Trump live updates: President says Elon Musk ‘off the rails’ as tech boss hits back over Jeffrey Epstein

With at least 82 people dead and 10 girls still missing in the Lone Star State after torrential rain caused the Guadalupe River to burst its banks over the weekend, the president has issued a major disaster declaration and pledged to visit bereaved families and exhausted rescue workers later this week, most likely on Friday.

You can follow all the latest updates on the recovery effort with James Liddell right here.

A blame game has meanwhile already erupted over the tragedy, with some officials claiming the Trump administration’s cuts to the National Weather Service meant it could not deliver sufficient forecasts warning of the imminent danger.

Here’s the latest from Katie Hawkinson and Erin Keller.

Trump will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday for pivotal talks about delivering an end to the 21-month war in Gaza.

Israel has already accepted a U.S.-brokered framework on a 60-day truce.

On Friday, Trump was equivocal on Hamas’s acceptance of the deal, which, sources have told The Independent, hinges on whether or not it will lead to further negotiations for a permanent cessation of hostilities.

Below, The Independent’s chief international correspondent Bel Trew looks at the main sticking points to the deal for both sides and whether Netanyahu’s third visit to Trump’s White House in six months will finally mark the beginning of the end of the war.

After announcing a further delay to the introduction of his new “Liberation Day” tariffs, first announced on April 2 and then hastily retracted (they’re now being implemented on Friday August 1), the president has promised some fresh announcements today, also threatening countries with an additional 10 percent rate hike if they adopt “anti-American policies” in their trading.

So far, only the U.K., China and Vietnam have agreed tailored deals with the Trump administration to sidestep the blanket “reciprocal” levies he unveiled in the spring.

Before the latest extension of the pause was announced, Trump’s original 90-day halt was due to expire on Wednesday July 9.

Speaking at Morristown Municipal Airport yesterday evening, the president gave a bungled answer to a reporter who asked him to clarify once and for all when the tariff rates would be introduced.

Perhaps not hearing clearly over the roar of Air Force One nearby, Trump leaned in and asked the journalist to repeat her question. He then proceeded not to answer it anyway.

“They’re going to be tariffs. The tariffs are going to be the tariffs. I think we’ll have most countries done by July 9. Either a letter or a deal,” he said.

Here’s more from Kelly Rissman.

President Donald Trump has reignited his feud with Elon Musk, his former friend, ally and patron, over his threat to set up a third political party in the United States.

In a lengthy Truth Social tirade on Sunday, Trump said Musk has gone “off the rails” in recent weeks and become a “trainwreck”, again claiming that his opposition to the president’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” – signed into law on Friday – stemmed from its elimination of incentives beneficial to electric vehicle manufacturer’s like Musk’s company Tesla.

“When Elon gave me his total and unquestioned endorsement, I asked him whether or not he knew that I was going to terminate the EV Mandate – It was in every speech I made,” Trump wrote.

“He said he had no problems with that – I was very surprised!”

Earlier in the day, Trump had branded the world’s richest man “ridiculous” for threatening to found a new party to challenge Republicans and Democrats.

The billionaire has since retaliated by again taunting the president over his friendship with deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

“What the heck was the point of @DOGE if he’s just going to increase the debt by $5 trillion??” Musk asked in another post on X, reposting a sympathetic response from a fellow user who suggested Trump had behaved ungratefully to the tech boss after accepting $288m from him in campaign donations last year.

Here’s the latest from Andrew Georgeson.

Hello and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of Donald Trump’s administration.

The U.S. president has revived his bitter feud with ex-ally and billionaire patron Elon Musk ahead of a busy day of tariff announcements on which he is also hosting Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.