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Daily Mail
2 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Elon Musk staged secret $15M plot to desperately win back Trump after falling out
Elon Musk attempted a peace offering with Donald Trump after the ex-'First Buddy' split from the White House, giving $15million to Trump and Republican causes. The donations were made after the former DOGE chairman's ugly feud with Trump upon his departure, but before Musk announced plans to launch the independent 'America Party.' Musk gave $5million to three different super PACs supporting both the president and his party. According to Federal Election Commission filings, he gave to MAGA Inc., the Senate Leadership Fund and the Congressional Leadership Fund on June 27. Just eight day later, Musk launched the 'America Party,' which he said was formed 'to give you back your freedom.' Musk has donated $45 million in 2025 to his own America PAC which was largely spent on an unsuccessful Wisconsin Supreme Court election. The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House for comment. Musk announced the foundation of the America Party on his X social media platform just after Independence Day. It came after Musk created an online poll on July 4 asking his followers whether to establish the new party. The results came back 65.4 percent in favor, leading Musk to make the announcement. 'By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!' Musk wrote. 'When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy. 'Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.' Musk had been elevated to a prestigious role within the White House acting as a special advisor to the president and overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency. But in recent months a rift has emerged and the two former friends have been embroiled in embarrassing public spats played out over social media. Many had predicted that Trump and Musk's rosy bromance wouldn't last long and some pointed to betting markets on when they would turn on each other. Betters heavily favored a fallout before July 1, 2025, less than six months after Musk joined Trump's administration as a special advisor. In just a matter of months Musk went from spending $288 million for Trump's election campaign, to slinging insults about him online, including suggesting Trump was in The Epstein files. The bust up occurred after Musk stepped down from DOGE over Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill' which ends tax breaks for electric vehicles, which are Tesla CEO Musk's passion project. Musk also argued that the bill undercut DOGE's cost-cutting efforts by increasing the deficit. The rift deepened after the president rescinded his nomination offer to Musk-ally Jared Isaacman for NASA administrator over donations he made to the Democrats. Since then Trump and Musk have engaged in public mudslinging against each other. Musk accused the president of ingratitude and claimed he would have lost the election without him, while Trump branded him 'crazy '. Since their public break-up, Musk has threatened to start a new, third political party and buttress the reelection campaign of Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, one of the no votes on Trump's big bill. Trump recently outed himself as the person who leaked details about Musk's alleged drug use, according to author Michael Wolff, who penned the eye-popping book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. The New York Times reported that during the 2024 presidential campaign, the billionaire used so much ketamine he was having bladder problems and also used Ecstasy, psychedelic mushrooms and what appeared to be Adderall.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Not just Big Bird: Things to know about the Center for Public Broadcasting and its funding cuts
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps pay for PBS, NPR, 1,500 local radio and television stations as well as programs like 'Sesame Street' and 'Finding Your Roots,' said Friday that it would close after the U.S. government withdrew funding. The organization told employees that most staff positions will end with the fiscal year on Sept. 30. A small transition team will stay until January to finish any remaining work. The private, nonprofit corporation was founded in 1968 shortly after Congress authorized its formation. It now ends nearly six decades of fueling the production of renowned educational programming, cultural content and emergency alerts about natural disasters. Here's what to know: Losing funding President Donald Trump signed a bill on July 24 canceling about $1.1 billion that had been approved for public broadcasting. The White House says the public media system is politically biased and an unnecessary expense, and conservatives have particularly directed their ire at NPR and PBS. Lawmakers with large rural constituencies voiced concern about what the cuts could mean for some local public stations in their state. They warned some stations will have to close. The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday reinforced the policy change by excluding funding for the corporation for the first time in more than 50 years as part of a broader spending bill. How it began Congress passed legislation creating the body in 1967, several years after then-Federal Communications Commission Chairman Newton Minow described commercial television a 'vast wasteland' and called for programming in the public interest. The corporation doesn't produce programming and it doesn't own, operate or control any public broadcasting stations. The corporation, PBS, NPR are independent of each other as are local public television and radio stations. Rural stations hit hard Roughly 70% of the corporation's money went directly to 330 PBS and 246 NPR stations across the country. The cuts are expected to weigh most heavily on smaller public media outlets away from big cities, and it's likely some won't survive. NPR's president estimated as many as 80 NPR stations may close in the next year. Mississippi Public Broadcasting has already decided to eliminate a streaming channel that airs children's programming like 'Caillou' and 'Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood' 24 hours a day. Maine's public media system is looking at a hit of $2.5 million, or about 12% of its budget, for the next fiscal year. The state's rural residents rely heavily on public media for weather updates and disaster alerts. In Kodiak, Alaska, KMXT estimated the cuts would slice 22% from its budget. Public radio stations in the sprawling, heavily rural state often provide not just news but alerts about natural disasters like tsunamis, landslides and volcanic eruptions. From Big Bird to war documentaries The first episode of 'Sesame Street' aired in 1969. Child viewers, adults and guest stars alike were instantly hooked. Over the decades, characters from Big Bird to Cookie Monster and Elmo have become household favorites Entertainer Carol Burnett appeared on that inaugural episode. She told The Associated Press she was a big fan. "I would have done anything they wanted me to do,' she said. 'I loved being exposed to all that goodness and humor.' Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. started 'Finding Your Roots' in 2006 under the title 'African American Lives.' He invited prominent Black celebrities and traced their family trees into slavery. When the paper trail ran out, they would use DNA to see which ethnic group they were from in Africa. Challenged by a viewer to open the show to non-Black celebrities, Gates agreed and the series was renamed 'Faces of America,' which had to be changed again after the name was taken. The show is PBS's most-watched program on linear TV and the most-streamed non-drama program. Season 10 reached nearly 18 million people across linear and digital platforms and also received its first Emmy nomination. Grant money from the nonprofit has also funded lesser-known food, history, music and other shows created by stations across the country. Documentarian Ken Burns, celebrated for creating the documentaries 'The Civil War,' 'Baseball' and 'The Vietnam War', told PBS NewsHour said the corporation accounted for about 20% of his films' budgets. He said he would make it up but projects receiving 50% to 75% of their funding from the organization won't. Influence of shows Children's programing in the 1960s was made up of shows like 'Captain Kangaroo,' ''Romper Room' and the violent skirmishes between 'Tom & Jerry.' "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood' mostly taught social skills. 'Sesame Street' was designed by education professionals and child psychologists to help low-income and minority students aged 2-5 overcome some of the deficiencies they had when entering school. Social scientists had long noted white and higher income kids were often better prepared. One of the most widely cited studies about the impact of 'Sesame Street' compared households that got the show with those who didn't. It found that the children exposed to 'Sesame Street' were 14% more likely to be enrolled in the correct grade level for their age at middle and high school. Over the years, 'Finding Your Roots' showed Natalie Morales discovering she's related to one of the legendary pirates of the Caribbean and former 'Saturday Night Live' star Andy Samberg finding his biological grandmother and grandfather. It revealed that drag queen RuPaul and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker are cousins, as are actors Meryl Streep and Eva Longoria. 'The two subliminal messages of 'Finding Your Roots,' which are needed more urgently today than ever, is that what has made America great is that we're a nation of immigrants,' Gates told the AP. 'And secondly, at the level of the genome, despite our apparent physical differences, we're 99.99% the same.'
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Trump reveals if he'd grant Diddy a pardon saying the disgraced mogul was essentially 'half innocent'
Donald Trump said he would probably not pardon Sean ' Diddy ' Combs after the mogul was convicted of transportation for prostitution but not guilty on several more serious charges. The president did note, however, that Combs' acquittal on numerous sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges meant he was 'essentially, sort of, half innocent.' Trump had reportedly been 'seriously considering' a pardon for Combs as he awaits his sentencing in a Brooklyn jail. Speaking to Newsmax on Friday, Trump ultimately said it was 'more likely a no' but noted the interesting situation the rapper had found himself in. 'Well he was essentially, sort of, half-innocent. I don't know what they do that he's still in jail or something. He was celebrating a victory but I guess it wasn't as good a victory,' he said. The president then detailed his past relationship with Combs, as both are native New Yorkers who became famous. 'I was very friendly with him, get along with him great, seemed like a nice guy, didn't know him well,' he said. That started to take a turn when Trump moved toward politics. While Combs was largely agnostic in the 2016 race, he endorsed Joe Biden in 2020 and said if Trump won there would be a race war. 'But when I ran for office he was very hostile. But it was hard with human beings and we don't like to have things cloud our judgement, right? But when you knew someone and you were fine and then you run for office and he made some terrible statements, so I don't know, it makes it more difficult to do,' he said. Interviewer Rob Finnerty pushed him on it, suggesting it was 'more likely a no for Combs?' Trump replied: 'I'd say so.' As the judge prepares his punishment for the former producer over prostitution charges, a source told Deadline that Trump has been mulling the reprieve. Diddy has been acquitted on three of his most serious charges. Insiders told the outlet that the idea had advanced from 'just another Trump weave to an actionable event.' The 55-year-old mogul was found not-guilty of sex-trafficking and racketeering earlier this month, but was convicted of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. Combs is set to receive his sentencing on October 3 and faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. A presidential pardon has been talked of since the beginning of Combs' trial, and Trump even indicated in May that he was open to the idea. The President said, when asked on the matter in the Oval Office, that 'nobody's asked but I know people are thinking about it.' 'I know they're thinking about it. I think some people have been very close to asking,' he added. 'First of all, I'd look at what's happening. And I haven't been watching it too closely, although it's certainly getting a lot of coverage,' Trump continued. 'I haven't seen him, I haven't spoken to him in years. He used to really like me a lot, but I think when I ran for politics he sort of, that relationship busted up from what I read. I don't know. He didn't tell me that, but I'd read some nasty statements in the paper all of a sudden.' 'So, I don't know. I would certainly look at the facts. if I think somebody was mistreated, whether they like me or don't like me it wouldn't have any impact,' he concluded. Attorney John Koufos, who recently met with Trump's pardon 'tsar' Alice Marie Johnson and pardon attorney Ed Martin, told the Daily Mail elements of the case fit with Trump's push against 'overcriminalization' and 'weaponization' in charging. Trump was himself charged with a racketeering conspiracy in the Georgia election interference case, and he has long railed against what he calls weaponization of the criminal justice system. Analysts watching the Diddy case have questioned whether the government overcharged him, and Koufos wondered how the defendant could be engaging in a RICO conspiracy by themselves. 'Had he been convicted of a RICO [charge], you'd be looking at something different. The fact that he was convicted of things that it seems that he pretty obviously did probably mitigates against a grant of clemency,' he said, nothing there was 'nothing particularly sympathetic' about the defendant. The avenue for a potential pardon appears to run through Johnson and Martin, who previously served as Trump's interim top US Attorney in the District of Columbia. Trump has long championed his signing of the First Step Act, which reauthorized Second Chance legislation meant to boost successful reentry by former prisoners into the population. He has also been open to pardoning political allies, as he did when pardoning former Republican Rep. Michael Grimm and former Democratic Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojavech. Blagojevich promptly called him a 'great effing guy.' But rapper 50 Cent, Curtis James, is a longtime Diddy rival who has been occasionally posting about the case online – even while saying he would urge Trump not to pardon Diddy. 50 Cent posted on Instagram: 'He said some really bad things about Trump, it's not ok. Im gonna reach out so he knows how I feel about this guy,' Vulture reported. 'Donald doesn't take well to disrespect, and doesn't forget who chooses to go against him,' he wrote in another. 'while working tirelessly to make America great again there is no room for distraction. He would consider pardoning anyone who was being mistreated not Puffy Daddy.'
