Also, Milwaukee is facing a lead crisis in its schools. Here’s the latest at the end of Friday.
President Trump removed the acting head of the Internal Revenue Service, Gary Shapley, after less than a week on the job. The change was prompted by a power struggle between Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Elon Musk. Bessent, who oversees the tax agency, had complained that Musk had persuaded the White House to appoint Shapley without his knowledge.
Bessent’s deputy, Michael Faulkender, will replace Shapley, who had only been selected for the job on Tuesday. The previous acting I.R.S. leader, Melanie Krause, resigned after the Trump administration decided to use I.R.S. data to help deport undocumented immigrants. The agency has also been under pressure from Trump to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status — a push that has deeply troubled current and former officials.
The clash between Bessent and Musk escalated into a public feud last night. Musk amplified a social media post from the far-right researcher Laura Loomer, who had accused Bessent of colluding with a “Trump hater.”
Bessent is also a close adviser to the president, and his fears about the recent tariff-induced downturn in financial markets seemed to influence Trump. People close to the president said Trump had turned more cautious on policies that could stoke extreme volatility again. They said, for example, that he has for months been aware that trying to oust Jerome Powell, the Fed chair, could cause a downturn. For now, they said, Trump seemed persuaded to hold off.
The president had pointed in particular to concerns about the bond market, which he called “very tricky.” A Times analysis found that, as of August, Trump’s personal investment portfolio had significantly more in bonds than in stocks.
