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Silicon Valley aghast at the Musk-Trump divorce

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Silicon Valley aghast at the Musk-Trump divorce

As Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s “bromance” broke apart on Thursday, tech industry figures who had backed both men raced to contain the fallout.

“Elon isn’t taking calls from anyone,” complained one Silicon Valley financier and major donor to Republican candidates. “Not from people who have billions invested in his companies . . . The Valley is losing their shit.”

At stake was an alliance between the tech world and the populist right that not only helped return Trump to office but also one that founders and investors had hoped would herald an era of tax cuts and deregulation, as well as an open door to crypto and artificial intelligence.

Musk’s role in the Trump administration had also paved the way for several Silicon Valley figures to take prominent positions in government — roles that could now be in peril. 

The sudden deselection of Jared Isaacman, a Musk ally and tech founder who had been nominated to lead Nasa, was just the start of an expected “purge”, one person close to the administration said, threatening tech’s hard-won influence in Washington.

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Jared Isaacman alongside the recovered first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket © Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images

Some of those considered to be at risk were crypto and AI tsar David Sacks, policy adviser Sriram Krishnan, and Michael Grimes, Musk’s former banker at Morgan Stanley, now an official at the Department of Commerce.

As Musk’s relationship with the White House worsened, key figures on the tech right tried to play down the permanence of the rift. 

“USA is VERY lucky to have both E and Pres Trump,” Joe Lonsdale, a co-founder of Palantir and investor in Musk’s companies wrote on X. 

Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman urged the duo to “make peace for the benefit of our great country”, pleading: “We are much stronger together than apart.”

David Friedberg, a co-host of the All-In podcast that often features Musk and that has become a sounding board for the Trump-aligned tech world, suggested there was a broader cost to America from the spat between the US president and the Tesla boss. “China just won,” he posted.

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Behind the scenes, prominent Silicon Valley figures were desperately trying to prevent Musk from appearing on an emergency episode of the podcast, according to two people familiar with the matter, out of concern that the billionaire would make the dispute even worse and poison the relationship with tech’s most powerful ally in Washington, vice-president JD Vance.

“It’s going to be a disaster with Musk in this frame of mind,” one of the people warned. 

One of the podcast co-hosts, David Sacks, was “shell-shocked”, the second person added, and needed to be protected from public scrutiny until things calmed down. Sacks, usually a frequent poster on social media, has remained silent since the Musk-Trump relationship imploded. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

David Sacks
David Sacks is said to be ‘shell-shocked’ by the rift © Ian Maule/AFP/Getty Images

Elsewhere, other prominent tech figures debated whether reconciliation was possible and, if not, what life beyond the break-up would look like.   

Ryan Selkis, founder of a crypto platform who became a prominent Trump backer, told the Financial Times: “Elon will be back in the fold in a matter of weeks, but it will be a chastened Elon.”

Delian Asparouhov, a space tech founder who co-runs the Hill & Valley Forum, which links Silicon Valley and Washington, said: “I don’t think there is going to be a de-escalation here.” He expressed concern to tech news site TBPN that smaller space companies that work with Musk’s SpaceX could encounter “more resistance” from the White House.

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Others bemoaned the souring of the tech community’s Trump bet. “Maybe Silicon Valley got played by Trump. He got what he wanted,” said one West Coast venture capital founder, citing Musk’s $250mn donation to Trump’s campaign. 

The person lamented the ongoing economic volatility — caused by tariffs and Trump’s unpredictability — during a presidency that they had been promised would be a boon to business. “We’re all experiencing a liquidity crunch,” they said. “We need public markets to open.” 

Cracks in Silicon Valley and Washington’s marriage of convenience had been appearing for weeks, particularly over the Trump tax bill that so irked Musk. Deficit hawks balked at the legislation adding trillions to the US debt pile, while more socially progressive tech figures bridled at proposed cuts to entitlement programmes like Medicaid.

“I am fully for pursuing the elimination of waste and fraud,” said Jon McNeill, a former Tesla president who worked alongside Musk and now runs start-up incubator DVx Ventures. “But at the same time, I don’t want a tax break so badly as to make the most vulnerable suffer. And from what I’m hearing, a lot of my peers feel the same way.”

The public bust-up could now open the door for others in Silicon Valley to replace Musk as tech’s de facto ambassadors in Washington, especially his arch-rival, OpenAI’s Sam Altman. 

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“Tech is not represented by one person,” an investor in Musk’s companies said. “Engagement between tech and government is not because JD is a tech guy or because Trump is, it’s because tech is so important,” they added. “This doesn’t end because of one person, even if he’s the most prominent person in the world.”

Additional reporting by Alex Rogers in Washington

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Trump fires last members of election commission, inciting fears of midterm ‘chaos’

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Trump fires last members of election commission, inciting fears of midterm ‘chaos’

Donald Trump has terminated the remaining members of the independent, federal commission that assists election administration officials nationwide just a few months before the midterm elections, multiple outlets reported Thursday.

The remaining three commissioners of the four-member bipartisan commission ⁠were forced out on Thursday in different ways. The one Republican appointee resigned and the other ⁠two, Democratic appointees were notified of their terminations via email from ​the White House presidential personnel office.

“On ‌behalf of President ‌Donald J Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position ‌as Commissioner of the Election Assistance Commission is terminated, effective immediately. Thank you for your service,” the email, seen by Reuters, said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Election Assistance Commission serves as a “national clearinghouse of information on election ‌administration”, accredits testing laboratories and certifies voting systems, and maintains the national mail-voter registration form developed by the National ​Voter Registration Act of 1993, according to the commission’s website. The terminations follow Trump and top administration officials’ advocacy to change vote-by-mail requirements and investigations into the 2020 election outcome, which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

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“It is ⁠irresponsible and dangerous that this Administration remains dead set on ​causing chaos for ​our election officials across this ​country,” Arizona secretary of state Adrian Fontes said in a ​Thursday statement. “This ‌move undermines the integrity ​of nonpartisan ​election administration.”

The 2002 law that established the commission, the Help America Vote Act, states the president can appoint replacements to the commission.

It is unclear how Trump will move ahead with the commission.

Reuters contributed reporting

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Former Olympian pleads not guilty in reflecting pool vandalism charges

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Former Olympian pleads not guilty in reflecting pool vandalism charges

Former U.S. Olympian David Hearn (left) walks with his attorney Norman Eisen to speak to reporters and protesters gathered after his arraignment at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.

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Former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn pleaded not guilty to damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in D.C. Superior Court Thursday morning.

Federal prosecutors charged Hearn with a single count of destruction of property causing more than $1,000 in damage to the pool.

Hearn has previously claimed, which his attorneys repeated during a short press conference outside the court, that he simply touched the water in the pool out of curiosity.

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The Trump administration had just completed a $14 million renovation of the pool.

But shortly after the work finished, peeling paint and algae gathered in the water. The remodel has been largely criticized as a massive failure and waste of taxpayer dollars.

Superior Court Judge Carmen McLean released Hearn on his own recognizance. His next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 5.

Norm Eisen, one of Hearn’s attorneys, spoke to reporters outside of court following the hearing. He said the administration is using Hearn as a “scapegoat … for their own failures.”

“It is not a crime to touch the reflecting pool, to touch water in the United States of America,” he said.

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Prosecutors say there is a host of evidence against Hearn.

This is a developing story.

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Three more people charged with damaging Reflecting Pool after Trump’s multimillion-dollar restoration | CNN Politics

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Three more people charged with damaging Reflecting Pool after Trump’s multimillion-dollar restoration | CNN Politics

Three more people have been criminally charged with destruction of property at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Officers say they detained Cameron Thiers, Sophie Dennison-Gibby and Justin Carreno one Saturday afternoon in June and described in court documents witnessing them peeling and removing pieces of blue paint from the Reflecting Pool.

One officer “witnessed Carreno reach down into the reflecting pool and pull up a piece of the blue paint,” according to the court documents.

The officer who detained Dennison-Gibby “found 1 additional piece of the reflecting pool liner” in her purse, the documents said.

All three incidents were recorded on the officers’ body worn cameras, they said in the court documents.

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Several “partnering law enforcement agencies assigned to the Reflecting Pool” working with US Park Police were involved in detaining the two men and one woman — including officers from Texas, Oklahoma, Montana and California.

One of the officers said in court documents that Thiers “admitted to removing a piece of blue sealant from the Reflecting Pool and still had it in his hand when I made contact with him.”

The three defendants were arraigned in court Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charges of destruction of property with a value less than $1,000. The judge ordered them to stay away from the Reflecting Pool.

Lawyers for Thiers and Dennison-Gibby declined to comment. CNN has reached out to Carreno’s attorney.

If found guilty of destruction of property, the defendants could be fined up to $1,000 and face a maximum of 180 days behind bars.

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The New York Times first reported that three additional people had been charged with damaging the Reflecting Pool.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that vandals caused major damage to the pool by gashing the lining after his administration spent more than $14 million on renovations, though he has not provided evidence to support that claim. The officers who charged Carreno, Thiers and Dennison-Gibby did not accuse them of gashing the lining.

Former Olympic canoeist David Hearn was indicted by a grand jury in Washington, DC, last week for allegedly damaging the Reflecting Pool. Hearn — unlike Carreno, Thiers and Dennison-Gibby – was charged with destruction of property with a value of more than $1,000 which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, if convicted. He is set to be arraigned in court Thursday.

Crews began draining the Reflecting Pool over the weekend to make repairs, according to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, for the second time in three months.

The move comes after weeks of problems – algae blooms, green-hued water, a chipping bottom and the administration’s allegations of vandalism – that have plagued the iconic landmark, making its woes the subject of national interest.

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