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Trump and Musk Turn on Each Other in Escalating Public Feud; Allies Try to Broker Peace Between Musk and Trump; Combs Trial Resumes After Judge Threatened to Eject Him; CNN Speaks with President Trump About Musk Feud. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired June 06, 2025 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[08:00:00]

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Nitrogen from agricultural fertilizers from the America's Heartland as well as the Amazon Basin that filters into the ocean so that helps spur the development of this harmful algae bloom. So this is a recent photo taken in Puerto Rico. Look at how it just piles up here along the shorelines.

Really not much you can do but put up these nets or fences to try to capture it or keep it at bay away from the beaches. But John, take it from me, this will repel any person heading to the beaches. Not what people want, especially if your town relies on the tourism and the tourists who visit these beaches -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Derek Van Dam, thank you very much. And for the record, no one giggled when you said sorry.

VAN DAM: Yes, you're welcome.

BERMAN: A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

All right, breaking news this morning. Just in for those thinking there might be a thaw between President Trump and Elon Musk. The president just told ABC's Jonathan Karl he's not interested in speaking with Musk, whom he calls a quote, man who has lost his mind.

The judge warns Sean Combs he could get kicked out of a courtroom over his facial expressions. We're standing by for court to resume this morning.

And breaking overnight after President Trump said let them fight. New video coming in as Russian missiles and drones rain down on Ukraine. This is one of Russia's biggest attacks since their invasion.

I'm John Berman with Sara Sidner and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning never before have so many people wondered what time does Elon Musk typically wake up. The reason why is because the world is right now waiting to see if and where this wild feud between him and the president is going to head today. The world's richest man seemed to maybe sort of be looking for an offer off-ramp in this fight and where it ended.

Overnight, Musk tweeted you're not wrong to a friend, which happens to be billionaire hedge funder Bill Ackman, who suggested that the two make peace. And Musk also decided that on second thought he will not stop NASA from using his SpaceX Dragon spacecraft after Trump had suggested cutting off his government contracts.

So we are keeping, out of necessity, a close eye on both of their social media accounts for an indication of where this is actually headed.

We are also learning more about efforts of close allies to both trying to broker a truce but maybe don't hold your breath for a call to bring that about. I want to play for you what ABC's Jonathan Karl just reported last hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN KARL, ABC NEWS: There's been reporting out there that the White House is working to put together a call between Elon Musk and Donald Trump to broker some kind of peace.

I asked Donald Trump about that. He said he's not particularly interested in talking to Elon Musk. He said Elon wants to talk to him. He's not ready to talk to to to Musk, who he called a man who has lost his mind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: So there's that. This public rift started as Musk really started raging on the president's massive tax cut and spending bill, and yesterday it just triggered a meltdown. Musk claimed that President Trump would have lost the election without him.

President Trump accused Musk of going, quote, crazy, as he clearly reiterated this morning. And then Musk, he really went there and unleashed what he called the really big bomb and claimed that Trump is, quote, in the Jeffrey Epstein files, and that the real -- that is the real reason that they have not yet been made public.

Yes, that happened, and the White House reacted to that, saying that Musk was having a, quote, unfortunate episode.

CNN's Kevin Liptack is at the White House this morning. There's so much more to what happened yesterday. I'm curious now of what more you're hearing today.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, it seems as if President Trump is not quite ready to forgive, but it does seem in some ways that he's ready to move on. Talking to people who are familiar with this matter, they say his real focus now is on that giant piece of legislation that, at the end of the day, ignited this entire feud when Elon Musk said it would explode the deficit.

And so while President Trump, in his own words, seems disappointed in his one-time friend, it does not appear as if he's ready to sort of worsen this any further than it already is.

You know, it's hard to believe there was only one week ago today that Trump was presenting with great fanfare a giant gold key to the White House to Elon Musk. Not sure where that key ended up, but things could not be any more different today, and I think the question is whether this is now irreparable differences.

[08:05:00]

You talk to a lot of Trump advisors, and they do think that this will not be able to be patched up, and they point specifically to that tweet about Jeffrey Epstein, you know, the world's most notorious pedophile, as something that President Trump is just not going to be able to walk away from.

There are a group of Trump and Musk allies who do believe that this could potentially be repaired. They are holding out hope that a phone call, for example, might be able to repair things between these two men. But as of this hour, that call is not on the books, and President Trump seems ready to sort of move on to other things, namely this giant bill, which I think at the end of the day underscores the stakes of all of this.

You remember, the entirety of President Trump's domestic agenda is wrapped up in this piece of legislation that he's now trying to push through the Senate. I think the fear among the president's advisors is that Musk, in questioning the deficit of this bill, will embolden Republicans who share the same point of view. And that, I think, is the leverage that Musk holds in all of this.

Donald Trump also has some leverage here. You saw, for example, yesterday he was threatening to withhold some of the federal subsidies to Musk's companies. That could have a serious effect on his bottom line.

And so, for as catty and as nasty as this all became, you know, you saw Donald Trump insulting Musk's decision to not wear eye makeup in the Oval Office, which is about as catty as I think anything I've seen at the White House in my years covering it. This is a dispute that has some serious ramifications for policy and certainly for President Trump's agenda as he works to get that passed on Capitol Hill.

BOLDUAN: All right, Kevin, keep us updated. Thank you so much -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, joining me now are Sara Fischer, our CNN media analyst, and Brian Stelter, CNN chief media analyst. Thank you for both being here.

Wow, Brian. Many predicted the breakup of this Musk-Trump bromance, and you saw what ABC's Jonathan Karl was reporting there, that Trump's just not interested in speaking with him, and he says the man has lost his mind while speaking about Musk.

But what is your takeaway from all this? And what does all of this tell you about what is happening between the two of these men? BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Firstly, this is like covering a campaign. No predictions. Don't try to guess the outcome, because this is changing hour by hour, and nobody knows where we're going to be a day or two from now, right?

This time last year, Musk had not even endorsed Trump yet. Now, that endorsement didn't come until rather impulsively Musk endorsed Trump hours after the Butler assassination attempt. So we have no idea what Musk is thinking or what he might do next, and that's largely true about Trump as well.

It's amazing to me, Sara, how much is assumed and baked into the conversations here, right? We assume that the Musk and Trump were going to break up at some point. We talk about all the ways that Trump might use the government power to punish Musk without much talk about the ethical and legal implications, right?

We talk about how Musk might try to use X and use the algorithm to send anti-Trump messages, again, without much talk of the implications. We've skated right over the campaign finance angles here, about all the influence of money in politics, Musk trying to buy an election and now having buyers remorse. None of this used to be normal, right?

So if viewers at home are watching this thinking this is crazy, you're right. But it is normal now, right? It has been normal this year, and people were right to assume that this breakup would happen eventually.

But as the Wall Street Journal editorial board said overnight, a divorce this ugly, this big, this nasty, nobody wins. Nobody comes out ahead in a divorce this ugly, and that's why there is going to be a lot of pressure on Musk to try to make amends. That's why there are going to be questions for Trump about whether a phone call is going to happen, about whether some sort of reconciliation is happening, because there is pressure on both men to try to resolve this to some degree.

SIDNER: Sara, you know, this is such a 21st century fight, because they both have these social media platforms that they own, right? I mean, but how might this impact, for example, Musk's businesses, and conversely, the U.S. government, which relies on some of Musk's companies, including launching satellites for defense?

SARA FISCHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: It's a very, very complicated relationship, Sara. So people think of Elon Musk, they think of X, they think of SpaceX, they forget probably one of the most important Elon Musk companies that's intertwined with the government is Starlink. And FCC Chair Brendan Carr has been very vocal about how they want to give Starlink more opportunities from a regulatory perspective, and so that is a big issue if Elon Musk and Donald Trump have this breakup, not just for Elon Musk, of course, but also for the American people.

Starlink also has been used to help, for us, support our allies with defense. You think about Internet and broadband signals that have been used in the war in Ukraine and in other places. So if these two cannot get this relationship repaired, there are massive implications for both.

I'd say this also about Elon Musk, though. One of the things we've seen with him is that when he's faced with corporate pressure, remember, Tesla shareholders sued when he took over X, saying we don't want a part-time CEO.

[08:10:00]

He does tend to buck to the pressure. He hired a CEO from X -- for X. You know, he said he was going to put more time back into that company. I think part of what you're seeing with this breakup is there's a meltdown for Musk happening in terms of accountability of his private companies.

He's trying to shift away from his government role as fast as he can, but unfortunately he's going out in a very sloppy way, Sara, and if that impacts his government contracts, that is going to be a whole new kind of corporate pressure on him that he has not yet seen.

SIDNER: Yes. Brian, I also find it interesting because you talked about this as like it looks like this is a political campaign. Republicans are trying to deal with this.

Some are tiptoeing around it, saying like both men are great, I hope they resolve this. Others are saying Elon Musk has gone nuts, has gone crazy, but Musk did help fund Trump's win. Does it appear some lawmakers are just worried about which side to take at this point?

STELTER: Yes, and they're right to worry about that. You know, as we're indicating here, and Sara's absolutely right, Musk is so vulnerable on so many fronts. He has so many challenges right now, not to mention that New York Times reporting about his drug use last week. He is being challenged on many different fronts simultaneously.

But Trump is challenged here too. I would argue Trump is outmatched by Musk on the social media front, right? Musk has a much bigger social media platform. He's much better at the so-called meme wars. Musk speaks Internet more effectively than Trump. Musk is able to empower and excite his fans, and he does have his own fan base separate from Trump. He's able to mobilize and activate them.

So Musk does have some power here, even though he's quite vulnerable. And of course, the ultimate power Musk has is in financing those races.

He did get some House Republicans elected last year. Those House Republicans know what Musk did for them. And you know, recently, Musk said he doesn't really feel like spending money in the midterms.

I don't buy that for a second. I think especially if this breakup continues, if this divorce is finalized, Musk is going to want to influence the midterms. But in what direction, we don't know.

And look, I'm not here claiming the third-party thing is real, but we can't discount it either. Musk is the kind of guy that wants to see systemic change in politics. Two months ago, we talked about him as President Musk.

Well, I don't know what title we might give to him next.

SIDNER: All right, Sara, like any breakup, and Brian alluded to this, there are signs being taken in Trump world. It's getting pretty nasty. Steve Bannon has been a detractor of Musk for a long time. Here's what he said about all this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE BANNON, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST: 13 million and one, because Elon Musk is illegal, and he's got to go too, OK? You're going to ship these other people home? Let's start with the South Africans, OK?

And I got a couple other could go too, but he's illegal. Deport immediately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: So you're seeing how nasty this is getting. In the end, who has more to lose here when you look across this landscape right now, Sara?

FISCHER: I think Elon Musk has more to lose because he's the person who has a lot of, you know, public shareholders that have to hold him to account, and he has a lot of personal wealth to be lost. I think 34 billion has been lost in the past two days. You know, Donald Trump, of course he has a lot to lose politically, but he at the same time I think has a little bit more power in this fight right now.

You're not seeing a lot of Trump allies come out in support of Elon Musk. Same thing, we have some lawmakers who are saying, oh I have to reread that Big, Beautiful Bill, but ultimately you don't see a massive backlash against it.

SIDNER: Sara Fischer, Brian Stelter, great conversation. Thank you to both of you -- John.

BERMAN: All right, the judge in the criminal sex trafficking trial of Sean Combs threatens to remove him from the courtroom over his facial expressions. We're standing by for new testimony this morning.

A new attempt to land on the moon ends in failure, details as to what went wrong.

And ignoring human commands, rewriting its own code, blackmailing its creators, new warnings that artificial intelligence is advancing fast and crossing dangerous lines.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Sean Combs' sex trafficking trial is set to resume next hour, with more testimony coming from his ex-girlfriend, a woman who is testifying under the pseudonym -- a pseudonym only publicly known as Jane. It was another explosive day in court yesterday, which included the

judge actually threatening to remove Sean Combs from the courtroom for seemingly trying to engage with the jury. The judge said on at least two occasions that he saw Combs, quote, nodding vigorously in their direction, to which the judge also responded, quote, I could not have been any clearer in terms of what I said. It is absolutely unacceptable, and adding, it cannot happen again.

CNN's Kara Scannell has been in the courtroom every day. She's joining us now. Kara, this is a potentially important development of what happened in court with the judge, really admonishing Sean Combs and his attorney. What happened, and what's that likely to mean for today?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kate. Yes, this seemed to come out of nowhere, but what we actually learned from the court transcript is that there were some private communications the night before between the parties where this was raised. And then during a sidebar in the middle of the Bryana Bongolan, who was being questioned by Combs' attorney, there was a sidebar, and the prosecutors raised this before the judge.

They said Combs was nodding vigorously toward the jury.

[08:20:00]

They said they saw one of the jurors actually start to write things down, and they believe that Sean Combs was, in effect, trying to testify by endorsing the questions that his attorney was asking, which was trying to undermine the credibility of the witness around the entire incident of the balcony.

So the judge said he hadn't seen it, but then after the court day broke for lunch, it seemed to come out of nowhere when the judge had said that he had observed Combs nodding vigorously, looking at the jury by his own eyes when he had when the cross-examination resumed.

And that's where you saw him raise his voice and say that he would, if this happened again, he would entertain any request from the government if they wanted what's known as, like, a curative instruction to point it out to the jury and say that they should disregard it. But he said he would go one step further and potentially remove Combs from the courtroom, definitely telling him, he said, I'm very serious here.

It was a strong message. He didn't want anybody communicating with the jury, and he said that he would have security kind of keep an eye on everyone in the courtroom to make sure that there was no one else trying to send a message to the jurors in any way.

I mean, Combs then, I was watching him pretty closely in the afternoon session when his former girlfriend testifying under the pseudonym Jane was on the stand. He was looking over at the jury. He had a blank expression on his face, but he is watching to see how they are absorbing some of this testimony, which has been very explicit and graphic at times. And Jane was testifying that she had first met Combs on a girls' trip,

and it was kind of a whirlwind. She was head over heels. She fell in love with him very quickly. And she said just a few months into their relationship, he raised the idea of potentially having sex with a third person, a male, and she said that she said, OK, sure, but before she knew it that same very day, she said Combs was on his phone and arranged for a hotel room where she did have sex with a male prostitute.

Now she said that she thought it was a one-off. She said that, you know, it was taboo. It was kind of exhilarating at the time, but she didn't think it was going to happen again. She said, though, that that had -- that night, she said, I truly felt that that night just opened like a Pandora's box in our relationship. It just completely set the tone for our relationship moving forward.

She testified that about 90 percent of the time after that that she saw him, it involved one of these nights that she referred to as hotel nights. Cassie Ventura called them freak-offs, but the description and the pattern was very similar through her testimony.

Now, she also said that because Combs was paying $10,000 a month for her rent, that that was why she felt that she had to continue to perform in these hotel nights, even though she told him she didn't want to.

She said, My feeling of obligation really started to stem from the fact that my partner was paying my rent.

Now, she'll be back on the stand today. The prosecution's questioning of her is expected to go the entire day -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, more to come. Kara, thank you so much for laying it out for us -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, Elon Musk says he would talk to President Trump, but is Trump willing to talk to Musk after Trump reportedly called him a man who has lost his mind this morning? Our CNN's Dana Bash just spoke to the president fresh off the phone. What he is saying now.

And overnight, Ukraine facing fresh hell, Russia bombarding it with a barrage of deadly ballistic missiles and drone attacks. Those stories and more ahead.

[08:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, we do have breaking news this morning. What is President Trump's latest thinking about his explosive feud with Elon Musk? Well, joining us now, someone who just got off the phone with the president.

CNN Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash joins us now by phone. Dana, what did he tell you? DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (via phone): Good morning, John. Well, he said that he's, quote, well, here's exactly what he said.

Quote, I'm not even thinking about Elon. He's got a problem. The poor guy's got a problem. He said he won't be speaking to him for a while, but he said he wishes Elon Musk well.

It was a short conversation. He didn't seem very exercised about it. And the interesting thing is, of course, the context of this is how many people who are in both men's orbits are trying to broker a peace deal, so to speak, and trying to get them to talk because of the concern about the fallout in so many directions. I mean, the blast radius from this fallout is really, really big and very wide.

But right now, he said he's not interested in that, and he's moving on. And in typical Donald Trump fashion, John, he, before I even asked the question, wanted to talk about what he wanted the storyline to be today about the economy.

He was talking about gas prices. He said he was waiting for the jobs numbers to come out, which I think is about two minutes from now. So as he has done his entire career, not just political, but since he was a businessman, trying to push out the narrative and push out the story that he thinks is the most advantageous for him, and he thinks that's the economy now.

But of course, we did briefly talk about Elon Musk. And the headline is, he says he has no plans to talk to him right now.

BERMAN: Yes, just to reiterate, again, because the story overnight has been a whole slew of people working to tone things down and to deescalate. And he's telling you, I don't want to talk to him right now. And then he also threw that elbow, saying that, you know, the poor guy's got a problem.

So, you know, if Elon Musk is waking up this morning, he might view that, I imagine, as a new insult.

BASH: He might. He also said, I won't be speaking to him for a while, I guess, but I wish him well. He wasn't, he wasn't exercised.

He wasn't, he didn't sound angry. He sounded, I guess, more resigned to where ...