Elon Musk phoned President Trump before publicly expressing regret for attacks he said “went too far” during a public feud between the two men last week, according to people familiar with the matter. The billionaire, who once led Mr. Trump’s effort to overhaul the government, had spoken with Vice President JD Vance and the White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, about a possible truce.
The State Department has decided to reduce its diplomatic presence in Iraq amid signs that nuclear diplomacy between the United States and Iran may be deadlocked. Mr. Trump said on a podcast published Wednesday that he had grown “less confident” about the prospects for a deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program. Health Secretary Robert F.
Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday named eight doctors and researchers, including two prominent critics of federal scientists and the Biden administration’s Covid vaccine policies, to replace roughly half the members he fired from an expert panel that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The president and first lady are attending the gala opening for “Les Misérables” at the Kennedy Center. Mr.
Trump has functionally taken over the national cultural center by appointing himself its president. More protests were expected in cities across the country, in solidarity with those in Los Angeles over the administration’s immigration policies. The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, in Nashville, where Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia faces criminal charges of transporting undocumented immigrants, saw significant developments.
Defense lawyers for the Salvadoran immigrant, who was recently brought back to the United States to face a federal indictment after being wrongfully deported to a prison in El Salvador, argued in court papers on Wednesday that he should remain free from custody as he awaits trial. The defense stated that “the United States government illegally detained and deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia and shipped him to the Center for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT) in El Salvador, one of the most violent, inhumane prisons in the world.” They urged Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr.
to deny the government’s request to detain him further.
Musk calls for truce with Trump
Federal prosecutors have argued that Mr.
Abrego Garcia represents a “serious risk” of flight due to the possibility of intimidation of witnesses by MS-13 members and the lengthy sentence he faces if convicted. However, defense lawyers refuted these claims by stating that their client had no prior felony convictions and was not a flight risk. The indictment against Mr.
Abrego Garcia dates back to Nov. 30, 2022, when he was stopped for speeding by the Tennessee Highway Patrol. Officers found his Chevrolet Suburban altered to carry additional passengers, with nine Hispanic males packed into the S.U.V. While Mr.
Abrego Garcia claimed they had been in St. Louis for construction work, the indictment alleges he was lying, as data indicated he had been in Texas that morning. The defense contends that detaining Mr.
Abrego Garcia further is unjust, particularly given his recent experience in El Salvador’s “notoriously inhuman” CECOT prison, which could increase his chances of seeking asylum protections. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy endorsed calls for the department’s inspector general to audit air safety protocols around the nation’s capital after a fatal crash in January between a commercial flight and a military helicopter.
Following a request from a bipartisan majority of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, the audit aims to prevent such accidents in the future. The National Transportation Safety Board has already initiated an investigation into the January 29 crash and expects to conclude it by January 29, 2026. In addition, the F.A.A. and the Army plan to execute a memorandum of understanding to safely coordinate air operations amid the ongoing investigations and audits.
