What's next as Trump vents fury at Vladimir Putin: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the online mentation of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and investigation from the White House, Capitol Hill and the run trail.

In today’s edition, Elon Musk and Donald Trump bid farewell from the Oval Office connected unrecorded TV. Meanwhile, Kristen Welker digs into Trump’s latest societal media salvos astatine Vladimir Putin and what they could mean for the Russia-Ukraine war. And elder Supreme Court newsman Lawrence Hurley answers a scholar question astir a notable proviso tucked into the House fund measure that passed recently.

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— Scott Bland

Elon Musk’s missed opportunity

By Jonathan Allen

Elon Musk stood adjacent to President Donald Trump successful the Oval Office connected Friday, but the carnal proximity belied a increasing philosophical disagreement betwixt 2 of the world’s astir almighty men, resulting successful the tech mogul’s abrupt announcement that helium is departing Washington — without having achieved his extremity of decimating the national government.

“He came, helium saw, helium folded,” Steve Bannon, a elder White House advisor during Trump’s archetypal word who is influential with the working-class helping of Trump’s MAGA base, said successful a substance speech with NBC News.

Musk, who stood with his arms folded crossed his thorax arsenic helium and Trump took questions, sported a bruise adjacent his close oculus — an unmistakable metaphor for his tumultuous authorities work — that helium said was incurred portion playing with his 5-year-old lad X.

Trump took a much charitable presumption of Musk’s tenure during a sprawling quality league successful which helium besides declined to regularisation retired pardoning Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is lasting proceedings connected charges of enactment trafficking and different alleged crimes; said helium dislikes “the concept” of erstwhile archetypal woman Jill Biden being forced to attest earlier Congress astir her husband’s intelligence fitness; and predicted again that Iran is connected the cusp of making a woody that would suspend its pursuit of atomic weapons.

“He had to spell done the slings and the arrows, which is simply a shame due to the fact that he’s an unthinkable patriot,” Trump said of Musk.

Trump and Musk some contended that DOGE volition proceed to wring retired savings by rooting retired discarded and fraud without Musk arsenic its face.

“This is not the extremity of DOGE, but truly the beginning,” Musk said, vowing to scope the trillion-dollar people successful cuts by the mediate of adjacent year. At the aforesaid clip helium spoke of cutting authorities spending, Musk lauded Trump’s remodeling of the Oval Office.

“I emotion the golden connected the ceiling,” helium said.

Musk has argued that inertia throttled his efforts to trim authorities spending — a decision that raises questions astir whether helium was naive astir the situation of the ngo helium undertook.

“The national bureaucracy concern is overmuch worse than I realized,” helium told The Washington Post this week. “I thought determination were problems, but it definite is an uphill conflict trying to amended things successful D.C., to accidental the least.”

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The adjacent steps arsenic Trump vents fury astatine Putin

By Kristen Welker

President Donald Trump has ramped up the rhetoric attacking Russian President Vladimir Putin, but truthful acold there’s nary teeth down it.

After months of cutting Putin slack connected the satellite signifier and clashing with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump has undergone a stark rhetorical displacement successful caller days.

He’s taken to societal media to blast Putin for having gone “absolutely crazy” and for “needlessly sidesplitting a batch of people” including Ukrainian citizens “for nary crushed whatsoever.” He has warned that “what Vladimir Putin doesn’t recognize is that if it weren’t for me, tons of truly atrocious things would person already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He’s playing with fire!”

Trump appears to present beryllium warming to the content galore Western leaders person held for years — that Putin isn’t earnestly pushing for peace, extracurricular of full Russian victory. In caller weeks, we’ve seen immoderate of the biggest bombardments of the full war, including a monolithic drone onslaught successful Kyiv that came successful the shadiness of a captive speech betwixt Russia and Ukraine.

None of this means Trump is buddy-buddy with Zelenskyy now, and helium criticized the Ukrainian arsenic “stubborn” during Friday remarks successful the Oval Office, adjacent arsenic helium underscored his disappointment with Putin.

Meanwhile, the contented of sanctioning Russia and sending assistance to Ukraine evidently splits the GOP, and it doesn’t needfully beryllium good with the “America First” helping of the GOP that Trump commands. But if Trump wants to act, arsenic erstwhile Vice President Mike Pence told maine helium recommended during our speech earlier this month, helium has arrows successful his quiver.

Earlier this week connected “Meet the Press Now,” erstwhile U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul told america that the lone mode to person Putin to travel to the negotiating array is to person him helium can’t beforehand connected the battlefield. While 1 mightiness deliberation the West is tapped retired erstwhile it comes to sanctions, McFaul said there’s a batch much connected the table, including seizing much assets oregon banning Russia’s “shadow fleet” that ships lipid from docking astatine Western ports.

And conscionable a fewer days ago, Iowa GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley, an elder statesman successful the Senate, called connected Trump to beryllium arsenic “decisive” successful caller sanctions against Russia arsenic he’s been successful his propulsion against Harvard University.

So if Putin has tally retired of leash with Trump, past what’s the president waiting for?

Join america Sunday erstwhile we speech astir this and a flurry of different important home and planetary issues with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock.

✉️ Mailbag: Congress and the courts

Thanks to everyone who emailed us! This week’s scholar question is connected an under-the-radar proviso successful Republicans’ “big, beauteous bill.”

“I heard that the measure contains connection that takes distant a judge’s authorization to clasp idiosyncratic successful contempt erstwhile they don’t comply with the court’s orders. Is that true? I’ve seen a batch astir the fiscal implications but thing connected this.”

To reply this, we turned to elder Supreme Court newsman Lawrence Hurley. Here’s his response:

The House measure does so include a provision that would bounds the quality of national judges to clasp radical successful contempt for violating tribunal orders. (Read it here.)

The Republican-backed measurement comes amid considerable pushback connected the right against a fig of judges who person not lone blocked Trump medication policies but person besides questioned whether the medication is complying with rulings and astatine slightest considered contempt proceedings.

The proviso successful question would question to bounds the quality of judges to prosecute contempt findings by withholding national funds that could beryllium utilized to enforce specified a ruling unless the plaintiff posted a enslaved erstwhile seeking a impermanent restraining bid oregon a preliminary injunction.

But determination is nary warrant the Senate volition see the connection successful its mentation of the bill, successful portion due to the fact that it whitethorn autumn foul of rules intended to guarantee fund measure provisions person a nonstop nexus to national revenues.

That’s each From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Scott Bland and Ben Kamisar.

If you person feedback — likes oregon dislikes — email america astatine politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com

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