In an unexpected move amid their public feud, Elon Musk on Monday endorsed a social media post by US President Donald Trump regarding the ongoing protests in Los Angeles over immigration raids. The endorsement from Musk is notable as it came days after a public spat between the two over the US tariff bill.
Trump calls for apology from California Governor
In a post, Donald Trump called for an apology from California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, blaming them for the recent violence sparked by protests against his administration’s sweeping crackdown on undocumented immigrants. In the post, Trump accused both leaders of wrongly handling the situation and demanded accountability for the unrest.
The development comes as tensions in Los Angeles escalated on Sunday as thousands of protesters took to the streets in response to President Donald Trump's extraordinary deployment of the National Guard, blocking off a major freeway and setting self-driving cars on fire as law enforcement used tear gas, rubber bullets and flash bangs to control the crowd.
Many protesters dispersed as evening fell and police declared an unlawful assembly, a precursor to officers moving in and making arrests of people who don't leave.
Some of those remaining threw objects at police from behind a makeshift barrier that spanned the width of a street and others hurled chunks of concrete, rocks, electric scooters and fireworks at California Highway Patrol officers and their vehicles parked on the closed southbound 101 Freeway. Officers ran under an overpass to take cover.
Sunday's protests in Los Angeles, a sprawling city of 4 million people, were centred in several blocks of downtown.
It was the third and most intense day of demonstrations against Trump's immigration crackdown in the region, as the arrival of around 300 Guard troops spurred anger and fear among many residents.
Elon Musk slams Trump's centrepiece tax cuts
Earlier Musk, who runs electric vehicle maker Tesla, internet company Starlink and rocket company SpaceX, slammed Trump's centrepiece tax cuts and spending bill but also suggested Trump should be impeached and claimed without evidence that the government was concealing information about the president's association with infamous pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Know all about Musk-Trump public spat
He also locked horns with the US President through a series of tweets and even claimed that Trump has been named in Jeffrey Epstein files (though he later deleted the post).
"Time to drop the really big bomb. Donald Trump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!" he said in a now-deleted X post.
Musk had also announced to retire its Dragon spacecraft after President Trump threatened to cut government contracts. However, he later retracted the post, saying that SpaceX will not decommission the spacecraft.