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Trump Tells CNN He's "Not Even Thinking About Elon"; U.S. Economy Added 139,000 Jobs in May; U.S.-Backed Aid Group: All Distribution Sites Closed Again; Trump-Musk Feud Threatens Musk's Business Empire; NBA Finals: Pacers Pull Remarkable Comeback to Beat Thunder. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired June 06, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: This is the scene in Washington, D.C., where the spat between Donald Trump and Elon Musk has gone public on

social media with the president telling CNN he won't speak to the Tesla CEO for a while. It is 09:00 a.m. in Washington. It is 05:00 p.m. here in Abu

Dhabi. I'm Eleni Giokos. This is "Connect the World".

Also coming up on the show, Tesla shares fell more than 14 percent Thursday as President Trump threatened to pull government contracts for Musk's

companies, and we'll get a full look at the damage to Musk's Empire when markets open this hour. Meanwhile, Russia launches a barrage of drones and

missiles across Ukraine in response to what it describes as recent terrorist attacks by Kyiv.

Right. I want to check in on U.S. futures, markets will open around 30 minutes, and as you can see, where red across the board, the DOW and S&P,

as you can see, well into negative territory. But the NASDAQ is down 1 percent a lot of worry and concern about what it means for Tesla stocks,

the spat between Elon Musk and President Trump.

But importantly, we had the U.S. Jobs Report out a short time ago. It came in better than expected for the month of May, 139,000 jobs were created,

that is from 147,000 in April. Unemployment rate remains the same at 4.2 percent, so we unpacking the non-farm payrolls a little later in the show.

In the meantime, this just into CNN, President Donald Trump has been talking to CNN, and he says he is not even thinking about Elon Musk and

won't be speaking to him in the near future. Their world-famous bromance exploded Thursday in the bitterest public breakup.

The feud between the world's most powerful man and the richest one is not only out in the open, but it's getting even more explosive. Now, just days

ago, it was one of the most powerful alliances in American politics. Now, Elon Musk has gone scorched to Earth calling for the impeachment of

President Trump.

Musk, until recently, Trump's close aide and his benefactor in the 2024 election, escalated a vicious war of words by invoking the deceased

convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Let's not forget the Trump-Musk alliance had been seen as mutually beneficial. Now the president could, if

he chose, to inflict real damage on Musk's businesses, among them SpaceX, as well as Tesla.

Now the breakup went public Thursday, Trump saying he was very disappointed in the tech billionaire after Musk blasted the president sweeping domestic

spending bill. It's all so different from just a week ago, when the two spoke politely ahead of Musk's departure from his short-term role in the

administration.

Right. We've got CNN's Kevin Liptak live for us from the White House. And I'm sure there's a flurry of activity around all the back and forth that

we've been seeing on social media. Tell us a little bit more about whether President Trump wants to speak to Elon Musk, you said categorically no. So,

what did you hear?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah. It seems like the big question hanging over this, this morning is whether these are irreparable

differences, or whether there could potentially be some sort of thaw between these two men. It really kind of depends on who you talk to.

There are a lot of Trump advisers who do not think that this will be able to patch -- be patched up, and they point specifically to Musk's tweet

about Jeffrey Epstein, the world's most notorious pedophile, as something of a bridge too far, and something that Donald Trump is just not going to

be able to forget.

But there are allies of both of these men who do hold out hope that somehow, they will be able to patch things up. There had been this, I

think, attempt to perhaps put the two of them on the phone to try and talk things out. But Donald Trump is making very clear that he has no interest

in doing that.

He told Dana Bash, I won't be speaking to him for a while, and so really kind of putting to rest any notion that he could potentially try and talk

things out with his one-time benefactor. And so, I think the attitude that Trump is adopting today is really one of just trying to move on.

You know, people say he wants to turn his focus to this massive piece of legislation that he's trying to push through the Senate, which, at the end

of the day, is what ignited this feud in the first place. Musk taking issue with what this would do for the U.S. deficit estimates, saying it would add

trillions to the deficit.

[09:05:00]

Trump denying that, and I think that just kind of understood -- underscores the stakes for his catty and as nasty as this became, and you know, make no

mistake, one man accusing the other man of not wearing makeup in the Oval Office is about as catty as these things can get.

This is something that could have enormous ramifications. If Elon Musk is able to embolden some of these Republican Senators who share his concerns

about the effects on the deficit that this bill would have it could potentially sink it, and this really does contain the entirety of the

president's domestic agenda. And so, the stakes here are, in fact, very high, even if the insults are quite low.

GIOKOS: Yes, they are indeed. I mean, this is so public, it's just shocking too, see it play out, but I want to talk about the fallout in business as

well as the political side. As a onetime close Trump ally Musk's actions affected Tesla, the biggest piece of his business empire. And it's worth

noting Tesla's ambitions for self-driving vehicles require government approval.

So, the question is, what Musk scorch Earth approach to breaking up with Trump threatened Tesla as well as SpaceX. And frankly, his entire business

empire and those government contracts that he basically needs.

LIPTAK: Yeah. And I think the point you're making here is, is a good one that the President holds a lot of leverage over Musk here. And in fact,

yesterday, he already threatened to withhold some of the federal subsidies for Musk's companies, which amount to billions of dollars and could have a

real effect on his bottom line.

And so, I think it is in Musk's interest, in some ways, to de-escalate this situation. But Musk is not without leverage of his own. He's the world's

richest man. He's the Republican Party's biggest benefactor, at least he was in last year's presidential election. And he had promised at one point

to put $100 billion into some of Trump's political affiliated entities to try and influence the upcoming midterm elections next year.

So, both of these men are coming at this fight with some cards to play, and I think at the end of the day, the outcome is really the influence over the

Republican Party. Is the party influenced by the sitting president who has an enormously motivated base of supporters, or is it influenced by the man

who really holds all of the money when it comes to these elections?

And that's a fight that's going to play out, I think, over the next weeks and months, but it could have some serious consequences for the future of

the GOP.

GIOKOS: I think everyone's asking, you know, what kind of political capital does Elon Musk have at this point in time? And frankly, on cnn.com there's

a fantastic timeline of how the spat has played out for our viewers out there to take a deeper dive and look at it. Kevin, really good one to see.

All right, Kevin Liptak for us at the White House. Thanks so much for that update. Now in the midst of his public feud with Trump on Thursday, Musk

claimed on X, without me, Trump would have lost the election. Dems would control the House, and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate.

Musk was the biggest financial backer of efforts to elect Trump in 2024, donating at least $260 million, but the president responded to Musk's

claims, saying, I think I would have won even without his help. Elon Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump's very public spat is coming at a hefty

price tag, of course, and that is something we exploring a lot more later in the show, more to come on that.

Now, turning to the war in Ukraine, I want you to take a look at the scenes in Kyiv overnight. Russia launched a wave of drones and ballistic missiles

across the country, killing at least four people and wounding dozens more. The Kremlin says the strikes are retaliation for what it calls Kyiv's

recent terrorist attacks, though it didn't specify beyond that.

CNN's Senior International Correspondent, Fred Pleitgen is tracking developments from Berlin for us. Fred, good to have you with us. And we

were expecting retaliation, and ostensibly Russia is referring to that high profile attack on its air fleet and the Crimea bridge this week.

How extensive is the damage across Ukraine and is this sort of the final retaliation we're expecting from Russia?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Well, it's unclear whether it's the final retaliation, but I think when we were

speaking about waves of attacks coming from drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, just to put that in perspective for our viewers, the

Ukrainians are saying that more than 400 drones were launched by the Russians into Ukrainian territory overnight.

Also 40 missiles, some of them cruise missiles, some of them ballistic missiles, especially those ballistic missiles nearly impossible to

intercept, except for the most sophisticated surface to air missile systems, like, for instance, the U.S. made patriots. So, there is some

pretty extensive damage, apparently, around Kyiv, where some residential buildings were hit.

[09:10:00]

Also, in the City of Lutsk, that was an area where a lot of Olympic athletes for Ukraine were staying in their hotel was actually also hit as

well. In total, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, saying that three people were killed, dozens of people were wounded.

And there were phases in the late-night hours, overnight hours, when pretty much all of Ukraine was under an air raid alert, as these drones and

missiles were coming down. Now it's unclear whether or not this is the big retaliation for those attacks, especially the ones on the Russian

airfields.

That, of course, occurred on Sunday, with the Ukrainians claiming that they took out a substantial part of Russia strategic bomber fleet. The Russians

sort of still coy about how extensive the damage to their strategic air fleet actually was. Interesting messaging that the Kremlin has been putting

out over the past couple of days is that they were talking more about terrorist attacks by the Ukrainians, as they put it, on rail links.

And there was one train that apparently was hit as well, talking very little about those airfields that were hit by the Ukrainians as well.

Nevertheless, these overnight strikes definitely extensive. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, once again coming out and condemning the

Russian airstrikes, calling on the international community, calling on the United States to do more to end the conflict in Ukraine.

But certainly, what we're seeing here is definitely an expansion of Russia's aerial campaign. And I think if we look at the numbers once again

and see that 400 drones were launched by the Russians, we have seen a dramatic increase in drone launches by the Russians over the past couple of

months, as it seems as though they've really ramped up the production of those drones.

But again, unclear whether or not this is it, and this is the retaliation for these Ukrainian strikes on Sunday, or whether or not there is still

more to come, Eleni.

GIOKOS: Yeah, that's a big question. All right. I also want to talk about German Chancellor Friedrich Merz meeting with President Donald Trump

yesterday. I want to show you the moment that stood out from the U.S. President's will from the Oval Office. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Sometimes you see two young children fighting like crazy. They hate each other, and they're

fighting in a park, and you try and pull them apart. They don't want to be pulled sometimes you're better off letting them fight for a while and then

pulling them apart.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: All right, so the chancellor had to navigate quite a few things in that meeting, but how? What was his response overall to some of what

President Trump had to say?

PLEITGEN: Well, first of all, what President Trump said there was in response to a reporter from Germany's Bild newspaper, Paul Ronzheimer, who

asked him whether or not there's going to be more sanctions coming against the Russians. The president there saying, look, there's a deadline, as he

put it, in his brain, about when he's going to be satisfied or not satisfied with the progress of talks between the Ukrainians and the

Russians.

Of course, for Friedrich Merz, this was a pretty difficult meeting, one that I know that the Germans were quite nervous about, but in the end now,

one that they believe that he navigated quite successfully by speaking as little as possible. However, especially on that complex of the conflict in

Ukraine.

He did make a point to say that Germany squarely stands on the side of Ukraine, and called on the United States, saying that right now, President

Trump was in a strong position to do more to end that conflict. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRIEDRICH MERZ, GERMAN CHANCELLOR: -- right. It's terrible --

TRUMP: Bodies, arms, heads, legs all over the place, and you've never seen anything like it. It's so ridiculous.

MERZ: And this is only by Russian weapons against Ukraine. This had never happened with Ukraine weapons against Russia. Never. Ukraine is only

targeting military targets, not civilians, not private, not instant, not energy infrastructure. So, this is the difference, and that's the reason

why we are trying to do more on Russia, how to stop this war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: And he was getting a lot of praise Friedrich Merz suffer those words that he put out there, at least here in German media. Of course, the

president has been a lot less certain about some of his replies, essentially saying, look, he just simply wants the fighting there in

Ukraine to end.

And so that was one of those moments where I think Friedrich Merz, the German Chancellor, made very clear what Germany's position is. But of

course, seeing about what happened overnight, and of course, on the flip side of that, there were also a lot of Ukrainian strikes inside Russian

territory as well.

It seems as though, right now that negotiations process seems to be sluggish as best and so far, progress really difficult to come by, Eleni.

GIOKOS: All right. Fred Pleitgen, great to have you with us. Thank you so much. Right, I want to take a look at Tesla, and that's one of the biggest

news stories of the day. The world's richest man lost billions of dollars from his personal net worth as his feud with Mr. Trump exploded online for

the world to see.

And Tesla shares fell more than 14 percent Thursday as Trump threatened to pull government contracts for Musk's companies. CNN Reporter Matt Egan

joins us now live from New York.

[09:15:00]

I mean, these numbers are extraordinary, dropping 14 percent and I think it's indicative of a few things, right? You've got investor sentiment

coming under pressure because they're worried that certain contracts are going to be yanked away from Elon Musk and incentives. What does it

ultimately say about the strength of Tesla?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Eleni, this was just a remarkable situation where you have the two of two of them, world's most powerful people just

trading insults on their respective social media platforms. This was entirely predictable, but it was shocking nonetheless, and it really did

startle Tesla investors.

This is a company that, yesterday alone, lost $152 billion in value. It's the most that Tesla has ever lost in a single day since it went public. And

this also took a big chunk out of Elon Musk net worth. He's still the richest guy on the planet, but his net worth went down by $34 billion

yesterday alone.

It's the second biggest drop that anyone has ever had in their net worth since Bloomberg started tracking this more than a decade ago. And look,

there's a problem here for Tesla, because Elon Musk already alienated a big segment of his customer base by helping to get Donald Trump elected to the

White House and then becoming the public face of the administration.

But now he threatens to potentially alienate another segment of customers, right, and those are people who voted for President Trump and are not happy

with what Elon Musk is saying. And look, this is not even just about Tesla, right? When you look at Elon Musk's business empire, a lot of it either

relies on government contracts or government regulatory approval, right?

I mean SpaceX, their biggest customers are U.S. government agencies. You look at xAI, this is a company that depends on U.S. government AI

regulation, Neuralink, it needs the FDA to approve its brain chip inserts. The Boring Company also requires regulatory approval.

And so, it is a questionable strategy here for Elon Musk to go right at the President United States when the federal government is a very core

constituency for his business empire. But look, there are some hopes that maybe tensions can ease a little bit. Tesla shares are up about 3 percent

premarket.

Dan Ives, the veteran tech analyst. He put out a note this morning where he says, we believe cooler heads will prevail today and into the weekend. He

notes, Musk needs Trump and Trump needs Musk, and these two becoming friends again will be a huge relief for Tesla shareholders.

But as the president told our colleague Dana Bash, he's not necessarily interested in talking to Musk right now, so we've got to wait and see how

this plays out, because there's so much at stake here, Eleni.

GIOKOS: Yeah, I hope they wake up feeling a little bit calmer, putting emotions inside and looking at the mutually beneficial relationship that

could play out. Because it's really fascinating to see the fallout on this politically and I guess financially as well for Elon Musk.

I want to focus on the May jobs report, non-farm payrolls released last hour for the month of May. 139,000 jobs were created. Unemployment remains

the same at 4.2 percent. You know, everyone is worried about this because the private sector payrolls that were out earlier in the week were pretty

dismal for the month of May. What is this showing us in terms of sentiment?

EGAN: Yeah, Eleni, look, there were a lot of warning signs coming into this report, right? Mentioned the private sector, payroll slowdown, unemployment

claims have gone up.

GIOKOS: Yeah.

EGAN: But look these jobs report paints the picture of a labor market that, yes, its cooling, but no, it's not collapsing, right? 139,000 jobs added.

That's basically in line with expectations. This is above what the U.S. economy needs to add each month for labor conditions to remain stable.

So that is good. Unemployment rate of 4.2 percent that is relatively low, and this is the third straight month. It's there. When we look at the trend

for job growth, two things stand out to me, right? I mean, obviously we're at a slower pace than last year, but also, it's relatively stable.

I mean, given everything that's gone on in the stock market, given all the craziness with the trade war, you would maybe expect some of these months

to have a bigger drop off in hiring, and we're just not seeing that at this point. And as I mentioned, the unemployment rate remains at a low level.

It's higher than it was in 2023 but still, this is pretty healthy. So, when you put it all together, it does show that this jobs market remains

relentless, despite all of the uncertainty right now, and we're just going to have to see how it plays out in the next few months as the tariffs and

the trade war confusion continue.

But right now, I think this is a big relief, and we are seeing U.S. stock futures move solidly higher on these numbers, Eleni.

[09:20:00]

GIOKOS: Yeah, it's one of those economic indicators that everyone was waiting for. Matt Egan, thank you so much. Good to have you on.

EGAN: Thanks Eleni.

GIOKOS: Furious condemnation from Lebanon after a new round of Israeli airstrikes hit Beirut southern suburbs. Why Israel says its targets were

justified. That's coming up next. Stick with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GIOKOS: Israeli air strikes hitting the southern suburbs of Beirut late Thursday, causing widespread panic and evacuations. Israel says it was

targeting Hezbollah drone factories that were hidden in civilian areas. The Lebanese leaders are condemning the attack as a blatant violation of an

internationally backed ceasefire that's on the eve of a major Islamic holiday.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz, following developments for us from London. Salma, look, these are not the first Israeli strikes inside Lebanon, since the

truce with Hezbollah began last November. Is this viewed as a significant escalation, and must understand where the ceasefire stands right now?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is absolutely a significant escalation, Eleni. And on an eve when people should have been gathering and

celebrating for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, instead, they were packing their bags and running for their lives as the Israeli military

announced these locations where they then later carried out the strikes that the Israeli military says were intended to hit Hezbollah drone

factories.

Now it's unclear if this is a one-time operation at again those allegations of a drone factories in by Hezbollah in those parts of Lebanon. Or if this

means that there is an extended a longer military offensive here. But for now, things have fallen silent. Lebanese authorities say that there are no

reported casualties at this time, and the hope is that the commitment remains to that ceasefire brokered in November, Eleni.

GIOKOS: Yeah, I also just want to talk about the situation in Gaza. Big focus on Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, their operations once again, shut

down. So, what is the latest on distributing aid?

ABDELAZIZ: And it's very important before we get into what is going to happen is that we discuss what the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is, because

this is a highly criticized group that circumvents humanitarian norms, circumvents the relief agencies. It says that it is distributing aid in

Gaza, but Palestinians say that these aid sites are a death trap.

Dozens of Palestinians have been killed trying to receive aid at or near these sites across several of the last days. It's not the first time that

the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has said that it would shut down for the day. It did that earlier this week, but this time, it's saying that it will

not open.

[09:25:00]

It will not announce its opening until a later date. That means for the 2 million people trapped in that enclave, it will be ever more difficult

today to feed their families. It's important to remember that the UN has described Gaza as the hungriest place on earth. Every family there is on

the brink of famine.

You the United Nations and other relief agencies have been begging for unimpeded access to the strip, but in order for them to get that, they need

a ceasefire, Eleni, and so far, those negotiations have hit nothing but road blocks.

GIOKOS: All right, Salma Abdelaziz, thank you so much. Well, an aid ship enroute to Gaza is sailing through the Mediterranean Sea right now. Climate

Activist Greta Thunberg is among the 12-person crew on a mission organized by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.

They left Sicily on Sunday and are expected to arrive in the coming days. In addition to volunteers, others on board include a European Parliament

member as well as Actor Liam Cunningham. The group says it wants to break Israel's siege of Gaza and their hope to deliver much needed food and

supplies to desperate Palestinians.

And next hour, we'll be talking to Greta Thunberg and an organizer of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the nonprofit that's sponsoring her journey to

deliver essential supplies to Gaza amid the war. So, join us next hour for that interview. Right, a federal judge has temporarily stopped Donald

Trump's latest attempt to block international students from attending Harvard.

The injunction comes just a day after Trump signed a proclamation suspending international visas for new students at the United States oldest

and wealthiest University. The judge will hear from both sides later this month to determine if Trump's ban will be blocked indefinitely.

Now, for years, undocumented my immigrant college students in Texas have been able to pay the same tuition rate as other Texas citizens, but not for

much longer. The U.S. Justice Department sued the state over the policy. CNN's Rosa Flores reports, it's all parts of the White House's push to

reshape universities and crack down on immigration.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULISSA ARCE RAYA, AUTHOR OF "SOMEONE LIKE ME": I am absolutely gutted and devastated --

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Julissa Arce Raya was one of the thousands of undocumented students who benefited from in state tuition

through the Texas Dream Act. She's in disbelief after that measure came to a halt on Wednesday.

RAYA: Because of the law in Texas, I was able to attend to the University of Texas at Austin. Really felt like a miracle that I would be able to

access higher education.

FLORES (voice-over): Now, a U.S. citizen, author and activist, she's speaking out.

RAYA: It does feel really personal, and it feels really unfair for the students that are having their winks cut off.

FLORES (voice-over): While state lawmakers have been trying to repeal the law for years. The Trump Administration made it happen within hours in its

ongoing effort to reshape universities and crack down on immigration.

MARK JONES, POLITICAL SCIENCE FELLOE AT RICE UNIVERSITY'S BAKER INSTITUTE: This is effectively been a tag team with the Department of Justice serving

up the softball and the Attorney General hitting it out of the park.

FLORES (voice-over): The U.S. Department of Justice sued Texas on Wednesday, claiming the law, which passed in 2001 with broad Republican

support, unconstitutionally discriminated against U S citizens because it provided some undocumented students with in state tuition at public

colleges and universities.

Under that law, students qualified if they had graduated from a Texas high school, had resided in the state for at least three years and provided an

affidavit stating they would file to become permanent residents as soon as they were eligible. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi argued that students

from other states were treated like second class citizens under the program, and vowed to relentlessly fight to vindicate federal law.

But there was no fight. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton settled with Trump's Department of Justice in a matter of hours, calling it a major

victory for Texas. Political Expert Mark Jones says there was likely some back channeling between the administration and the state, given the federal

lawsuit was filed and settled on the same day.

JONES: In a matter of hours, a 24-year-old law was no more.

FLORES (voice-over): The move could impact about 19,000 students, according to testimony in February by the state's higher education commissioner,

Julissa knows what those students are going through, and is calling on more Americans to speak out.

RAYA: The dreams of undocumented students aren't going to end with the end of a single law, because our dreams are bigger than the loss of this

country.

FLORES (voice-over): Rosa Flores, CNN, Houston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GIOKOS: Right. Still to come. What happens when the world's richest man and one of the world's most powerful men get into a massive feud? The impact

could go far beyond bruised egos. What it means for Musk's business empires. Markets open in the U.S., and here's the opening bell in New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:00]

GIOKOS: All right, two minutes into the trading day in New York, it is Friday, the last day of the week, and of course, so much news coming

through. I want to check on how the markets are doing overall. As you can see, a really good boost. The DOW is up over 1 percent so too is the

NASDAQ, S&P also looking pretty good.

There are a couple of reasons for that. We had non-farm payrolls coming in better than anticipated, at 139,000 jobs created in the month of May,

unemployment rate sticking the same at 4.2 percent the other reason is the Tesla stock, and I want to take a look at this.

It went down 14 percent in yesterday's session with that public spat between Elon Musk and President Donald Trump. Right now, Tesla is up just

over 4 percent. In fact, it was up almost 6 percent a few seconds ago. So, as you can see, there's a lot of movement in early trade, as I guess

investors are trying to settle on where this public spat is going to go.

And of course, what we've been seeing and the ratio of so much of value, not only for Tesla, but also for Elon Musk's net value, has created a lot

of conversation about what it ultimately means from a political and a business perspective. We've got Paul La Monica. He's a Senior Markets

Analyst for Barron's, and joins us, and he's also a Former Digital Correspondent for CNN Business. Paul, it's so good to have you, back. Good

to see you.

PAUL LA MONICA, SENIOR MARKETS ANALYSIS WRITER, BARRON'S: Thank you, Eleni -- I'm glad -- here.

GIOKOS: On such a busy day -- crunching the numbers. I mean, honestly, when I'm looking at what happened to Tesla yesterday, you've got all this

fighting on social media between the richest man in the world and one of the most powerful politicians in the world, if not the most powerful.

What are you reading into what we've been seeing? And whether you believe this is a knee jerk reaction or whether there is some reasoning behind it,

because there's genuine concern.

[09:35:00]

But President Trump does have the power to take away government contracts and incentives away from Tesla and SpaceX.

MONICA: I think that is clearly a major concern for investors right now, Eleni, obviously the president and Elon Musk feuding among many different

factors, not the least of which is Musk's criticism of the big, beautiful bill, and you know, whether or not there would be some subsidies for

electric vehicles, you know, maybe not in that bill.

After all, it goes without saying, though, that even before this very nasty feud, Tesla stock was struggling mightily this year, because there are

legitimate worries about sales for Elon Musk and Tesla's electric vehicles because of Musk's support for the president, at least previously, through

his work with DOGE.

You know, the deliveries for the first quarter were far below expectations. A lot of anecdotal evidence of people who might have been proponents of

electric vehicles and fans of Tesla's cars, no longer being as supportive because of what Elon Musk's politics were.

I mean, it goes without saying that there are a lot liberal people on both coasts that are fans of electric cars, and they might have started looking

for different alternatives, and that's something that has dragged down Tesla stock dramatically this year.

GIOKOS: Yeah. I mean, we've also just -- this just into CNN, we've just learned that President Trump is going to get rid of the Tesla, he purchased

in March, the red Tesla. And of course, we will never forget those images of President Trump in front of Tesla and, you know, talking about buying

cyber trucks for his kids and so forth.

I mean, it's really interesting just from one end of the spectrum to the next, but I wonder what this ultimately means for Tesla shareholders in the

long term. What is your sense on that, Paul La?

MONICA: Yeah. I mean, I think a lot of shareholders are heartened by the fact that Musk has decided to return more fully to his role as the leader

of Tesla, and has stepped back from DOGE. But make no mistake, this is an individual who, even without what was going on with DOGE and his political

involvement.

Elon Musk is a very busy individual, some would argue, maybe a little distracted because of all the ventures he runs, including SpaceX, including

the social media company X, and everything involved with that. And Tesla has been criticized in the past for not necessarily having a great

succession plan.

I think there's worries about the brain drain. A lot of high-profile executives have left Tesla. There are open questions on Wall Street about

who could one day take over for Elon Musk, if he were to ever step aside or be forced out by the board, which doesn't seem that likely of a scenario,

but I don't think anything is out of the question anymore, just given how volatile Musk has been in recent months.

GIOKOS: All right. Paul La Monica, good to see you again, and hope you have a great weekend. Much appreciated for your time.

MONICA: Thanks --

GIOKOS: -- Game 1 of the NBA Finals ended with a buzzer beater, the paces and the thunder and two teams left standing, snagging a Game 1 road win,

not too shabby. Highlights on the way in "World Sport". Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:00]

GIOKOS: With 0.3 seconds left, the Indiana pace has capped a remarkable comeback and hit a game winner in the first game of the NBA Finals, and

they beat the Oklahoma City Thunder on their court. And if game one is any indication, this promises to be an exciting Championship Series.

What a way to finish. Andy Scholes is here now to give us a breakdown of excitement, Andy?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Eleni, so if you hit one game winner during a course of a run during the NBA Playoffs, you know that's

really good Tyrese Haliburton hit one winner in every single series so far in this playoff. He's got a four now, which is just insane.

And the Pacers with just yet another incredible comeback at some point. You know, they're huge underdogs of the Thunder in this NBA Finals, but we may

need to start thinking that they are just a team of destiny, and somehow, they're going to end up winning this thing.

GIOKOS: Yeah.

SCHOLES: We're going to break down Game 1 here coming up on "World Sport" and hear from Tyrese Haliburton about his game winner. It was a fabulous

way to start the NBA Finals.

GIOKOS: I like that the team of destiny.

SCHOLES: Yeah.

GIOKOS: I love that, right? Andy, I'll catch you after the break, and I'll be back at the top of the hour. Stay with CNN.

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(WORLD SPORT)

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