Thursday, May 1 | By Cate Martel |
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It's Thursday. Happy May! Can you believe we're already a third of the way through 2025? | - Trump will reportedly fire Mike Waltz
- Is Tesla seeking a new CEO?
- Elon Musk describes his White House sleepover
- Meghan's first-ever podcast interview
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Several news outlets are reporting that President Trump is planning to oust national security adviser Mike Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, from their roles within the White House. This marks the first major departure from Trump's second administration. Waltz's infamous controversy: In March, The Atlantic's Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg was accidentally added to a national security group chat with discussions about sensitive military intelligence. Waltz took responsibility for the mistake. ^ Throwback: Remember when Waltz appeared on Fox News in March to discuss the Signal group chat snafu? His explanation for how the journalist ended up on the chat was: "Well, if you have somebody else's contact and then it, and then somehow it gets sucked in. Oh, someone sent you that contact. It gets sucked in." 📹 Watch the clip 📹 — this is after he appeared on "Fox & Friends." Has the White House confirmed this?: No, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she wouldn't comment on "reporting from anonymous sources." Fox News reports that Trump will publicly address it. For what it's worth: Politico reported at the end of March that Trump's plan was to fire Waltz after the Signal debacle — but to wait until a later date so it wouldn't look like a win for Democrats and the media. Fun fact: The Hill's Jared Gans pointed out that if Waltz is ousted, that would make him the *second* shortest-tenured national security adviser. Michael Flynn was first, serving just 24 days. |
Apparently, Tesla's investors were big mad: |
The Wall Street Journal reported last night that Tesla's board started looking for a new CEO about a month ago, when stocks started dropping and investors were growing frustrated with Elon Musk's work for the Trump administration. Excerpt from when tensions were high: "Around that time, Tesla's board met with Musk for an update. Board members told him he needed to spend more time on Tesla, according to people familiar with the meeting. And he needed to say so publicly. Musk didn't push back." This warranted a 1:23 a.m. statement from Tesla: "This is absolutely false (and this was communicated to the media before the report was published)," the statement reads. "The CEO of Tesla is Elon Musk and the Board is highly confident in his ability to continue executing on the exciting growth plan ahead." ^ And a 1:38 a.m. follow-up from Musk himself: "It is an EXTREMELY BAD BREACH OF ETHICS that the @WSJ would publish a DELIBERATELY FALSE ARTICLE and fail to include an unequivocal denial beforehand by the Tesla board of directors!" Musk added. Did Musk know about the search to find a replacement CEO?: That's unclear. Keep in mind: President Trump invited Musk to continue working at the White House as long as he wants. But "he wants to get back home to his cars," Trump said. |
➤ TIDBIT — MUSK HAS WHITE HOUSE SLEEPOVERS:
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Musk told a small group of reporters on Wednesday that he has slept over at the White House. He says he stays in the Lincoln Bedroom. Musk said about Trump: "He'll actually call at night and say like, 'By the way make sure you get some ice cream from the kitchen.' I ate a whole tub of ice cream… caramel, Häagen-Dazs," Musk said. "I mean, don't tell RFK." In what context does Musk sleep over?: "The president's, very, very — I guess we're good friends, and we'll be on Air Force One or Marine One and then he's like, 'Hey do you want to stay over?' and I'm like, 'Sure,'" Musk said. "I didn't request it, to be sure." |
➤ TRUMP <3 STEPHEN A. SMITH IS WHAT I LEARNED:
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President Trump called into a NewsNation town hall Wednesday night. I didn't have this on my bingo card: At one point, Trump told Stephen A. Smith that he would "love" to see Smith run for president. (There has been some buzz about him potentially running for president in 2028 as a Democrat.) Trump doesn't think he's made any mistakes: When asked to name the biggest mistakes he's made so far in his controversial first 100 days, Trump said he doesn't believe he made any mistakes. More takeaways, via The Hill's Julia Mueller and Jared Gans |
➤ EXPECT TO HEAR THIS LINE USED AGAINST THE PRESIDENT:
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When discussing the potential impacts of tariffs, Trump said Wednesday that children could have fewer toys as a result of the trade war. "Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally," Trump said. 😅 (try explaining that to a kid.) |
A little White House rendezvous: |
The Hill's Mychael Schnell reports that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and a group of House Republicans are meeting with President Trump today to discuss the "big, beautiful bill" that has been stalled for months. Who got the invite?: House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) The top two issues holding up Trump's legislative agenda: |
- Potential cuts to Medicaid (Guthrie's committee)
- The deduction cap for state and local taxes — or SALT (Smith's committee)
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➤ OUTTAKES ON CAPITOL HILL:
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CNN's Manu Raju was filming a standup when Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) came up behind him and gave him bunny ears. 📹 Watch the clip ^ For context: The late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) famously did the same thing to Raju a few years ago. |
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The House and Senate are in. President Trump is in Washington and will head to Alabama later today. (All times EST) |
1:45 p.m.: A Senate cloture vote. 📆 Today's agenda
2 p.m.: Trump participates in a swearing-in ceremony for the Italian ambassador.
2 p.m.: State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce briefs reporters. 💻 Livestream
5 p.m.: Trump leaves for Alabama.
8 p.m.: Trump delivers remarks at the University of Alabama commencement. 💻 Livestream
8:55 p.m.: Trump leaves for Mar-a-Lago. |
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🍫 Celebrate: Today is National Chocolate Parfait Day. 🎮 'A lady zombie in pigtails just took me out.': Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) played Call of Duty Black Ops 6 with some young constituents. 📹 Watch — it's pretty funny. 🏆 Tony nominations are out: George Clooney, Mia Farrow and Sarah Snook have all been nominated for Tony awards. 📝 The full list of Tony nominations 👑 Meghan was on a podcast: Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, did her first-ever podcast interview, appearing on "The Jamie Kern Lima Show." She and the host are wearing sweats and no makeup. 🎙️ Watch |
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