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Elon Musk breaks up with Sen. Mike Lee
It appears the bromance between billionaire Elon Musk and Sen. Mike Lee is over.
Late last week, Musk unfollowed Lee’s personal @BasedMikeLee account on Twitter/X. The move was first flagged by the X account @BigTechAlert.

The breakup comes a little more than a year after Musk started following Lee last May.
Musk ditching Lee from his following list is part of a larger purge. Last week, the tech mogul stopped following several MAGA-related accounts amid the outrage that followed the Trump administration’s decision to not release the files related to child sex-abuser Jeffrey Epstein. Musk also unfollowed House Speaker Mike Johnson, Attorney General Pam Bondi and others.
After he established his @BasedMikeLee account, Utah’s senior senator spent months furiously trying to get Musk’s attention.
Lee even got Musk to put some of his considerable wealth toward conservative organizations and candidates in Utah. The tech mogul donated $10,000 to the Utah GOP last summer and gave more than $16,000 to the victory fund of 2nd Congressional District candidate Colby Jenkins, who Lee endorsed over incumbent Celeste Maloy last year.
Alas, that now seems to be over.
Tuesday morning’s headlines
Utah and the West
A survey circulating in Utah suggests expelling immigrants would solve traffic, education woes. [Utah Political Watch]
Utahns are unsure of nuclear energy. Cox will spend $1.8M convincing them it’s a good idea. [Salt Lake Tribune]
Could Utah re-file its public lands lawsuit? The state — and a judge — are deliberating. [Utah News Dispatch]
Kennecott’s tailings pond may be leaking into the Great Salt Lake. [Salt Lake Tribune]
How will Trump’s new copper tariff impact Utah? [Deseret News]
Utah corrections officials say they’ll be ready to execute Ralph Menzies by firing squad. [Utah News Dispatch]
Grand County settles with employee who complained of harassment, discrimination. [KSL]
Utah will pay for childcare, but tens of thousands of families don’t know they qualify. [KUTV]
National
The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for President Donald Trump’s administration to dismantle the Department of Education. [Reuters]
More than 20 states sued the Trump administration over billions of dollars in frozen education funding for after-school care and summer programs. [Associated Press]
More than 75 former federal and state judges called on the Senate Judiciary Committee to reject the nomination of Emil Bove. [CNN]
Rep. James Comer, who is leading a congressional investigation into former President Joe Biden’s use of an autopen to sign documents, used a digital signature on letters and subpoena notices related to the investigation. [NBC News]
The Trump administration says immigrants who arrived in the U.S. are not eligible for a bond hearing as they fight deportation. [Washington Post]
House Minority Leader Hakeep Jeffries is calling for the release of the files related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. [The Hill]
Attorney General Pam Bondi fired the ethics watchdog at the Department of Justice. [Axios]
World
President Trump reportedly urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to step up strikes on Russian territory. He also asked if Ukraine could hit Moscow if the U.S. provided long-range weapons. [Financial Times]
U.S. forces trained alongside troops from Australia and Japan to prepare for a possible war with China. [Semafor]
The E.U. is drawing up a list of retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. if they are unable to reach an agreement with the Trump administration. [Wall Street Journal]
Economy
The Port of Los Angeles is experiencing record shipping container traffic as importers race to beat President Trump’s tariffs. [CNBC]
Nearly one-third of major U.S. housing markets now see falling home prices. [CNBC]
Tech
Researchers in Japan say they have set a new record for the fastest internet speed, transmitting data about 4 million times faster than the average speed in the U.S. [Live Science]
Society
A new report says 25% of Americans aged 18 to 24 eat every meal alone. [CNBC]
The number of people living on the streets in Los Angeles dropped 10% over the last year. [Los Angeles Times]
