Elon Musk and US President Donald Trump have resumed their verbal attacks after a period of quiet following their public fallout.

As the US Senate debated Trump’s controversial “Big, Beautiful Bill” on Monday ahead of a final vote, Musk issued warnings to lawmakers supporting the bill.

“Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!” he posted on his social media platform X.

“And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.”

Musk also threatened to publish their photos on a poster labeled “liar”, “voted to increase America’s DEBT” by $5 trillion.

The billionaire further reposted tweets that opposed the bill and supported his position.

Trump responded quickly.

The president said Musk was fully aware—long before publicly endorsing him—that he strongly opposed the electric vehicle (EV) mandate.

In earlier exchanges, Trump alleged Musk only objected to the bill after discovering it would eliminate the EV mandate, an accusation Musk denied.

“Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa,” Trump posted on his Truth Social account early Tuesday.

“No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE.

“Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!”

The Fallout

Musk previously led the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) before resigning a day after publicly criticizing Trump’s bill.

DOGE was Musk’s initiative during Trump’s re-election campaign, positioned as a government cost-cutting agency.

Since Trump’s inauguration on January 20, DOGE has eliminated 11 federal agencies and reportedly laid off about 250,000 federal employees.

The agency claimed it had saved taxpayers $160 billion toward its $2 trillion goal.

Following their fallout, Trump and Musk have exchanged multiple threats.

As part of the fallout’s aftermath, Trump vowed to cancel federal contracts linked to Musk’s companies.

He also mentioned that allies had contacted him to suggest investigations into Musk’s business activities and immigration history.

Last month, the president stated he had no interest in repairing his relationship with Musk.

Meanwhile, the Tesla CEO has continued to push for the formation of a new political party.

The United States government has initiated formal steps to revoke the citizenship of certain naturalised citizens based on a newly revealed Justice Department memo, which instructs federal attorneys to prioritise denaturalisation for individuals who committed certain crimes or gave false information during their naturalisation.

According to a report by The Guardian on Monday, the memo, dated June 11, calls for civil actions against individuals who either “illegally procured” naturalisation or obtained it through “concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation.”

In contrast to criminal cases, individuals facing civil denaturalisation are not guaranteed legal representation, and the standard of proof required by the government is lower.

At the heart of the development are approximately 25 million US citizens who were born abroad and later naturalised, based on 2023 data. The memo outlines 10 priority categories for denaturalisation.

The memo notes that those subject to civil proceedings are not entitled to legal counsel as they would be in criminal proceedings.

Additionally, the government carries a lighter burden of proof in civil matters than in criminal ones.

The directive specifies that efforts will target individuals involved “in the commission of war crimes, extrajudicial killings, or other serious human rights abuses … [and] naturalized criminals, gang members, or, indeed, any individuals convicted of crimes who pose an ongoing threat to the US”.

The civil rights division of the Justice Department has been central to implementing Trump’s policy goals, which include ending diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in government and halting transgender healthcare, among others.

This comes as the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency recorded its 13th in-custody death for the fiscal year starting October 2024. In comparison, there were 12 deaths throughout the previous fiscal year ending in September 2024.

On Friday, Jim Ryan, president of the University of Virginia, stepped down amid an investigation by the Justice Department’s civil rights division.

The investigation scrutinised the university’s DEI programs and its continued use of race and ethnicity in certain initiatives and scholarships.

In recent days, the Justice Department also filed lawsuits against 15 US district attorneys in Maryland for issuing an order that halted the immediate deportation of migrants contesting their removal.

Reports suggest that the civil rights division is undergoing major changes, shifting away from its historic role in fighting racial discrimination and aligning more with directives from presidential executive orders.

National Public Radio reported that between January and May, around 250 attorneys—roughly 70% of the division’s legal staff—had left the department.

The denaturalisation push has already seen results, as one person has lost citizenship in recent weeks.

On June 13, a judge revoked the citizenship of Elliott Duke, a US military veteran originally from the UK, who was convicted of distributing child sexual abuse content and failed to disclose the offence during his naturalisation process.

Immigration lawyers have raised concerns that civil denaturalisation removes certain rights from individuals, including access to legal counsel and higher evidentiary standards, while also speeding up the process.

“It is kind of, in a way, trying to create a second class of US citizens,” said Sameera Hafiz, policy director of the Immigration Legal Resource Center, speaking to NPR.

The Chairman of the All Progressives Congress in Sokoto State has downplayed the ongoing efforts to create a political coalition in Northern Nigeria, labelling it as a group of “paperweight politicians” who lack electoral significance.

In an interview (with The Punch) at the Sokoto Government House on Saturday, Alhaji Isa Sadiq-Achida, the APC State Chairman, asserted that “even if any so-called coalition’s emerges in Northern Nigeria, Sokoto alone will deliver enough votes to bridge any gaps for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the North.”

He questioned the influence of former Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, alleging that he had become disconnected from the people of his state, especially those in Southern Kaduna.

“I doubt that Malam Nasir El-Rufai will have any meaningful political relevance in Kaduna, especially considering how deeply he hurt the people of Southern Kaduna during his tenure. He didn’t even allow them to vote freely,” he stated.

Commenting on former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Sadiq-Achida claimed that the PDP leader was facing internal turmoil and diminishing support in Adamawa.

“Everyone knows that Senator Aishatu Binani won that election, but something else happened. Atiku is even still struggling with his own governor, and his traditional title was stripped recently. That tells you everything you need to know.”

He said those championing the Northern coalition lacked grassroots followership, stressing that, “Those forming these coalitions are not real politicians. They’re politicians on paper. Many of them can not even win their polling units.”

Referring to former Senator Abubakar Gada, the Sokoto APC Chairman accused him of acting as a saboteur within the party before defecting to the Social Democratic Party, where he lost badly in the 2023 governorship election.

“Take Senator Abu Gada, for instance. He was sponsored to cause division in the APC. He went to court and lost. He later joined the SDP and contested for governorship. Out of 3,900 polling units in Sokoto, he got only 230 votes. He didn’t win even a single polling unit.”

He claimed that Gada lacked support in his hometown of Gadawa, stating that many locals barely knew him.

“He spent most of his life working at the NNPC. It was during Governor Wamakko’s administration that he was brought into politics and handed a senatorial ticket. After he won, he turned against Wamakko. Once the ticket was taken from him, he couldn’t win anything again, not even his polling unit.”

Sadiq-Achida reaffirmed the strength of the ruling party in Sokoto and expressed certainty that the state would deliver overwhelming support for President Tinubu and the APC in upcoming elections.