreds-chinese-workers-protest-factories-shut-down-trump-tariffs/

Dems in Disarray: Meet the Sketchy, Beagle-Abusing Politician Looking to Impeach President Trump

 As President Trump is under the microscope for reaching his 100 days in office (a purely journalism-created event), one Democrat is trying to make a name for himself by announcing he is bringing up no fewer than seven articles of impeachment against the president. It speaks volumes that Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI) has a history that he would rather stay under wraps by keeping his head down and going about his job duties, but instead is now begging for the spotlight – seemingly uncaring about the shadow that creates.

The freshman Democrat is unknown for the most part, and those who do know him are far from impressed - and I am referring to those in his own party. As Bonchie wrote of the man yesterday: 

“I'm also going to be honest with you guys and make an admission: I have no idea who this dude is. Obviously, I cover politics regularly, and I've never seen Thanedar before, nor do I recall ever hearing his name. That's how inconsequential he is. I'd call him a backbencher, but that might be too kind of a descriptor. 

Well, to help out a colleague as well as shed light for our appreciated readership, here are the specifics behind the quirky unknown from Detroit. If you needed to see a man who typifies schizophrenic Michigan politics and displays all of the dysfunction of the Democratic Party, Thanedar is a prime candidate.

Shri displays all of the tendencies of someone who has gone into politics for the direct purpose of becoming a politician. I am referring to those who get to D.C. and seem to be entirely focused on one thing: Doing what is needed to remain in D.C. These are the politicians with a slender list of accomplishments but a floor-spanning scroll of media appearances. (Think of Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL), who sports a different spangled cowboy hat for her quotidian camera appearances, all while representing the distinctly non-agrarian district of inner-city Miami, Miami Beach, and the metro area where the Dolphins play football.)

Thanedar won his Detroit seat by appearing in a race with so many candidates - nine - that the vote was split into shards. Once he arrived in D.C., it did not take long for the man to become the focus of questions about being more interested in making himself a star, instead of making policy and making a difference, and this was coming from his own party. According to a HuffPo profile:

In just 11 months in office, Thanedar has gained a reputation for vanity in an institution powered by the stuff, burning through staff at a rapid clip, alienating his fellow members and spending taxpayer funds on what some people with knowledge of his office view as naked self-promotion.

That is probably a fair critique for someone who not only has written a memoir but also produced a stage play based on his own book. He is also under fire for his Congressional budget spending, with much of it going to promotional billboards with his face on prominent display. As proof, when President Trump made his stop in the state to recognize his first 100 days, Shri had a billboard put up in Macomb to taunt the president.

Donald Trump arrives in Michigan today to celebrate his first 100 days in office.

Here's how I'll be greeting him. pic.twitter.com/rPwaLsX3Cx

— Congressman Shri Thanedar (@RepShriThanedar) April 29, 2025

On one of the most divisive issues facing the Democratic Party - the Israel-Hamas war - Thanedar, when coming to a fork in that road, took it – as he has taken both sides. While previously being a harsh critic of the Israeli leadership, he later quit one Democrat group, the DSA, as he then sided with Israel.

Thanedar, who most people laud for building himself into a multi-millionaire, also has a checkered business history. While running a product testing company, Avomeen, an employee found that a male enhancement drug they were testing contained Viagra. He informed the owner of this problem, but after Thanedar took no action, the whistleblower contacted the FDA about this unreported inclusion of that drug in the product.

A few years later, Thanedar settled a suit from the 2016 sale of his that same company, where the buyers claimed about $8 million in damages for the company being overvalued. It appears Thanedar used his $20 million from the sale for a gubernatorial bid, the race won by Gretchen Whitmer. It appears that Shri moved after that loss and made his Congressional run in the Detroit area because he actually came out ahead of Whitmer in that area during the primary.

But there is another deeply bothersome pockmark on his CV, a Doctor Fauci-level of scandal involving animal testing. In 2010 he ran another company, Azopharma, and it had a subsidiary testing facility in New Jersey, AniClin Preclinical Services. When Azopharma went bankrupt, it led to the abrupt closure of that testing lab. This meant that they shuttered the facility, with over 100 beagles still locked in cages, as well as dozens more lab monkeys.

 The Oxford, N.J., research facility where the dogs lived, had gone bankrupt and locked its doors. The animals' caretakers had reportedly climbed fences to provide food and water until more solid arrangements were made.

Eventually, a pair of dog rescue groups were able to get in and care for the beagles, getting them adjusted to a normal life, having never seen daylight prior or touched grass, eventually setting them up to all become adopted. Thanedar, whenever challenged on this disturbing lack of action taken for the animals' welfare, has passed it off as something that was to be the responsibility of the bank(s) following the bankruptcy.

This is someone so focused on self-promotion that he cares little what that notoriety will uncover, and as he postures before the cameras no one in his party has thought to rein in what some have previously recognized to be a problem within their ranks. Locally, he is at least rankling some Democrats. After gaining reelection, mostly due to his biggest challenger having to drop out of the primary, Thanedar is already facing a challenger for next year’s primary race.

That has led to some in his own party referring to Thanedar as “Detroit’s own Elon Musk,” but there could be a more apt comparison; he seems like the Democrat version of George Santos. The difference being, of course, the GOP saw fit to not defend their problematic Congressman. 

The Dems, meanwhile, seem perplexed as to what to do with Thanedar, and as a result, he is getting more face time than he ever realized prior, and his leadership looks to be dismayed. This is the type of character the Democrats have standing front and center for their party today? It is just another sign of the disarray seen from them of late, with no sign of repair on the horizon.

https://redstate.com/bradslager/2025/04/30/dems-in-disarray-meet-the-sketchy-beagle-abusing-politician-looking-to-impeach-president-trump-n2188525

BREAKING: US and Ukraine Sign Rare Earth Minerals Agreement

 

Trump and Zelensky – Photo courtesy of 6 Action News, screenshot from Youtube

The United States and Ukraine have signed a rare earth minerals agreement.

Earlier this year President Trump announced that he was demanding Ukraine provide the United States with access to its vast reserves of rare earth minerals in exchange for continued military and financial assistance.

“We’re telling Ukraine, they have very valuable rare Earth. We want what we put up to go in terms of a guarantee. We want a guarantee,” Trump told reporters from the Oval Office.

“We’re handing them money hand over fist. We’re giving them equipment. The European Union is not keeping up with us. They should equalize.”

“Look, we have an ocean in between. They don’t. It’s more important for them than it is for us. But they’re way below us in terms of money, and they should be paying at least equal.

“They should really be paying much more than us, but let’s say equal to us. And they’re billions and billions of dollars below. So we’re looking to do a deal with Ukraine where they’re going to secure what we’re giving them with their rare Earth and other things,” Trump said.

After months of back and forth, the US and Ukraine came to an agreement.

“The accord will grant the US first claim on profits transferred into a special reconstruction investment fund that would be controlled by Washington. According to a draft of the document seen by Bloomberg News, the US agreed that only future military assistance that it may provide Ukraine would count toward its contribution to the fund. Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said that Washington dropped its insistence that the deal provide for repayment of billions of dollars in aid already delivered since the start of Russia’s invasion,” Bloomberg reported.

Bloomberg reported:

The US and Ukraine reached a deal over access to Ukraine’s natural resources Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the accord, a move that Kyiv sought to solidify President Donald Trump’s backing in ceasefire talks with Russia.

The deal will grant the US privileged access to new investment projects to develop Ukraine’s natural resources including aluminum, graphite, oil and natural gas.

It’s been seen as critical to nurturing Trump’s goodwill toward Kyiv as his administration pushes to end the war that began when Russia mounted its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago.

After weeks of Ukrainian and US officials wrangling over the text, momentum toward a breakthrough was building early this week, with Ukrainian negotiators visiting Washington to iron out final details. The two sides had agreed on the main accord but were discussing technical details spelled out in separate texts.

Ukrainian officials had been hoping to sign the overarching deal and nail down the details later, but the US insisted all components be agreed on together, a person familiar with the matter said.

“We made a deal where our money is secure, where we can start digging and doing what we have to do,” Trump said at a Cabinet meeting at the White House earlier Wednesday. “It’s also good for them because you’ll have an American presence at the site, and the American presence will keep a lot of bad actors out of the country or certainly out of the area where we’re doing the digging.”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/04/breaking-us-ukraine-sign-rare-earth-minerals-agreement/

Senate Majority Leader John Thune Targeting July 4 as Deadline to Send Reconciliation Plan Extending Trump Tax Cuts to President’s Desk

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader John Thune told Breitbart News exclusively he is targeting a July 4 deadline to get the big budget reconciliation plan that would extend President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts– adding no tax on tips, Social Security income, or overtime wages–to the president’s desk for his signature.

This is welcome news for the president and his team, as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also has recently said he hopes for a July 4 date for the package to be wrapped up. The package is also expected to fund more of the president’s immigration priorities, as well as energy dominance measures.

Thune’s comments during a lengthy exclusive on-camera interview with Breitbart News in the U.S. Capitol taped on Wednesday afternoon.

Asked about how House Speaker Mike Johnson has said he hopes to have the plan out of the U.S. House of Representatives by Memorial Day weekend, Thune said, “That’s right around the corner.”

But then when asked about how Bessent and the Treasury Department staff are angling for July 4 for the whole thing to be wrapped up, Thune said he thinks that is a reasonable target. Thune noted that the Senate’s procedures on these things are much more complicated that the House’s procedures, and that while he likes to “underpromise and over-deliver,” the Fourth of July is a reasonable date “We ought to target.”

“I think that’s what we certainly ought to target,” Thune said. “I think the House—they would like to, and the Speaker would like to have it out of the House by Memorial Day. The Senate has a more complicated procedure that we have to go through when it comes to reconciliation that makes it harder and more complicated. It takes a little bit longer time. But there’s been a ton of work done already and we’re working closely with our counterparts in the House on all of the relevant authorizing committees that have been instructed. But as you know, the objective in reconciliation is border security, it’s national security, it’s rebuilding the military. It’s tax relief, making that—extending that and making it permanent. It’s cutting spending. And it’s creating energy dominance for this country. Those are all agenda items the president campaigned on, the American people voted for, and we need to deliver on. But there are a lot of moving parts around it, so when you say they say they want it done by the Fourth of July I share that view and I’m certainly hopeful about that. But I’m also reluctant to—I always believe you underpromise and over-deliver. So as we look at what we have to get done, we want to be sure it gets done right. But I certainly think the Fourth of July—we have a work period right now. We’re out for a brief period over Memorial Day. Then we’re back in for four or five weeks straight. To me that seems like certainly something we ought to target.”

Part of the reason why the administration wants it done by July 4 is that day will kick off the beginning of the 250th year of the United States. It was 250 years ago, in 1776, when the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence. Trump’s team is hoping, as only the president can do, sources familiar with the matter tell Breitbart News, to celebrate the day with great fanfare. Perhaps there would be no better way to do that than to sign a plan that most economists expect will surge economic growth and prosperity.

The reconciliation plan is expected to extend or make permanent Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act rates and add in things like no tax on tips, Social Security income, or overtime wages. It’s also expected to have immigration funding and energy dominance funding as well. The reason why it takes so long in the Senate is the Republicans are using a procedure called budget reconciliation, a gimmick that allows them to bypass the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster without invoking the nuclear option of changing the U.S. Senate rules.

“A lot of it is the tax cuts from 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, it’s extending it,” Thune said. “If we don’t extend it by the end of the year, it expires. That’s a $4 trillion tax increase that hits the American people, $2.6 trillion of which will fall on earners and working families making less than $400,000 a year and $600 billion of which will fall on small businesses…. So, avoiding that year-end tax increase is one big part of it, but as you point out the president has also suggested a number of other things including no tax on tips. So we are trying as we work through this to incorporate those elements that he has laid out that he wants to accomplish as part of his agenda in the tax piece of the bill. I think that will create a lot of economic certainty and particularly if we can make a lot of these provisions permanent. Sometimes when you pass these things you do it for six years or eight years or 10 years, but what I think the economy is looking for right now is signs that these are going to be the rules we’re going to live by for a while and yes we’re going to have bonus depreciation in here, and interest deductibility and R&D expensing, which are all stimulative to the economy and that help promote growth in our economy. So having those included and then having—I always tell people if you don’t extend the current tax policy you would take the child tax credit and cut it in half, you would take the standard deduction and cut it in half, because those are the things that we doubled back in 2017 when we passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. So, it’s avoiding bad things happening to taxpayers in this country by extending the existing tax relief, but it’s also adding on top of that things like no taxes on tips, which the president campaigned vigorously on during the election.”

More from Thune’s latest exclusive interview with Breitbart News is forthcoming soon.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/04/30/exclusive-senate-majority-leader-john-thune-targeting-july-4-as-deadline-to-send-reconciliation-plan-extending-trump-tax-cuts-to-presidents-desk/

PoliticsFBI Demotes Agents Who Knelt During George Floyd Protests

Nearly five years after agents were photographed kneeling in solidarity with demonstrators during the 2020 George Floyd protests, the FBI has reassigned several of those involved—moves widely seen within the bureau as demotions.

According to a report from CNN, citing individuals briefed on the situation, the agents who took a knee during a public demonstration have now been shifted to less prestigious roles. The FBI offered no official explanation for the change.

The agents’ kneeling gesture took place during a highly charged period following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, an incident that ignited nationwide protests, riots, and calls to “defund the police.” At the time, photos of FBI personnel kneeling with protesters circulated widely, sparking backlash. Critics argued that the act politicized a law enforcement agency meant to remain neutral.

“This notion that the bureau would go after these people, it’s just disgusting,” one former official said to CNN, adding that discipline usually takes months or even over a year under standard procedure. “Those agents were not ever trained to be in that situation,” said one former agent to The Washington Post. “Riot control is not our mission. We are trained to de-escalate.’’

Following the death of George Floyd in May 2020, nationwide protests and riots erupted across the United States, leading to a heightened law enforcement presence, including significant involvement from the FBI. While the FBI traditionally focuses on federal crimes and counterterrorism, the agency became involved in both monitoring and responding to the civil unrest that followed Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police.

Many protesters gathered around the White house to demand justice over George Floyd’s death and request a change in policing system. This photo was taken in Washington DC, USA on 5/30/2020.

The bureau’s intelligence and surveillance operations were ramped up, particularly in cities where demonstrations had turned violent. FBI agents worked alongside local and state authorities to track suspected anarchist groups, identify instigators of violence, and prevent attacks on federal buildings. The agency issued multiple bulletins warning of threats posed by both far-left and far-right extremist groups exploiting the chaos.

One of the more controversial moments came when photos emerged of several FBI agents kneeling in solidarity with protesters outside the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. The gesture was seen by some as a peaceful show of empathy, but by others—especially within conservative circles and inside the bureau—as an inappropriate political statement. The FBI later reviewed the incident and, at the time, found no policy violations.

Since Kash Patel took over as FBI Director, the bureau has ramped up efforts that many critics say blur the lines between law enforcement and political agenda. One of Patel’s most aggressive moves has been a sweeping internal clampdown—launching polygraph tests to root out leakers and silence dissent across federal ranks.

The push to tighten control over internal communications appears part of a broader effort to realign the FBI under a stricter, more centralized command.

In a separate move drawing national attention, the FBI recently arrested Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan. She stands accused of interfering with a federal immigration arrest—allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant avoid capture by federal agents at the courthouse. 

https://trendingpoliticsnews.com/fbi-demotes-agents-who-knelt-during-george-floyd-protests-mace/

NEW: Judge Charged With Helping Illegal Alien Escape ICE Gets Brutal Legal Ruling

A Wisconsin judge accused of shielding an illegal alien from federal immigration authorities has been benched by the state’s highest court as her legal battle unfolds.

On Tuesday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Judge Hannah Dugan will be “temporarily prohibited from exercising the powers of a circuit court judge” while facing criminal charges stemming from her alleged interference in a federal immigration arrest. The court’s order noted that the move was necessary “in order to uphold the public’s confidence” in the judiciary.

The ruling comes just days after Dugan was arrested by federal agents at the Milwaukee County Courthouse. She is charged with two counts: obstruction and concealing an individual from arrest. Dugan made her first court appearance Friday and was released on her own recognizance. Her attorney told reporters outside the courthouse, “Judge Dugan wholeheartedly regrets and protests her arrest. It was not made in the interest of public safety,” according to the Associated Press.

The charges stem from an April 18 incident in Dugan’s courtroom. According to court records, plainclothes ICE agents were stationed outside the courtroom waiting to arrest Eduardo Flores Ruiz, an illegal alien who had just appeared before Judge Dugan. The federal affidavit says the judge “became visibly angry, commented that the situation was ‘absurd,’ left the bench, and entered chambers” upon learning the agents were in the courthouse.

Witnesses told investigators that Dugan returned to confront the agents in a public hallway, allegedly demanding they leave and insisting they needed a different kind of warrant to make an arrest. She also reportedly involved the courthouse’s chief judge in the confrontation according to CNN.

After the hearing resumed, Judge Dugan allegedly intervened to prevent Flores Ruiz and his lawyer from leaving through the main entrance. Instead, she directed them to exit through a side jury door, apparently to avoid detection by ICE agents. According to court records, agents eventually located Flores Ruiz outside the courthouse and took him into custody following a short pursuit.

“The FBI arrested Judge Hannah Dugan out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin on charges of obstruction — after evidence of Judge Dugan obstructing an immigration arrest operation last week,” said former Trump administration official Kash Patel in a statement posted to X. “We believe Judge Dugan intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject to be arrested in her courthouse, Eduardo Flores Ruiz, allowing the subject — an illegal alien — to evade arrest.”

“Thankfully our agents chased down the perp on foot and he’s been in custody since, but the Judge’s obstruction created increased danger to the public,” Patel added.

Dugan’s next court hearing is scheduled for May 15.

This case is not without precedent. Massachusetts Judge Shelley Joseph was charged by federal authorities for allegedly helping an illegal immigrant avoid ICE detention by directing a court officer to sneak him out a back door. Though the Biden Justice Department dropped those charges in 2022, she still faces potential disciplinary action from the state’s Commission on Judicial Conduct.

More recently, Joel Cano, a former New Mexico judge, resigned after federal agents arrested “an illegal alien from Venezuela and a suspected member of a criminal gang” living in a home tied to his family. As part of a legal agreement, Cano is permanently banned from holding any judicial position or even officiating weddings in the state.

EOIR Acting Director Sirce E. Owen said the shake-up is about “restoring accountability so that the Executive Branch officials answer to the President and to the people.”

As more judges face scrutiny for intervening in deportation efforts, the White House appears determined to send a clear message: obstruction won’t be tolerated—whether it comes from the streets or the bench.

https://trendingpoliticsnews.com/new-judge-charged-with-helping-illegal-alien-escape-ice-gets-brutal-legal-ruling-mace/

RFK Jr. Delivers Shock Statement In WH Meeting: HHS Had Become The "Principle Vector In This Country For Child Trafficking," Vowing To Find Some 300,000 Missing Children

 This message is thanks to manfred127

https://celiafarber.substack.com/p/rfk-jr-delivers-shock-statement-in?publication_id=257742&post_id=162567327&isFreemail=false&r=1c0h45&triedRedirect=true

Elon Musk Not Working From White House Anymore, Chief Of Staff Confirms

 A top Trump administration official confirmed that Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a senior adviser to President Donald Trump, is no longer working from the White House.

(L-R) Elon Musk, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick walk toward Marine One on the south lawn of the White House in Washington on March 7, 2025. Travis Gillmore/The Epoch Times

“Instead of meeting with him in person, I’m talking to him on the phone, but it’s the same net effect,” White House chief of staff Susie Wiles told the New York Post in an interview published Tuesday.

Musk, who leads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), “hasn’t been here physically, but it really doesn’t matter much,” Wiles said. “His folks aren’t going anywhere.”

Wiles said they are working in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building near the West Wing of the White House.

“He’s not out of it altogether. He’s just not physically present as much as he was,” Wiles said. “The people that are doing this work are here doing good things and paying attention to the details. He’ll be stepping back a little, but he’s certainly not abandoning it. And his people are definitely not.”

The Epoch Times contacted the White House for additional comment on Wednesday.

Last week, Musk told Tesla investors on a call that he would be stepping away from DOGE and White House work starting in May. As a special government employee, Musk also has to leave the government within 130 days of beginning his role there.

Musk said on the call that he will continue to support the Trump administration and DOGE “to make sure that the waste and fraud that we stop does not come roaring back.”

He made those remarks as his company posted lower-than-anticipated profits and net revenue for the first quarter of 2025. Tesla has also been subject to a series of arson attacks and vandalism since Musk joined the administration, leading to several arrests, which Musk has decried.

Before that, Trump told reporters on April 3 that Musk will leave in “a few months” and noted that he has “companies to run,” stressing he wants the tech billionaire to “stay as long as possible.”

Vice President JD Vance said in an early April Fox News interview that after Musk leaves the administration, he will provide recommendations to the administration because “DOGE has got a lot of work to do.”

Since taking office on Jan. 20, Trump has been on a cost-cutting spree that has taken recommendations from DOGE, including the slashing of tens of thousands of federal jobs and the attempted dismantling of multiple agencies. DOGE and the administration have faced a number of lawsuits, with some judges temporarily pausing DOGE’s access to multiple agencies.

A DOGE website that gives regular updates says that some $160 billion has been saved to date, while more than 8,400 government contracts and more than 9,600 grants have been terminated so far. The organization has also canceled some 470,000 credit cards used by dozens of federal agencies since it started.

But the effort to slash government funding is not without critics. Congressional Democrats on Tuesday, without naming DOGE, said that Trump and Musk have blocked more than $400 billion in funding that they say was approved by Congress.

“Instead of investing in the American people, President Trump is ignoring our laws and ripping resources away,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the top Democrats on the Senate and House appropriations committees.

House Democrats in a letter this month also reminded Musk that he must leave the government before May 30, and asked for confirmation that he would do so.

“We demand an immediate public statement from your administration making clear that Musk will resign and surrender all decision making authority,” the letter said.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/elon-musk-not-working-white-house-anymore-chief-staff-confirms