• Elon Musk and Donald Trump have had a tumultuous relationship over the years.
• While the two traded barbs during Trump's first presidency, they've become political allies.
• Musk officially joined the administration, but recently criticized Trump's "big, beautiful bill."

Elon Musk and Donald Trump have had something of an on-again-off-again relationship over the years.

The world's richest person and the two-time president of the United States weren't always close, but became singular political allies, with Musk calling himself "first buddy" following Trump's 2024 victory and donating more than $200 million toward pro-Trump super PACs.

At the beginning of Trump's second term, Musk was frequently seen on the president's side and served as the de facto head of the White House DOGE office, the cost-cutting initiative that made waves throughout the federal government.

In May, Musk started to separate himself somewhat from Trump, saying he'd devote more time to his businesses and spend less money on politics.

By early June, it appeared that their relationship was blowing up in real time as the two publicly disagreed over the "Big, Beautiful Bill."

Here's how the two billionaires reached this point.

November 2016: Musk says Trump is 'not the right guy' for the job

Just before the 2016 presidential election, Musk told CNBC he didn't think Trump should be president. 

"I feel a bit stronger that he is not the right guy. He doesn't seem to have the sort of character that reflects well on the United States," Musk said. 

The billionaire added that Hillary Clinton's economic and environmental policies were the "right ones."

December 2016: Musk appointed to Trump's advisory councils

After he won the presidency, Trump appointed Musk to two economic advisory councils, along with other business leaders like Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. 

Musk received criticism for working with the controversial president, but he defended his choice by saying he was using the position to lobby for better environmental and immigration policies. 

June 2017: Musk cut ties with the White House in protest of Trump's environmental policies

On June 1, 2017, after Trump announced the US would pull out of the Paris Agreement on climate change, Musk resigned from his roles on presidential advisory boards. 

"Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world," Musk said in a tweet announcing his departure.

Musk's goal for Tesla is to curb dependence on fossil fuels through electric vehicles, solar power, and stationary energy storage. 

January 2020: 'One of our great geniuses'

During a January 2020 interview with CNBC, Trump praised Musk's accomplishments and intelligence. 

"You have to give him credit," the former president said, referring to Tesla becoming more valuable than Ford and General Motors. "He's also doing the rockets. He likes rockets. And he's doing good at rockets too, by the way." 

Trump went on to call Musk "one of our great geniuses" and likened him to Thomas Edison. 

May 2020: Trump backs up Musk in feud with California's COVID-19 rules

As the pandemic gripped the US in early 2020, Musk clashed with California public-health officials who forced Tesla to temporarily shut down its factory there. Trump voiced his support for Musk. 

"California should let Tesla & @elonmusk open the plant, NOW," Trump tweeted in May 2020. "It can be done Fast & Safely!"

"Thank you!" Musk replied. 

May 2022: Musk said he would reinstate Trump's Twitter account

In May, Musk said he would unban Trump as Twitter's new owner. 

Musk called the ban a "morally bad decision" and "foolish to the extreme" in an interview with the Financial Times. Twitter kicked Trump off its platform following the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. 

The Tesla billionaire has called himself a "free speech absolutist," and one of his key goals for taking Twitter private was to loosen content moderation. 

July 2022: Trump calls Musk a 'bullshit artist'

In July, Trump took aim at Musk, saying the businessman voted for him but later denied it. 

"You know [Musk] said the other day 'Oh, I've never voted for a Republican,'" Trump said during a Saturday rally in Anchorage, Alaska. "I said 'I didn't know that.' He told me he voted for me. So he's another bullshit artist."

On Monday, Musk tweeted that Trump's claim was "not true."

July 2022: Musk says Trump shouldn't run again

Musk stopped short of attacking Trump personally, but said he shouldn't run for president again. 

"I don't hate the man, but it's time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset. Dems should also call off the attack – don't make it so that Trump's only way to survive is to regain the Presidency," he tweeted. 

He continued: "Do we really want a bull in a china shop situation every single day!? Also, I think the legal maximum age for start of Presidential term should be 69." Trump is 76 years old. 

July 2022: Trump lashes out

Trump then went on the offensive, posting a lengthy attack on Musk on Truth Social, the social media company he founded. 

"When Elon Musk came to the White House asking me for help on all of his many subsidized projects, whether it's electric cars that don't drive long enough, driverless cars that crash, or rocketships to nowhere, without which subsidies he'd be worthless, and telling me how he was a big Trump fan and Republican, I could have said, 'drop to your knees and beg,' and he would have done it," Trump said in a post that criticized two of Musk's ventures, Tesla and the rocket company SpaceX. 

"Lmaooo," Musk responded on Twitter.

October 2022: Trump cheers Musk's Twitter deal but says he won't return

Following Musk's official buyout of Twitter on Thursday, Trump posted to Truth Social, cheering the deal. 

"I am very happy that Twitter is now in sane hands, and will no longer be run by Radical Left Lunatics and Maniacs that truly hate our country," he said. He added that he likes Truth Social better than other platforms, echoing comments from earlier this year in which he ruled out a return to Twitter. 

On Monday, Musk joked about the potential of welcoming the former president back to his newly acquired platform.

"If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me if Trump is coming back on this platform, Twitter would be minting money!," the Tesla CEO tweeted. 

May 2023: Musk hosts Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' glitchy debut

Musk and other right-leaning voices in Silicon Valley initially supported Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. DeSantis ended 2022 as Trump's best-positioned primary challenger. In November 2022, as DeSantis was skyrocketing to acclaim, Musk said he would endorse him. In March 2023, after enduring Trump's attacks for months, DeSantis prepared to make history by formally announcing his campaign in an interview on Twitter.

The initial few minutes were a glitchy disaster. Trump and his allies ruthlessly mocked DeSantis' "Space" with Musk and venture capitalist David Sachs. DeSantis' interview later proceeded, but his campaign was dogged for days with negative headlines.

September 2023: A Trump-style border wall is needed, Musk says

Musk live-streamed a visit to the US-Mexico border on Twitter, which he had rebranded as "X." Musk said that one of Trump's signature policies was necessary during his visit to Eagle Pass, Texas, to get a first-person look at what local officials called a crisis at the border.

"We actually do need a wall and we need to require people to have some shred of evidence to claim asylum to enter, as everyone is doing that," Musk wrote on X. "It's a hack that you can literally Google to know exactly what to say! Will find out more when I visit Eagle Pass maybe as soon as tomorrow."

Like Trump and others on the right, Musk had criticized the broader consensus in Washington for focusing too much on Russia's unprovoked war against Ukraine in comparison to domestic issues like migration. 

March 2024: Trump tries to woo Musk, but the billionaire says he won't give him money.

Trump tried to woo Musk during a meeting at the former president's Mar-a-Lago resort. According to The New York Times, Trump met with Musk and a few other GOP megadonors when the former president's campaign was particularly cash-strapped. After the Times published its report, Musk said he would not be "donating money to either candidate for US President." 

It wasn't clear who Musk meant in terms of the second candidate. He had repeatedly criticized President Joe Biden, who looked poised to be headed toward a rematch with Trump.

July 2024: Musk endorses Trump after the former president is shot

Musk said he "fully endorsed" Trump after the former president was shot during a political rally ahead of the Republican National Convention. The billionaire's endorsement marked a major turning point in his yearslong political evolution from an Obama voter. Days later, it would come to light that Musk pressed Trump to select Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate.

Trump announced Vance as his vice presidential pick at the Republican National Convention.

The ticket, Musk wrote on X, "resounds with victory."

It wasn't just his public support that Musk was offering. In July, The Wall Street Journal reported Musk had pledged roughly $45 million to support a pro-Trump super PAC. Musk later said he would donate far less, but his rebranding into a loyal member of the MAGA right was complete.

August 2024: Trump joins Musk for a highly anticipated interview

Trump, who ended the Republican National Convention primed for victory, stumbled after Biden abruptly dropped out of the 2024 race. The former president and his allies have struggled to attack Vice President Kamala Harris, now the Democratic presidential nominee.

Amid Harris' early media blitz, Trump joined Musk on a two-hour livestream on X that garnered an audience of over 1 million listeners. The conversation covered topics ranging from a retelling of Trump's assassination attempt to illegal immigration to Musk's potential role with a government efficiency commission.

In August, Trump began floating the idea that he "certainly would" consider adding Musk to his Cabinet or an advisory role. The Tesla CEO responded by tweeting an AI-generated photo of himself on a podium emblazoned with the acronym "D.O.G.E"—Department of Government Efficiency.

"I am willing to serve," he wrote above the image.

September 2024: Musk says he's ready to serve if Trump gives him an advisory role

In September, Trump softened the suggestion of Musk joining his Cabinet due to his time constraints with running his various business ventures, the Washington Post reported. However, he also said that Musk could "consult with the country" and help give "some very good ideas."

Musk then replied to a tweet about the Washington Post article, expressing his enthusiasm.

"I can't wait. There is a lot of waste and needless regulation in government that needs to go," he wrote.

He later said on X that he "looked forward to serving" the country and would be willing to do with without any pay, title, or recognition.

October 2024: Musk speaks at Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania

Musk joined Trump onstage during the former president's rally, hosted on October 5 in the same location where Trump survived an assassination attempt in July. Musk sported an all-black "Make America Great Again" cap and briefly addressed the crowd, saying that voter turnout for Trump this year was essential or "this will be the last election." 

"President Trump must win to preserve the Constitution," Musk said. "He must win to preserve democracy in America."

The next day, Musk's America PAC announced that it would offer $47 to each person who refers registered voters residing in swing states to sign a petition "in support for the First and Second Amendments."

By October, the PAC had reportedly already spent over $80 million on the election, with over $8.2 million spread across 18 competitive House races for the GOP. 

The Tesla CEO later told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that he might face "vengeance" if Trump loses the election.

November 2024: Trump wins the presidency and names Musk his administration

Musk was by Trump's side on election night at Mar-a-Lago, helping celebrate his victory.

Nearly a week after his 2024 presidential election win, Trump announced that Musk and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy were chosen to lead a newly minted Department of Government Efficiency (or DOGE, as Musk likes to call it, in reference to the meme-inspired cryptocurrency Dogecoin).

"Together, these two wonderful Americans will pay the way for my Administration to dismantle the Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies," Trump said in a statement. 

It's unclear whether the department will formally exist within the government, though Trump said the office would "provide advice and guidance from outside of Government" and work directly with the White House and Office of Management & Budget.

Musk responded in a post on X that the Department of Government Efficiency will be post all their actions online "for maximum transparency." 

"Anytime the public thinks we are cutting something important or not cutting something wasteful, just let us know!" Musk wrote. "We will also have a leaderboard for most insanely dumb spending of your dollars. This will be both extremely tragic and extremely entertaining."

Outside of administrative duties, Musk has also attended "almost every meeting and many meals that Mr. Trump has had," the New York Times reported, acting as a partial advisor and confidant. The Tesla CEO also reportedly joined Trump's calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan while both men were at the president-elect's Mar-a-Lago club, where Musk seems to have settled in.

"Elon won't go home," Trump told NBC News jokingly. "I can't get rid of him." 

The two's close relationship has extended to a more personal friendship. Musk was seen attending Trump's Thanksgiving dinner and on the golf course with Trump and his grandchildren, where Kai Trump said he achieved "uncle status."

December 2024: Trump reaffirms he will be the next President, not Musk

While Musk and Trump are both big personalities, the President-elect made it clear that he'll be the one running the country. President-elect Donald Trump dismissed the notion that he "ceded the presidency" to Musk and said that even if the billionaire wanted to be president, he couldn't because he was born in South Africa.

"No, he's not going to be president, that I can tell you," Trump said at Turning Point USA's annual "AmericaFest" in December. "And I'm safe. You know why? He can't be? He wasn't born in this country."

Trump's comments came after Musk flexed his influence to help shut down a bipartisan emergency spending bill earlier that month. Some Republicans questioned why Trump hadn't been more active in derailing the bill, and Democrats baited the President-elect on social media with posts about Musk "calling the shots" and taking on the role of a "shadow president.

Prior to Trump addressing the subject, Trump's team also looked to shut down the idea that Musk is leading the Republican Party.

"As soon as President Trump released his official stance on the CR, Republicans on Capitol Hill echoed his point of view," Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for the Trump-Vance transition, told BI. "President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. Full stop."

January 2025: Musk and fellow billionaires celebrate Trump's inauguration

Trump was sworn into office on January 20. Several tech leaders were in attendance, including Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, and Google's Sundar Pichai. The "first buddy" was also front and center for Trump's inauguration.

Musk took the stage to celebrate at an inauguration event at the Capital One Arena, where he sparked accusations over a gesture he made that some said resembled a Nazi salute. Musk denied the allegations.

"Hopefully, people realize I'm not a Nazi. Just to be clear, I'm not a Nazi," he said during an interview with Joe Rogan.

February 2025: The White House says Musk isn't running DOGE

Though Musk has been the face of the DOGE effort, White House court filings said he has "no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself."

In the filing, Musk is described as a senior advisor to Trump with "no greater authority than other senior White House advisors." Officials have also called him a "special government employee."

Trump told reporters they can call Musk "whatever you want."

"Elon is to me a patriot," Trump said in February. "You could call him an employee, you could call him a consultant, you could call him whatever you want."

Later that month, a White House official told BI that Amy Gleason, who previously worked for US Digital Service, is the acting DOGE administrator.

March 2025: Trump buys a Tesla and calls out protesters

Despite court filings and White House officials stating otherwise, Trump told Congress that Musk is the leader of the DOGE office.

"I have created the brand-new Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, perhaps you've heard of it, which is headed by Elon Musk, who is in the gallery tonight," Trump said during his speech on March 4.

Those questioning the constitutionality of DOGE were quick to respond by letting a federal judge know about their claims that Musk is in charge.

Meanwhile, calls for a Tesla boycott are growing as Musk becomes more involved in Trump's presidency. Protests, boycotts, and vandalism at Tesla dealerships across the US have spread since the beginning of 2025.

Trump stepped in to defend Musk's electric car company on Tuesday, with Teslas on the South Lawn of the White House. In a post on Truth Social, he wrote that he'd purchase a car to show support amid the public outcry.

"The Radical Left Lunatics, as they often do, are trying to illegally and collusively boycott Tesla, one of the World's great automakers, and Elon's 'baby,' in order to attack and do harm to Elon, and everything he stands for," the president wrote.

April 2025: Musk announces he's stepping back from DOGE

Three months into DOGE's mission to reshape the federal workforce, Musk announced that he would be stepping back from the effort. He broke the news during an underwhelming Tesla earnings call, where earnings per share were down 71% year over year.

"Starting next month, I will be allocating far more of my time to Tesla," Musk said during the call. He added that "the major work of establishing the Department of Government Efficiency" had been completed.

At the time, Musk said he would keep spending one or two days each week on governmental duties, so long as Trump wanted him to do so.

May 2025: Musk says he'll be spending less on politics, criticizes the Republican agenda, and announces he's leaving government for good

By May, Musk started to step back from his political activity overall. During an interview at the Qatar Economic Forum, he said he thinks he's "done enough" in terms of political contributions.

"In terms of political spending, I'm going to do a lot less in the future," he said, adding that he didn't "currently see a reason" to pour money into politics. Previously, Musk had said his super PAC would contribute to 2026 midterm efforts.

A few days later, Musk told a reporter that he "probably did spend a bit too much time on politics," and that he'd "reduced that significantly in recent weeks."

Musk took a decidedly more critical tone regarding the overall Republican agenda. In an interview with CBS in late May, he said he wasn't pleased with Trump and House Republicans' "big beautiful" spending bill.

"I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decrease it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing," Musk said.

And then, on May 28, Musk cut ties with DOGE and the Trump administration. The White House confirmed that it had started Musk's off-boarding process.

"As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending," Musk wrote in a post on X. "The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government."

Under federal law, special government employees can't serve for more than 130 days a year. Musk left the administration 128 days after the inauguration.

June 2025: Musk and Trump escalate attacks, after Tesla CEO delivers sharp rebuke against the 'Big Beautiful Bill.'

Days after stepping away from his job in the White House, Musk delivered his harshest criticism yet of the GOP spending proposal called the "Big Beautiful Bill."

"I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore," Musk wrote on X on June 3. "This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it."

Some congressional Republicans, including Sens. Rand Paul and Mike Lee, posted that they agreed with Musk. Meanwhile, Trump has consistently defended the bill on Truth Social, including just hours before Musk's critical post on X.

In an interview with CBS News that aired June 1, Musk said, "I'm a little stuck in a bind where I'm like, well, I don't want to speak up against the administration, but I also don't want to take responsibility for everything the administration's doing."

On June 5, the barbs escalated as Musk doubled down on his criticisms and Trump threatened the CEO's businesses.

Musk began to dig up old tweets from Trump, including one where the president said in 2013, "I cannot believe the Republicans are extending the debt ceiling—I am a Republican & I am embarrassed!"

Musk quote-tweeted it with the message, "Wise words," taking a dig at Trump's very different stance on the debt ceiling today.

Trump first shot back with a softer/more diplomatic response, saying that the CEO and he "had a great relationship," but he wasn't sure if it would continue.

The president said Musk was criticizing his bill because of the phase-out of the electric vehicle tax credit, which would likely have repercussions for Musk's Tesla.

Musk shot back within minutes on X, saying that while he thought the EV phase-out was unfair, what he really took issue with was the "MOUNTAIN of DISGUSTING PORK in the bill."

The tone soon took a sharp turn after the president threatened on the same day to terminate the federal contracts that Musk's companies, including SpaceX and Tesla, rely on, and Musk began to take credit for Trump's 2024 electoral victory.

In response to Trump's threat to cancel the government contracts, Musk said on X that he'd immediately decommission SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, which provides NASA transport to and from the International Space Station.

• Republicans are trying to pass Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" in the coming weeks.
• It includes new tax cuts, changes to Medicaid, saving accounts for kids, and other provisions.
• Here's what you should know about the centerpiece of Trump's legislative agenda.

For months, President Donald Trump has pursued his sweeping agenda through executive actions. Now comes the hard part.

Republicans on Capitol Hill are finally putting pen to paper on what Trump has called the "One Big Beautiful Bill," a sweeping fiscal package that will serve as the centerpiece of the president's legislative agenda.

The bill includes GOP priorities like no taxes on tips or overtime, cuts to Medicaid, "MAGA accounts" for children and several other provisions.

It will take weeks for lawmakers in the House and Senate to work out the final details, and it's likely that some changes will be made along the way. Republicans hope to send the bill to Trump's desk by July 4.

Here's what you should know about what's in the "One Big Beautiful Bill."

The bill includes cuts to Medicaid, and millions could lose health coverage

As part of the plan approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, states would implement work requirements in 2029 for childless adults on Medicaid who do not have a disability, mandating they work for 80 hours a month.

A component of the plan would increase the price of doctors' visits, mandating beneficiaries making above the federal poverty limit to pay co-payments of up to $35. States would also be required to stop taxing hospitals and nursing homes in order to secure more federal funding.

Medicaid recipients in some states would have more paperwork to regularly confirm their residency status and income. And the plan would lower federal funding for some recipients in states that fund medical coverage for undocumented immigrants.

The Congress Budget Office estimated the legislation would save about $912 billion over the next decade in federal spending, about $715 billion of which would derive from Medicaid and Affordable Care Act cuts. The CBO said about 8.6 million people could lose their insurance coverage.

The plan came short of expectations among some ultraconservatives who wanted more Medicaid cuts at the federal level. Some GOP leaders wanted per-capita caps for those in Medicaid expansion states and a lower across-the-board rate at which the federal government supplements each state's funding for Medicaid programs.

Democrats have strongly opposed the bill, emphasizing that millions of Americans will potentially have their lives uprooted by Medicaid cuts.

No tax on tips or overtime, making Trump's 2017 tax cuts permanent, and more

Some of Trump's flashiest campaign promises were to remove taxes on tips, overtime, and Social Security. This bill largely gets those done, but only for the next four years — lawmakers will have to decide whether to renew the cuts in 2029.

The bill would allow workers in an "occupation that traditionally and customarily receives tips" to claim a tax deduction for the sum of all tips that they received in the previous year. It would also do the same for overtime wages. Neither deduction is available to anyone who is a "highly compensated employee."

To help accomplish Trump's "no taxes on Social Security" pledge, Republicans created a new $4,000 tax deduction for seniors making less than $75,000 per year. There's also a provision in the bill to fulfill Trump's promise of no taxes on car loan interest.

There's also an extension of the child tax credit, which is currently $2,000 but was set to decrease to $1,000 after this year. The bill would increase the credit to $2,500 through 2028, then it would drop to $2,000 permanently after that.

If you're thinking of buying an electric vehicle, you might want to do so before the end of the year. The bill would eliminate existing tax credits for new and used EVs, and it would impose an annual registration fee of $250 for EV owners.

The bill also makes permanent a slew of tax cuts that Trump and Republicans enacted in 2017. The average American won't feel much of a difference, since they've probably gotten used to the existing tax rates and brackets that have existed since 2018. But it's the most consequential part of the bill from a budgetary perspective, adding trillions to the deficit over the next several years.

MAGA savings accounts

The bill establishes "Money account for growth and advancement" accounts, or MAGA accounts, for children. The idea was originally proposed by Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

The federal government would pay $1,000 to babies born from 2024 through 2028. After the cutoff, parents will still be able to put $5,000 per year into each account.

Cruz's proposal is similar to previous Democratic-led efforts for "baby bonds," but the biggest difference is that there is no income cutoff. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, a Democrat, envisioned a program primarily targeted at low-income families.

A repeal of Biden's student loan forgiveness plans

If enacted, the reconciliation bill would mean major changes for student-loan borrowers. The legislation proposes terminating all existing income-driven student-loan repayment plans, including Biden's SAVE income-driven repayment plan, which would have shortened the timeline for debt relief and provided cheaper monthly payments. While SAVE is currently paused due to litigation, Trump and Republican lawmakers have said they would not carry out the plan if it survives in court.

Under the bill, borrowers would have two repayment plan options: one, called the Repayment Assistance Plan, would allow for loan forgiveness after 360 qualifying payments, and the other option would be a standard repayment plan with a fixed monthly payment over a fixed time period set by the servicer.

Payments made under the Repayment Assistance Plan would be calculated based on the borrower's income and would count toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

A 10-year ban on state-level AI laws

House lawmakers handed a major win to Big Techby including a 10-year federal preemption on all state artificial intelligence laws in the larger bill. Congress has talked about a federal AI policy, but no serious legislative proposals have emerged.

In the meantime, states have tried to fill to void. Major tech companies have long fought state-level AI regulations. Last year, California lawmakers passed the nation's most sweeping AI legislation only for Gov. Gavin Newsom to veto it.

Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic lobbied against California's bill. Meta recently wrote to the White House that state laws "could impede innovation and investment."

The issue isn't going away. In the 2024 legislative session, lawmakers in at least 45 states introduced AI-related bills, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Unlike most of the other provisions on this list, the AI regulation ban faces major hurdles to making it into law. Republicans must adhere to strict parliamentary rules to pass Trump's bill without facing a Democratic filibuster in the Senate. One rule is that all provisions must be primarily fiscal in nature, and many expect that the AI provision will fail that test.

A debt ceiling hike, the end of IRS Direct file, money for a border wall, and more

Avoiding default: Republicans would raise the debt limit by $4 trillion, staving off a potential default that could come later this summer. One way or another, Congress will have to address the debt issue soon. The federal government is expected to exhaust its borrowing ability sometime in August.

Billions for missile defense: Trump wants the US to have a futuristic missile defense system inspired by Israel's vaunted "Iron Dome" air defenses, but the US shield would include space-based components and focus on longer-range missile threats rather than the smaller weapons Israel faces. House Republicans have allocated roughly $25 billion for overall missile defense, most of which will go to the "Golden Dome" project.

700 more miles of Trump's border wall: Republicans proposed spending roughly $47 billion on border barriers, which will cover 701 miles of "primary wall," 900 miles of river barriers, and 629 miles of secondary barriers. Trump repeatedly fought in his first term to build a massive border wall between the US and Mexico but struggled to get funding through Congress.

A big tax increase on large university endowments: Republicans would significantly increase Trump's 2017 groundbreaking tax on colleges and universities with large endowments. Under the bill, the tax rate would be tied to the size of their endowment, adjusted by student enrollment.At the low end, the rate would remain at 1.4%. At the highest level, universities would pay 21% tax if they have an endowment of $2 million or more per student.

IRS direct file: The big beautiful bill would officially kill off the IRS's Direct File program, a Biden-era initiative that has long been a subject of Republican ire. In April, a Treasury Department official told BI that it was a failed and disappointing program. The new legislation would instead allocate funding towards studying a public-private partnership to provide free filing for a majority of taxpayers.

• Instagram chief Adam Mosseri testified in Meta's antitrust trial on Thursday.
• The FTC claims Meta's acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp created an illegal monopoly.
• Regulators want Meta to sell off Instagram and WhatsApp.

Instagram chief Adam Mosseri took the witness stand on Thursday in Meta's landmark antitrust trial in Washington, DC, federal court.

Mosseri, who has been at the helm of Instagram since 2018, is among the more than two dozen witnesses that the Federal Trade Commission has called to testify in the case.

The FTC argues in its case against Meta that the company violated antitrust laws when it "helped cement" an illegal monopoly in the social networking market with its acquisitions of Instagram in 2012 and the messaging app WhatsApp two years later.

The case, to be decided by Judge James Boasberg, could be one of the most consequential antitrust trials in years. If FTC regulators have their way, Meta could be forced to sell off WhatsApp and Instagram.

Mosseri began his tenure at Meta, formerly called Facebook, in 2008. Here are five insights and revelations we learned from his more than six hours of testimony:

Mark Zuckerberg's 'strained' relationship with Instagram's founders

Mosseri recalled a 2018 email he sent to Meta CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg while on paternity leave, warning that Instagram cofounders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger were increasingly frustrated with strategy changes.

He wrote that it was "hard for me to get a read on what's going on as the relationship was strained."

Mosseri cited two core tensions: Zuckerberg's belief that slowing Instagram's growth would benefit Meta overall.

Mosseri acted as a mediator, relaying concerns between the founders and Facebook leadership.

These tensions foreshadowed a deeper rift that culminated in the cofounders' departure later that year, a turning point that saw Mosseri take over the reins at Instagram.

Worry over TikTok cutting into Instagram's growth

TikTok's meteoric rise was a massive threat to Instagram, Meta has argued.

"TikTok is probably the fiercest competition we have faced during my tenure at the company," Mosseri testified on Thursday.

According to internal Meta documents presented in court, TikTok was a "big concern" in 2019, just as the ByteDance-owned app was taking off. Instagram data scientists presented a "conservative estimate" that 40% of Instagram's year-over-year decline in time spent was due to TikTok. Specifically in the US, Instagram estimated a 23% decline in time spent.

Instagram would go on to launch its own short-form video product, Reels, in 2020.

Mosseri also testified that he briefed Zuckerberg "very often" about the competition with TikTok, adding that there was a monthly dinner with the most senior executives at Meta where this would come up.

"It became kind of a hazing ritual for me to give an update on Reels," Mosseri said.

Mosseri's 'biggest mistake'

On the stand, Mosseri testified that Instagram's first version of Reels was his "biggest mistake," built on the "not a sound foundation" of Stories, which the feature was initially built into.

The feature flopped and was ultimately scrapped after nearly a year. Mosseri said before he joined Instagram that it tried another venture to compete with TikTok called IGTV — that too failed.

Instagram pivoted by relaunching Reels as a dedicated feature in the main feed, a reboot that finally gained traction amid the pandemic and TikTok's rapid rise. Mosseri said that the company "could have and should have been more aggressive" in responding to what he called Meta's fiercest competitor.

Hundreds of millions on content creators

Instagram's fight with TikTok and other apps is just beginning, Mosseri testified.
Mosseri said that one of the biggest fights right now is over future creators, those who are just beginning to make content or who haven't even started. He said TikTok has done a better job allowing small creators to rapidly expand their reach, something Meta is actively trying to cut into.

In terms of overall investment, Mosseri said that Meta has spent "hundreds of millions, maybe a billion or two" during his time at the company supporting the wider creative ecosystem.

That touches everything from incentive payments to the physical infrastructure necessary to power Instagram's AI-backed recommendations.

"We are just seeing more and more power shift from institutions to individuals across the industry," Mosseri testified.

Instagram's struggles around content safety

Susan Musser, the FTC attorney who led Mosseri's questioning, repeatedly questioned the Instagram head over his initial concerns about how the app was ensuring the safety of its content.

Mosser pointed to an email from October 19, 2018, less than a month after Mosseri became head of the app, in which he said that Facebook was not investing enough in Instagram's Well-being team.

"I think we're underinvested in Well-being and were, until recently, the resources we do have are underleveraged," Mosseri wrote to someone whose full name was redacted. The initial email the person wrote was titled, "need to prioritize integrity efforts over growth — we must fight fakes."

An internal Facebook document also showed that Instagram had significantly fewer engineers devoted to well-being than the main app. According to the 2018 summary, Instagram had 40 engineers dedicated to doing such work. Facebook had 900.

Meta lawyer Aaron Panner later asked Mosseri if Meta employees typically received everything they requested.

"Never," Mosseri said.

• Instagram has been throwing cash at content creators for years.
• During the FTC v. Meta antitrust trial, Instagram's top exec, Adam Mosseri, revealed how much.
• Mosseri said Instagram has "invested hundreds of millions" into creators.

Instagram has spent big bucks on wooing content creators.

Adam Mosseri, Instagram's top executive, took the stand on Thursday to testify during the ongoing FTC antitrust trial against Meta. The FTC has accused Meta of acting as a monopoly in personal social networking with its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.

Mosseri testified that the company has "invested hundreds of millions, maybe a billion or two, over the course of my tenure" on creators.

Mosseri said the money included both incentives as well as the physical infrastructure that makes it possible for the app to expand a creator's reach.

In 2018, Mosseri took over as head of Instagram after the app's original cofounders stepped down from the company. Since then, creators have gradually become more and more of a core focus for the Meta-owned company.

Instagram has launched (and shut down) a handful of creator monetization programs since 2020 to compete with other platforms like YouTube and TikTok, which also pay creators. Some programs, like Instagram's "Bonuses," that pay creators for content like reels or photos, are limited and invite-only. Earlier this year, Meta had offered some creators between $2,500 to $50,000 a month to post content to Instagram.

"We believe creators are becoming more and more relevant over time," Mosseri said at another point during his testimony. "We are just seeing more and more power shift from institutions to individuals across the industry."

• Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi revealed that he drives a Tesla.
• "Great car," Khosrowshahi said while praising the vehicle's self-driving capabilities.
• As for his company, Khosrowshahi isn't worried about Tesla robotaxis.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said on Friday that he isn't sweating Elon Musk's robotaxis.

"I don't think that there will be a winner-take-all," Khosrowshahi told Semafor editor-in-chief Ben Smith during the publication's World Economic Summit in Washington.

"The drama is winner-take-all, but I think that the transportation industry is a trillion-plus-dollar industry," he said. "You could argue that rideshare is going to finally beat personal car ownership in a world where you've got robots driving all over the place, so I think there will be plenty of room in the industry."

Khosrowshahi said Uber would "love to work with" Musk's company. He also revealed that he owns a Tesla.

"Great car," Khosrowshahi said.

Asked if he has tried full self-driving, Khosrowshahi responded, "It is delightful, but I have to take over every once in a while. It is an absolutely great product. Again, the car is a terrific car."

Musk isn't playing as nicely with his competitors in the autonomous taxi space. Earlier this week, Musk took a shot at Waymo during Tesla's Q1 earnings call.

Musk said the problem with Alphabet's robotaxis is that they cost "way mo' money."

Waymo's ex-CEO brushed off the insult.

"Tesla has never competed with Waymo — they've never sold a robotaxi ride to a public rider, but they've sold a lot of cars," John Krafcik said in an email to Business Insider.

Uber and Waymo are partnering on autonomous ride-hailing in Austin and Atlanta. Tesla is aiming to roll out a "pilot" robotaxi service in Austin in June.