Erik De La Garza
October 25, 2024
Elon Musk participates in a SpaceX Demonstration Mission 2 Launch Briefing in 2020. (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Calling reports of ongoing conversations between tech billionaire Elon Musk and Russian President Vladimir Putin “concerning,” the head of NASA on Thursday called for an investigation into the bombshell accounts "if the story is true."
The comments came a day after the Wall Street Journal reported that Musk, a vocal Trump supporter, and Putin had been in regular communication for at least two years. The report also revealed that the world's richest man and the Russian leader discussed issues ranging from “personal topics, business and geopolitical tensions.”
“I don’t know that that story is true. I think it should be investigated,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said Friday at a Semafor conference. “If the story is true that there have been multiple conversations between Elon Musk and the president of Russia then I think that would be concerning, particularly for NASA, for the Department of Defense, for some of the intelligence agencies.”
White House officials have said they were aware of the Journal story, but a spokesman for the National Security Council, John Kirby, said he was “not in a position to corroborate the veracity of those reports, and we would refer you to Mr. Musk to speak to his private communications,” according to the Journal
The publication notes that Musk’s security clearance gives him access to certain classified information and that he has “deep business ties with U.S. military and intelligence agencies. SpaceX, which operates the Starlink service, works on classified government programs and is also the primary rocket launcher for the Pentagon and NASA.”
“Knowledge of Musk’s Kremlin contacts appears to be a closely held secret in government. Several White House officials said they weren’t aware of them. The topic is highly sensitive, given Musk’s increasing involvement in the Trump campaign and the approaching U.S. presidential election, less than two weeks away,” the Journal reported.
Musk has enthusiastically endorsed Trump and dumped millions of dollars into GOP-aligned campaigns.
Kremlin denies WSJ report that Elon Musk holds regular talks with Putin
Billionaire Elon Musk, the world's richest man and an avid supporter of Donald Trump, was the object of new controversy on Friday after the Wall Street Journal published a report that he is in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin's spokesman rejected the report, saying "it's all untrue, absolutely false information".
Issued on: 25/10/2024 -
By: NEWS WIRES
Billionaire Elon Musk, the world's richest man and an avid supporter of Donald Trump, was the object of new controversy on Friday after the Wall Street Journal published a report that he is in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin's spokesman rejected the report, saying "it's all untrue, absolutely false information".
Issued on: 25/10/2024 -
By: NEWS WIRES
Elon Musk speaks at Life Center Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on October 19, 2024. © Sean Simmers, AP
Elon Musk, the world's richest man and an avid supporter of Donald Trump, was plunged into new controversy on Friday after a report that he is in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Wall Street Journal story, which has been denied by the Kremlin, comes days after the US Justice Department sent a letter to Musk's America PAC warning that its $1 million giveaways to registered voters may violate federal law.
Musk, 53, the chief executive of SpaceX and Tesla and the owner of X, formerly Twitter, has thrown his millions, time and considerable influence into sending the former Republican president back to the White House since endorsing him in July.
Musk has reportedly donated $118 million to his personal pro-Trump political action committee, an organization which collects funds for elections.
He's also appeared on stage with Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania and hosted a series of town halls on his own in the battleground state seen as critical in the November election.
Musk, who supported Barack Obama but has become increasingly conservative in recent years, peppers his 202 million followers on X daily with messages championing Trump and denigrating his opponent, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
Many of the X posts by the South African-born billionaire decry the number of migrants crossing into the United States from Mexico or echo discredited conspiracy theories.
Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz has accused Musk of spending millions to help Trump "buy an election" and jokingly suggested that the billionaire -- not J.D. Vance -- is Trump's real running mate.
Trump has pledged if he wins the election to tap Musk to head a "government efficiency commission" tasked with slashing bureaucracy and waste.
Musk already holds a top secret clearance because of SpaceX, which launches rockets for NASA and the Pentagon, and the Wall Street Journal said his contacts with Putin have raised "potential national security concerns" among some members of the Biden administration although there is no evidence of any "possible security breaches."
NASA administrator Bill Nelson said Friday the report "should be investigated."
"If the story is true that there have been multiple conversations between Elon Musk and the president of Russia, then I think that would be concerning, particularly for NASA and the Department of Defense and for some of the intelligence agencies," Nelson said at an event hosted by online news outlet Semafor.
'One contact'
The Journal said the Musk-Putin conversations touched on "personal topics, business and geopolitical tensions," although at one point the Russian leader asked the US billionaire to avoid activating his Starlink satellite internet service over Taiwan as a favor to Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the report, saying "it's all untrue, absolutely false information."
Putin had one contact with Musk before 2022, Peskov said, when they spoke on the phone.
"It was a fact-finding conversation," he said. "They talked about more visionary technology, about technology for the future."
SpaceX's Starlink has been a vital communications tool for Ukrainian forces battling Russian troops and Musk "categorically" denied earlier this year that any terminals had been sold to Russia.
"My companies have probably done more to undermine Russia than anything," Musk said during a streamed event on X.
SpaceX has taken away two-thirds of Russia's space launch business and "Starlink has overwhelmingly helped Ukraine," he said.
While Musk's alleged conversations with Putin are drawing scrutiny, so are his daily $1 million giveaways to registered voters -- from the Justice Department and election watchdog groups.
Federal law prohibits paying people to register to vote and the department's public integrity unit reportedly warned Musk's America PAC in a letter this week that the sweepstakes may be illegal.
Adav Noti, executive director of the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, denounced the giveaways as "egregious."
"It is extremely problematic that the world's richest man can throw his money around in an attempt to directly influence the outcome of this election," Noti said. "This is not how our democracy should work."
(AFP)
Elon Musk, the world's richest man and an avid supporter of Donald Trump, was plunged into new controversy on Friday after a report that he is in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Wall Street Journal story, which has been denied by the Kremlin, comes days after the US Justice Department sent a letter to Musk's America PAC warning that its $1 million giveaways to registered voters may violate federal law.
Musk, 53, the chief executive of SpaceX and Tesla and the owner of X, formerly Twitter, has thrown his millions, time and considerable influence into sending the former Republican president back to the White House since endorsing him in July.
Musk has reportedly donated $118 million to his personal pro-Trump political action committee, an organization which collects funds for elections.
He's also appeared on stage with Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania and hosted a series of town halls on his own in the battleground state seen as critical in the November election.
Musk, who supported Barack Obama but has become increasingly conservative in recent years, peppers his 202 million followers on X daily with messages championing Trump and denigrating his opponent, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
Many of the X posts by the South African-born billionaire decry the number of migrants crossing into the United States from Mexico or echo discredited conspiracy theories.
Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz has accused Musk of spending millions to help Trump "buy an election" and jokingly suggested that the billionaire -- not J.D. Vance -- is Trump's real running mate.
Trump has pledged if he wins the election to tap Musk to head a "government efficiency commission" tasked with slashing bureaucracy and waste.
Musk already holds a top secret clearance because of SpaceX, which launches rockets for NASA and the Pentagon, and the Wall Street Journal said his contacts with Putin have raised "potential national security concerns" among some members of the Biden administration although there is no evidence of any "possible security breaches."
NASA administrator Bill Nelson said Friday the report "should be investigated."
"If the story is true that there have been multiple conversations between Elon Musk and the president of Russia, then I think that would be concerning, particularly for NASA and the Department of Defense and for some of the intelligence agencies," Nelson said at an event hosted by online news outlet Semafor.
'One contact'
The Journal said the Musk-Putin conversations touched on "personal topics, business and geopolitical tensions," although at one point the Russian leader asked the US billionaire to avoid activating his Starlink satellite internet service over Taiwan as a favor to Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the report, saying "it's all untrue, absolutely false information."
Putin had one contact with Musk before 2022, Peskov said, when they spoke on the phone.
"It was a fact-finding conversation," he said. "They talked about more visionary technology, about technology for the future."
SpaceX's Starlink has been a vital communications tool for Ukrainian forces battling Russian troops and Musk "categorically" denied earlier this year that any terminals had been sold to Russia.
"My companies have probably done more to undermine Russia than anything," Musk said during a streamed event on X.
SpaceX has taken away two-thirds of Russia's space launch business and "Starlink has overwhelmingly helped Ukraine," he said.
While Musk's alleged conversations with Putin are drawing scrutiny, so are his daily $1 million giveaways to registered voters -- from the Justice Department and election watchdog groups.
Federal law prohibits paying people to register to vote and the department's public integrity unit reportedly warned Musk's America PAC in a letter this week that the sweepstakes may be illegal.
Adav Noti, executive director of the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, denounced the giveaways as "egregious."
"It is extremely problematic that the world's richest man can throw his money around in an attempt to directly influence the outcome of this election," Noti said. "This is not how our democracy should work."
(AFP)
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