In a breach that could have widespread consequences, a notorious hacking group has reportedly released a massive amount of sensitive personal information, including Social Security numbers, on an online marketplace. This breach, allegedly affecting nearly every American, has the potential to fuel a surge in identity theft and other fraudulent activities, according to cybersecurity experts.
The Breach
Four months ago, the hacking group USDoD claimed to have stolen personal records from National Public Data (NPD), a major data broker. The stolen data, purportedly belonging to 2.9 billion people, was initially offered for sale for $3.5 million. Last week, a member of the group, known as “Felice,” reportedly released a significant portion of the data for free online.
The leaked information includes full names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and phone numbers. While email addresses and government-issued photo IDs appear to be missing, experts warn that the available data is sufficient for criminals to commit a range of identity-related crimes.
Implications and Risks
Teresa Murray, a consumer watchdog director with the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), emphasized the gravity of the situation. “If this is indeed a comprehensive dossier on every American, it’s far more concerning than previous breaches. This should be a wake-up call for anyone who hasn’t taken precautions,” she said.
The leaked data could be used to create fraudulent accounts, take over existing ones, or commit other forms of identity theft. The danger is compounded by the possibility of criminals combining this new data with information from previous breaches.
National Public Data’s Response
National Public Data has yet to formally notify those affected by the breach. However, in response to inquiries, the company has stated that it is investigating the claims and has “purged the entire database” to remove non-public personal information. They also noted that certain records might still be retained due to legal obligations.
Protecting Yourself
Experts urge individuals to take immediate action to safeguard their identities. One of the most effective measures is placing a freeze on credit files with the three major credit bureaus—Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. This prevents new accounts from being opened in your name but requires temporarily lifting the freeze if you need to apply for credit.
In addition, signing up for online access to existing financial accounts can prevent thieves from doing so in your name. Strong, unique passwords and two-factor authentication are also essential defenses against unauthorized access.
Finally, be vigilant against phishing scams. If you receive unsolicited messages from unknown sources claiming to be from your bank or service provider, it’s safer to contact the company directly using verified contact information.
As data breaches continue to escalate, it’s crucial to remain proactive in protecting your personal information. The fallout from this breach may be long-lasting, and the steps you take now can help mitigate its impact.
In a significant leadership transition, Houston Mayor John Whitmire appointed J. Noe Diaz as the new Chief of Police for the Houston Police Department, alongside the appointment of Orlando “Thomas” Muñoz as the new Chief of the Houston Fire Department.
The appointments were made official in a swearing-in ceremony held during the City Council session on Aug. 14.
Mayor Whitmire stands with J. Noe Diaz, the new Chief of Police for the Houston Police Department, and Orlando “Thomas” Muñoz, the new Chief of the Houston Fire Department. Chris Garcia/Que Onda Magazine.
“We are able to put a team in place that makes public safety the highest priority…I got two very experienced and dedicated public servants,” Whitmire said about the two new chiefs.
“I’ve worked with them; I’ve seen them in action. They care about Houston. They care about diversity, community involvement. I couldn’t be more pleased.”
Chief J. Noe Diaz brings a wealth of experience to his new role, with a career in law enforcement that began in 1987. Diaz started as a correctional officer with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice before moving to the Harris County Precinct 5 Constable’s Office in 1994. Two years later, the Texas Department of Public Safety selected Diaz to attend the DPS Academy A-96, where he trained as a DPS Trooper and was later assigned to the Highway Patrol Office in Katy, Texas.
Throughout his career, Chief Diaz has pursued higher education and specialized training, earning a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from the University of Houston-Downtown, a Master of Science in Criminology from Lamar University, and graduating from prestigious programs like the FBI National Academy and the Northwestern University Center for Public Safety. His commitment to continuous learning is evident as he prepares to enroll in the University of Houston Certified Public Manager Program in 2025.
During the ceremony, Diaz emphasized his commitment to fostering a strong relationship between the police department and the community.
“We will meet the day, meet the challenges first with kindness, for the love of every community to make sure that this community prospers collectively together and the police department works within the community because the community is our biggest asset,” Diaz stated.
Alongside Diaz, Thomas Muñoz was appointed as the Chief of the Houston Fire Department. Muñoz, a retired Assistant Chief of HFD, has extensive experience in emergency management, having served as the City’s Emergency Management Coordinator and the acting Director for the Mayor’s Office of Public Safety and Homeland Security.
Mayor Whitmire expressed his confidence in Muñoz, citing his leadership during several major emergencies, including the flooding in Kingwood, the derecho, Hurricane Beryl, and the winter freeze.
“Chief Muñoz is a strong leader dedicated to preparing and protecting Houstonians for emergencies. I believe he is the best emergency management coordinator in the country,” Whitmire remarked.
Chief Muñoz, who holds multiple degrees in emergency management and homeland security, highlighted his dedication to the safety of Houston’s residents and the well-being of the city’s firefighters.
“The work we do today will have a lasting impact for years to come, and I know that with this administration, we can improve the safety of all residents and future generations,” Muñoz said.
Both leaders are set to steer their respective departments toward a future grounded in collaboration, safety, and community engagement, as they step into their new roles at a pivotal time for the city of Houston.
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner’s next step in politics may lead him to Capitol Hill.
Democratic leaders chose Turner, a former Texas state lawmaker, as the party’s nominee in November’s 18th Texas Congressional District race, taking the place of longtime seat holder Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who died last month.
Jackson Lee represented District 18 and Houston in the U.S. House of Representatives for nearly three decades.
“You can’t replace Sheila Jackson Lee. You can’t. But you can certainly commit yourself to continuing to do the work,” Turner told ABC13 after the vote. “It’s my goal to bridge us from where we are now to that next leg, where those who are younger than I can step up and serve in a very effective way.”
Turner was among 17 candidates vying for the nomination. He advances to the November ballot and will be in a race different from the person who will finish out Jackson Lee’s current term. At the meeting the night before, precinct chairs selected six nominees. One of them, State Rep. Jarvis Johnson, threw his support behind former city council member Amanda Edwards when he saw he couldn’t win.
Johnson wanted to see a younger candidate who could earn seniority in Congress, given that Turner had said he would serve up to two terms.
“I really believe that at this time, the torch has to be passed,” Johnson said.
After the first vote, none had the majority. The top two candidates, Edwards and Turner, faced each other in a runoff. Turner won.
Former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, who is among 17 hopefuls for the late Sheila Jackson Lee’s congressional seat, got the backing of her children.
The winner of the November race will serve the whole two-year term to represent District 18 beginning in January.
At the same time, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called for a separate special election on Election Day, Nov. 5, to determine who will carry out the current term, which ends in January. That means voters will vote twice on the same ballot for the same position but for two different terms.
Candidates have until Aug. 22 to file for that race.
Among the candidates to finish the term is Jackson Lee’s daughter, Erica Lee Carter. She announced on Monday that she intended to run in the special election to “finish for my mom.”
After the vote, Lee Carter joined Turner.
“It’s so important to have someone ready to take on what my mother was trying to carry. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee – she loved (Turner) like a brother but worked with him like a fighter. And there is no one else she would want in the fight,” Lee Carter said.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued General Motors Tuesday, alleging the carmaker illegally collected and sold drivers’ data to insurance companies without their consent or knowledge, according to a release from the AG’s office.
General Motors is the first car manufacturer to be hit with a lawsuit after the attorney general’s office opened an investigation into several manufacturers in June for allegedly collecting mass amount of data and then illegally selling it.
With the lack of a detailed, modern data privacy and security law at the federal law, many states are stepping in to pass their own regulations to protect consumers in the ever-growing data brokerage market.
In car models from 2015 and later, the Detroit-based car manufacturer allegedly used technology to “collect, record, analyze, and transmit highly detailed driving data about each time a driver used their vehicle,” according to the AG’s statement.
General Motors sold this information to several other companies, including to at least two companies for the purpose of generating “Driving Scores” about GM’s customers, the AG alleged. The suit said those two companies then sold these scores to insurance companies.
Insurance companies can use data to see how many times people exceeded a speed limit or obeyed other traffic laws. Some insurance firms ask customers if they want to voluntarily opt-in to such programs, promising lower rates for safer drivers.
But the attorney general’s office claimed GM “deceived” its Texan customers by encouraging them to enroll in programs such as OnStar Smart Driver. But by agreeing to join these programs, customers also unknowingly agreed to the collection and sale of their data, the attorney general’s office said.
“Despite lengthy and convoluted disclosures, General Motors never informed its customers of its actual conduct-the systematic collection and sale of their highly detailed driving data,” the AG’s office said in a statement.
A General Motors spokesperson says the company has been “…in discussions” with the attorney general’s office, and says, “We share the desire to protect consumers’ privacy.”
General Motors has also said that as of March 20, 2024, it was no longer sharing information with data brokers such as LexisNexis and Verisk, which create consumer reports.
Honda and Hyundai also no longer partner with Verisk, according to its website.
Volatility overtook the stock market last week, amplifying worries about a possible recession and stoking panic among investors.
By the end of the week, however, the markets had almost fully recovered. Days after suffering its worst trading day since 2022, the S&P 500 rallied for its best trading session dating back to that same year. For the week, the S&P 500 ended nearly flat, inching downward 0.05%.
The rapid recovery is owed to a realization among traders that risk of an impending recession, as well as damage from a selloff on the Japanese stock market, had likely been overstated, experts told ABC News. The drop-off in stock prices transitioned quickly from an alarm blaring across Wall Street, to an opportunity for traders seeking newly discounted shares, they said.
“When we panic, we lower our expectations so far that any news short of disaster feels like rain in the desert. Then, people pile back in,” Callie Cox, chief market strategist at Ritholtz Wealth Management, said in a Monday blog postabout the recovery.
“When lots of investors brace for a punch – or sell their stocks – they tend to discover that the actual punch doesn’t hurt as bad,” Cox added.
The stock market downswing was set off by a disappointing jobs report earlier this month. Employers hired 114,000 workers in July, falling well short of economist expectations of 185,000 jobs. Additionally, the unemployment rate climbed to 4.3%, the highest level since October 2021.
The lackluster jobs data fueled concern about a potential recession, as well as calls for an interest rate cut.
The heightened worry about an economic cooldown coincided with interest rate hikes imposed by Japan’s central bank. Those rising rates prompted an unwinding of a so-called “carry trade” in which investors borrowed Japanese yen at low interest rates and used it to purchase assets, including U.S. stocks.
When Japan then hiked interest rates, investors sold off some of those assets and sent stock prices falling. Japan’s main Nikkei 225 stock index last Monday dropped more than 12%, its worst trading session since 1987. The following day, however, the index soared 10%, then increased slightly over the remainder of the week.
The seesaw performance of the Nikkei 225 mirrored that of U.S. stocks, Avanidhar Subrahmanyam, a professor of finance at the University of California, Los Angeles, told ABC News.
“People saw a buying opportunity and stepped in,” Subrahmanyam said, noting that markets often recover quickly from a downturn. “The entire episode was simply a panic followed by a correction.”
Between 1980 and 2023, the S&P 500 posted a positive return over each calendar year 82% of the time, Wells Fargo Investment Institute told clients in a note last week. The market experienced a drop-off of at least 10% in nearly half of those years, Wells Fargo said, adding, “The data shows that a market downturn does not necessarily mean markets will perform poorly for the year.”
Prior to last week’s volatility, the stock market had displayed a banner performance in 2024. Before the weak jobs report on Aug. 2, the S&P 500 had climbed more than 14% this year.
In turn, some observers believed that stocks had become overpriced. While the prices reflected robust corporate profits, they also had soared on account of enthusiasm about artificial intelligence and optimism about the chances of an economic “soft landing,” some experts told ABC News.
The perception of overpriced stocks left the market vulnerable to a fit of bad news that could exacerbate those jitters, the experts added.
“When there’s a perception that things are overvalued, people are already nervous,” said Subrahmanyam, of the University of California, Los Angeles. “When any small precipitating factor occurs, the sellers panic.”
However, the price gains over the ensuing days suggested a view among some traders that such worries had gone too far, Jay Ritter, a professor of finance at the University of Florida, told ABC News. The rapid recovery, he added, appeared to indicate a recognition that strong stock performance this year had been fueled in part by one of the market’s most fundamental metrics: corporate profits.
“U.S. earnings have gone up so much more than the rest of the world,” Ritter told ABC News. “So the stock market has gone up a lot.”
AUSTIN, Texas (KTRK) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has opened an investigation into CenterPoint Energy, claiming its conduct during Hurricane Beryl may have violated Texas law.
Beryl knocked out electricity to more than 2 million customers.
On Monday, the attorney general’s office said that the energy provider’s response to the hurricane likely led to “significant harm to Houston residents, including rate increases, outages, and lengthy delays in restoring power.”
Officials said the investigation will look into allegations of fraud, waste, and improper use of taxpayer-provided funds.
In an interview with 13 Investigates, CenterPoint Energy admits not enough resiliency work was done heading into Hurricane Beryl.
“If the investigation uncovers unlawful activity, that activity will be met with the full force of the law,” Paxton said in a statement.
The Public Utility Commission also launched an investigation into CenterPoint’s response to Beryl. The company hired an independent company to analyze the problems and make suggestions for improvement.
“CenterPoint has to do better. I cannot urge this enough. I have tried to stress with their executives that CenterPoint has to have a sense of urgency,” PUC Chairman Thomas Gleeson said last month. “We will bring to the Legislature and the governor more long-term fixes to address these issues that will probably need statutory change.”
Gov. Greg Abbott toured a resources area at NRG Stadium on Monday prior to holding a press conference alongside Mayor John Whit…Show more
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, too, has said CenterPoint “completely dropped the ball regarding getting the power back on.”
Abbott set multiple deadlines for CenterPoint, including providing a plan by the end of last month to improve reliability and removing vegetation that threatens powerlines by the end of August.
“The clock is ticking for CenterPoint to step up and get the job done,” he said.
The governor added that CenterPoint would have to reconsider the territory it serves.
CenterPoint has apologized for its shortcomings and shared its plan to improve. The company’s initial assessment showed room for improvement in three main areas: resiliency, communication, and community partnerships.
The company plans to use technology to target areas where trees pose a threat to their lines. To improve communication, they are increasing the number of people working in call centers after a storm and have introduced a more advanced outage and restoration tracker. They also intend to create stronger ties with community agencies by hiring a new senior leader for their executive team.
CenterPoint issued the following response after Paxton’s announcement:
“Since Hurricane Beryl, we have demonstrated our absolute commitment to transparency and cooperation through our participation in three separate hearings at the PUCT, the Senate, and the House. We look forward to cooperating with the Texas Attorney General or any other agency and have made clear our commitment to upholding the values of our company. We urge any party that has information concerning these issues to come forward and provide such information to us, our regulator, or the Texas Attorney General immediately.”
The president and first lady Jill Biden will tour medical facilities, then, at Tulane University, will help announce $150 million in awards from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health. Those will support eight teams of researchers around the country working on ways to help surgeons more successfully remove tumors for people facing cancer.
The teams receiving awards include ones from Tulane, Dartmouth College, Johns Hopkins University, Rice University, the University of California, San Francisco, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University of Washington and Cision Vision in Mountain View, California.
Before he leaves office in January, Biden hopes to move the U.S. closer to the goal he set in 2022 to cut U.S. cancer fatalities by 50% over the next 25 years, and to improve the lives of caregivers and those suffering from cancer.
Experts say the objective is attainable — with adequate investments.
“We’re curing people of diseases that we previously thought were absolutely intractable and not survivable,” said Karen Knudsen, CEO of the American Cancer Society and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.
Cancer is the second-highest killer of people in the U.S. after heart disease. This year alone, the American Cancer Society estimates that 2 million new cancer cases will be diagnosed and 611,720 people will die of cancer diseases.
Still, “if all innovation ended today and we could just get people access to the innovations that we know about right now, we think we could reduce cancer mortality by another 20 to 30%,” Knudsen said.
The issue is personal enough for Biden that, in his recent Oval Office address about bowing out of the 2024 campaign, the president promised to keep fighting for “my cancer moonshot so we can end cancer as we know it.”
“Because we can do it,” Biden said then.
He said in that speech that the initiative would be a priority of his final months in office, along with working to strengthen the economy and defend abortion rights, protecting children from gun violence and making changes to the Supreme Court, which he called “extreme” in its current makeup during a recent event.
Both the president and first lady Jill Biden have had lesions removed from their skin in the past that were determined to be basal cell carcinoma, a common and easily treated form of cancer. In 2015, their eldest son, Beau, died of an aggressive brain cancer at age 46.
The president’s public schedule has been much quieter since he left the race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, making Tuesday’s trip stand out.
Advocates have praised Biden for keeping the spotlight on cancer, bringing stakeholders together and gathering commitments from private companies, nonprofit organizations and patient groups.
They say that the extra attention the Biden administration has paid to the matter has put the nation on track to cut cancer death rates by at least half, preventing more than 4 million deaths from the disease, by 2047. It has done so by bolstering access to cancer treatments and reminding people of the importance of recommended screening, which hit a setback during the coronavirus pandemic.
“President Biden’s passion and commitment to this effort has made monumental differences for the entire cancer community, including those who are suffering from cancer,” said Jon Retzlaff, the chief policy officer at the American Association for Cancer Research.
Looking ahead, Retzlaff said, “The No. 1 thing is for us to see robust, sustained and predictable annual funding support for the National Institutes of Health. And, if we see that through NIH and through the National Cancer Institute, the programs that have been created through the cancer moonshot will be allowed to continue.”
Initiatives under Biden include changes that make screening and cancer care more accessible to more people, said Knudsen, with the American Cancer Society.
For instance, Medicare has started to pay for follow-up colonoscopies if a stool-based test suggests cancer, she said, and Medicare will now pay for navigation services to guide patients through the maze of their cancer care.
“You’ve already paid for the cancer research. You’ve already paid for the innovation. Now let’s get it to people,” Knudsen said.
She also said she’d like to see the next administration pursue a ban on menthol-flavored cigarettes, which she said could save 654,000 lives over the next 40 years.
Scientists now understand that cancer is not a single disease, but hundreds of diseases that respond differently to different treatments. Some cancers have biomarkers that can be targeted by existing drugs that will slow a tumor’s growth. Many more targets await discovery.
“We hope that the next administration, whoever it may be, will continue to keep the focus and emphasis on our national commitment to end cancer as we know it,” said Dr. Crystal Denlinger, CEO of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, a group of elite cancer centers.
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s daughter, Erica Lee Carter, announced on Monday that she wants to “finish for my mom” and finish the rest of her late mother’s term in the current congressional session.
In a statement, Carter mentioned the Nov. 5 special election to elect a new 18th Congressional District representative to complete Jackson Lee’s unfinished term. The district stretches as far north as the Westfield and Bush Intercontinental Airport area and as far south as the Old Spanish Trail area.
“The people of the 18th Congressional District re-elected my mother to the 118th Congress to protect their interest and uphold our democratic values. Congresswoman Jackson Lee kept their interests in her heart and mind until the very end. Since then, so many community leaders and democratic stalwarts have requested that I consider completing her term this year by running in the November 5th Special Election. After careful consideration, the answer is YES,” Carter wrote.
Earlier this month, Carter and her brother endorsed former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner as their mother’s success to her seat. Carter intends to run for the rest of the term but not the next one. The special election winner would have a little under two months to serve.
Turner is one of up to 17 people seeking the Democratic nomination to succeed the late congresswoman, who died on July 19 at the age of 74. Jackson Lee won the Democratic primary earlier this year to retain her seat. A candidate forum took place last Saturday. On Tuesday, precinct chairs will vote. Whoever gets 50% plus 1% gets the nomination. If there’s no winner on the first ballot, there’s a runoff between the top two vote-getters to decide the nominee.
As for the special election to fill the unfinished term, the Harris County Clerk’s Office confirms that it will be apparent to voters on the ballot that it is a special election. Still, it will be on a different part of the ballot than the general election race, which will pit the chosen Democratic nominee against the Republican nominee, Lana Centonze. Those who want to submit their names for the special election must file their applications by Thursday, Aug. 22.
More than half of U.S. states are reporting “very high” levels of COVID activity as the virus continues to spread and increase in many parts of the country, according to the latest wastewater data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
At least 27 states are reporting “very high” levels and 17 states are reporting “high” levels of wastewater viral activity.
The western region continues to see the highest levels followed by the South, Midwest and Northeast, respectively.
Current levels are nearing but remain lower than what they were in the winter months, when there tends to be increased spread of respiratory illnesses.
FILE – This 2020 electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease C…Show moreHannah A. Bullock, Azaibi Tamin/CDC via AP, File
Wastewater data comes with limitations in how well it represents spread in a community, but it may be the best data available, experts say.
“While wastewater is not a perfect measure, it’s increasingly vital in filling the gaps left by the absence of comprehensive case reporting and hospitalization data,” said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor.
Many national surveillance systems have diminished in scope since the national public health emergency ended, leaving authorities will limited resources to monitor how the virus is spreading.
“As traditional surveillance systems have dwindled, wastewater analysis has emerged as one of the most reliable tools we have to monitor COVID-19 activity in communities,” Brownstein added.
Other limited COVID surveillance systems such as emergency department visits and test positivity are also on the rise, according to CDC data. Deaths from the virus remain relatively flat, especially compared to previous years.
Updated COVID vaccines are set to be available this fall, according to federal health authorities. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended that vaccine manufacturers formulate shots based on the KP.2 strain, an offshoot of the omicron variant that is currently estimated to make up about 6% of cases.
Genetically similar variants, known as KP.3.1.1 and KP.3, currently make up almost half of estimated cases, CDC data shows.
The CDC has already recommended that everyone over the age of 6 months get an updated COVID vaccine this season. The recommendation will take effect as soon as the vaccines are made available, pending FDA authorization.
An expected delivery date for the updated COVID vaccines has not been shared yet, but in previous years the shot was made available in late August or September. Vaccine manufacturers have told ABC News they are ready to ship doses as soon as they receive the green light from the FDA.
Donald Trump recounted his assassination attempt in vivid detail and promised the largest deportation in U.S. history during a high-profile return to the social media platform formerly known as Twitter – a conversation that was plagued by technical glitches.
“If I had not turned my head, I would not be talking to you right now – as much as I like you,” Trump told X’s owner Elon Musk.
Musk, a former Trump critic, said the Republican nominee’s toughness, as demonstrated by his reaction to last month’s shooting, was critical for national security.
“There’s some real tough characters out there,” Musk said. “And if they don’t think the American president is tough, they will do what they want to do.”
The rare public conversation between Trump and Musk, which spanned more than two hours and was overwhelmingly friendly, revealed little new about Trump’s plans for a second term. The former president spent much of the discussion focused on his recent assassination attempt, illegal immigration and his plans to cut government regulations.
Still, the online meeting underscored just how much the U.S. political landscape has changed less than four years after Trump was permanently banned by the social media platform’s former leadership for spreading disinformation that sparked the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Congress and undermined the very foundation of the American democracy.
Such disinformation has thrived at X under Musk’s leadership, although it was largely ignored during his conversation with Trump save for a passing Trump reference to a “rigged election.”
The session was intended to serve as a way for the former president to reach potentially millions of voters directly. It was also an opportunity for X, a platform that relies heavily on politics, to redeem itself after some struggles.
It did not begin as planned.
With more than 878,000 users connected to the meeting more than 40 minutes after the scheduled start time, the interview had not yet begun. Many users received a message reading, “Details not available.”
Trump’s team posted that the “interview on X is being overwhelmed with listeners logging in.” And once the meeting began, Musk apologized for the late start and blamed a “massive attack” that overwhelmed the company’s system. Trump’s voice sounded muffled at times.
Trump supporters were openly frustrated.
“Not available????? I planned my whole day around this,” wrote conservative commentator Glenn Beck.
“Please let Elon know we can’t join,” billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman posted.
Ahead of the event, Musk posted on the platform that X was conducting “some system scaling tests” to handle what was anticipated to be a high volume of participants.
The rocky start was reminiscent of a May 2023 social media conversation between Musk and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The Republican governor was using the social media platform as a way to officially announce his presidential bid, a disastrous rollout marred by technical glitches, overloaded by the more than 400,000 people who tried to dial in.
Trump’s Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, noted that Trump mocked DeSantis at the time.
“Wow! The DeSanctus TWITTER launch is a DISASTER! His whole campaign will be a disaster. WATCH!” Trump wrote in a message reposted by Harris’ campaign Monday.
Monday’s meeting also highlighted the evolving personal relationship between Trump and Musk, two of the world’s most powerful men, who have shifted from being bitter rivals to unlikely allies over the span of one election season.
Musk, who described himself as a “moderate Democrat” until recently, suggested in 2022 that Trump was too old to be president again. Still, Musk formally endorsed Trump two days after his assassination attempt last month.
During their talk, Trump welcomed the idea of Musk joining his next administration to help cut government waste. Musk volunteered to join a prospective “government efficiency commission.”
“You’re the greatest cutter,” Trump told Musk. “I need an Elon Musk – I need somebody that has a lot of strength and courage and smarts. I want to close up the Department of Education, move education back to the states.”
Even before his endorsement, the tech CEO had already been working privately to support a pro-Trump super PAC. The group, known as America PAC, is now under investigation by election officials for alleged misleading attempts to collect data from voters.
Meanwhile, Trump has softened his criticism of electric vehicles, citing Musk’s leadership of Tesla. And on Monday, at least, Trump returned to Musk’s social media platform in force. The former president made at least eight individual posts in the hours leading up to the Musk interview.
Long before he endorsed Trump, Musk turned increasingly toward the right in his posts and actions on the platform, also using X to try to sway political discourse around the world. He’s gotten in a dustup with a Brazilian judge over censorship, railed against what he calls the “woke mind virus” and amplified false claims that Democrats are secretly flying in migrants to vote in U.S. elections.
Musk has also reinstated previously banned accounts such as the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and Trump, who was kicked off the platform – then known as Twitter – two days after the Jan. 6 violence, with the company citing “the risk of further incitement of violence.” By November 2022, Musk had bought the company, and Trump’s account was reinstated, although the former president refrained from tweeting until Monday, insisting that he was happier on his own Truth Social site, which he launched during the ban.
Trump’s audience on X is legions larger than on Truth Social, which became a publicly traded company earlier this year. Trump has just over 7.5 million followers on Truth Social, while his mostly dormant X account is followed by 88 million. Musk’s account, which hosted the interview, has more than 193 million followers.
In a reminder that the world was watching, the chat prompted a preemptive note of caution from Europe.
Thierry Breton, a French business executive and commissioner for internal market of the European Union, warned Musk of possible “amplification of harmful content” by broadcasting his interview with Trump. In a letter posted on X, Breton urged Musk to “ensure X’s compliance” with EU law, including the Digital Services Act, adopted in 2022 to address a number of issues including disinformation.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung urged the EU to “mind their own business instead of trying to meddle in the U.S. Presidential election.”
