Trump defends his new travel ban as feud with Musk erupts

Geoff Bennett:

An extraordinary feud erupted into public view today between President Donald Trump and his one-time ally Elon Musk, with Mr. Trump saying he was very disappointed in Musk for criticizing the GOP's massive domestic policy bill. That's as President Trump today also defended his sweeping new travel ban on citizens from 12 different countries and restricting entry from seven more.

Amna Nawaz:

The president claims it will protect U.S. national security. The ban mostly affects people from Africa and the Middle East and will take effect on Monday.

White House correspondent Laura Barron-Lopez has our report.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Pointing to Sunday's violent attack in Boulder, Colorado, President Trump unveiled his new travel ban last night.

Donald Trump, President of the United States: The recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado, has underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Banning citizens from 12 countries from entering the United States and restricting access for seven other countries. Trump claimed it's necessary to prevent terror attacks.

Donald Trump:

Very simply, we cannot have open migration from any country where we cannot safely and reliably vet and screen those who seek to enter the United States.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

On the list, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, while citizens from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela face heightened restrictions for entry.

Notably not on the list, Egypt. That despite Trump using the Boulder suspect, who is an Egyptian national, as justification for his actions. During a visit with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office today, Trump defended his decision to leave Egypt off the list.

Donald Trump:

Egypt has been a country that we deal with very closely. They have things under control. The countries that we have don't have things under control.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

There are some key exemptions in place, including for those who are dual citizens, legal residents, refugees or asylum grantees already in the U.S. and athletes traveling for events like the World Cup and Olympics.

At JFK Airport in New York City, some said the policy seemed shortsighted.

Suleiman Kenyi, New Jersey Resident:

We seem to be isolating ourselves from the rest of the world. So, wherever we draw back, I think the Chinese and other countries kind of fill in the gap, which is not good for — from my point of view, not good in the long term.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

The new travel ban is significantly larger in scope than the executive order issued during the early days of the first Trump administration. That policy banned citizens from predominantly Muslim countries, like Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.

After a chaotic implementation and legal challenges, the Supreme Court upheld a version of the ban in 2018. Despite waiting more than four months to issue it, Trump said that his travel ban can't come soon enough.

Donald Trump:

We're not stopping until we get them out.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

But the president didn't linger on the new policy, instead focusing more on the precarious future of his budget bill and the economy.

Donald Trump:

We have almost perfect inflation. Grocery prices are down, everything. Remember eggs? Eggs have come down 400 percent. Everybody has eggs now.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Egg prices have decreased since peaks earlier this winter, but it's closer to a 61 percent drop, not 400 percent.

Wholesale prices for businesses have dropped, but economists say the impact of Trump's tariff policies will likely drive them up again later this summer. And Trump lashed out at former adviser Elon Musk.

Donald Trump:

I'm very disappointed in Elon. I have helped Elon a lot.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

This week, Musk publicly criticized the president's tax bill, calling it a disgusting abomination.

Donald Trump:

Look, Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if we will anymore. Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here, better than you people. He knew everything about it. He had no problem with it. All of a sudden, he had a problem, and he only developed the problem when he found out that we're going to have to cut the E.V. mandate.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Musk quickly responded on his social media platform X, saying: "Whatever. Republicans can get rid of the Biden era tax credit for electric vehicles as long as they ditch the mountain of disgusting pork in the bill."

Musk's attacks didn't end there, posting: "Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate."

Within hours, the president took to his own platform, TRUTH Social, saying "Musk went crazy" and that "The easiest way to save money in our budget, billions and billions of dollars, is to terminate Elon's governmental subsidies and contracts."

The mutually beneficial relationship between two of the most powerful men in the world appears to be over. Musk dropping what he called a really big bomb about alleged ties between the president and convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein. Musk said: "Donald Trump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public."

Some conspiracy theorists believe the government is hiding information about the death of Epstein. The Trump administration released a first phase of documents earlier this year.

As the president and Elon Musk continue their public fight on social media, Tesla's stock price plunged this afternoon, dropping 14 percent. And shares in Trump Media and Technology Group, the TRUTH Social parent company, also took an 8 percent hit — Amna.

Amna Nawaz:

Well, let's pick up where you left off there and the feud between the president and Elon Musk that is escalating by the minute. What's the latest on that?

Laura Barron-Lopez:

So this fight carried on for hours, Amna. And Musk posted again on his social media platform, X, saying that he will immediately decommission his Dragon spacecraft.

That's the only U.S. option for delivering the crew to and from the International Space Station. Elon Musk continued, amplifying a post calling for the president's impeachment. And he also said that the president's tariffs will — quote — "cause a recession in the second half of the year."

Now, President Trump fired back on TRUTH Social, saying that he didn't mind that Elon Musk turned on him, but said that Musk should have done it months ago.

So, this ongoing fight exploding today, less than a week after Elon Musk and Donald Trump were in the Oval Office saying their goodbyes.

Amna Nawaz:

Laura, is any of this going to have an impact on the president's budget bill that he's trying to push through right now?

Laura Barron-Lopez:

So the president and the Republican Senate leadership can only lose three votes in the Senate. But some sources close to the White House said that the bill was in a tough spot as of this morning, but that they think that this fight between Elon Musk and the president could actually have a rallying effect for the president, essentially Republicans rallying around the president.

As for the relationship between the two men, a source close to the president said that they think that the president's threats about canceling those government contracts that Musk's businesses have with the government, that that's a very real threat, and that ultimately Musk could end up being attacked and targeted in the way that the president has attacked his other perceived enemies.

Amna Nawaz:

Let's turn back to that travel ban you were reporting on. We heard the president talk about the national security interests here.

What more do we know about the reasoning behind these countries targeted in the ban?

Laura Barron-Lopez:

We spoke to Simon Hankinson, a Heritage Foundation worker who also worked at the State Department for more than two decades. And he argued that this ban was really about cracking down on visa overstays and the refusal of countries to take back their nationals, which the DHS said as well, that essentially they are trying to pressure countries to take deportation flights of their citizens.

Now, Hankinson argued that he doesn't think this ban is going to have that big of effect on students and talent coming to the U.S. because of the fact that the countries affected don't include India and China, which are some of the countries that immigrants come from the most to the U.S. for studying.

It's important to note, though, Amna, that in the president's order and as well as the president's statements, he has repeatedly said that this is about combating terrorism and to prevent national security threats.

Amna Nawaz:

And, on that point, you reported on that. The president cited the Boulder attack. The suspect in that case is from Egypt. Egypt is not on this list. What are the facts that we know about terrorist attacks that are committed by people from these countries on the ban list?

Laura Barron-Lopez:

I spoke to Alex Nowrasteh. And he's with the Cato Institute. He and his team analyzed the actual number of immigrants and the threats from immigrants who come from these banned countries over the last 50 years.

Alex Nowrasteh, Cato Institute:

Since 1975, only one person has been murdered in a terrorist attack on U.S. soil committed by somebody from one of these banned countries. These bans are more about the president flexing his power and trying to reduce immigration to the United States by first going after countries that aren't that important, frankly, that don't send that many people to the United States.

And then I think we will slowly see him add countries to the list over time.