'That was fiction': Elon Musk denies committing $45M a month to pro-Trump super PAC

24 July 2024

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk — whom Forbes pegs as the world's wealthiest person at more than $230 billion in personal net worth — now appears to be walking away from a prior financial commitment to former President Donald Trump's 2024 bid for the White House.

During an appearance on Capitol Hill, ABC reporter Arthur Jones III asked Musk about of his commitment to a $45 million monthly recurring contribution to a pro-Trump super PAC. At first, the South African billionaire didn't answer. When Jones asked him again, Musk appeared to backtrack on his pledge.

"At no point did I say I was going to [unintelligible] to Trump," Musk said. "That was fiction made up by the Wall Street Journal."

In a July 16 article, the Journal was the first publication to report that Musk had pledged to support America PAC with a monthly contribution of $45 million until Election Day. The outlet cited "people familiar with the matter" as its source, and noted that cryptocurrency titans Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (also known as the Winklevoss twins) are also bankrolling the PAC as well as Palantir Technologies co-founder Joe Lonsdale.

America PAC is focused specifically on driving get-out-the-vote efforts in key battleground states whose Electoral College votes are likely to decide the November election, like Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. With Musk's donation, Trump's campaign will have significant financial resources to turn out voters in November in states where the winner will be determined by a few thousand ballots.

Musk's denial is significant in that he previously replied "yeah" to a tweet saying he was spending $180 million (the equivalent of $45 million for four months) to help Trump. And journalist Parker Molloy noticed that after news of Musk's donation spread, #MAGA became a promoted hashtag on Musk's platform, and tweeting that hashtag automatically generated an image of Trump raising his fist after he was nearly assassinated. Another user noticed that clicking the #Trump2024 hashtag on X/Twitter generated a smattering of American flag emojis.

The billionaire tech CEO appeared to backtrack earlier this week that while he was "making some donations to America PAC," it was "at a much lower level" than previously reported.

MSNBC reported that in an interview with far-right social media personality Jordan Peterson, Musk said he was funding America PAC to "promote the principles that make America great in the first place," and that he wanted "the least amount of government intervention possible." This is all in sharp contrast to Musk tweeting in March of this year that he wouldn't be using his considerable wealth to influence the presidential election.

"Just to be super clear, I am not donating money to either candidate for US President," Musk tweeted on March 6.

Watch the video of Jones' interview with Musk below, or by clicking this link.

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