Elon Musk Won’t Give $45M in Monthly Donations to Donald Trump’s Campaign
By Danielle Ong
Jul 24, 2024 03:29 AM EDT
Jul 24, 2024 03:29 AM EDT
Elon Musk to Move X, SpaceX HQs from California to Texas After Newsom Passes Trans Rights Law(Apu Gomes/Getty Images) (Credit: Getty Image)
Tesla founder Elon Musk said he is not donating $45 million a month to reelect Donald Trump in the 2024 elections.
Speaking to conservative commentator Jordan Peterson in an interview Monday evening, Musk denied reports that he is donating $45 million to Trump's campaign, adding that rumors floated by the "media" were false.
"What's been reported in the media is simply not true," Musk said in the interview, which was hosted on X (formerly Twitter). "I am not donating $45 million a month to Trump."
Musk's alleged plan to donate $45 million to Trump's campaign was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, citing sources "familiar with the matter." The outlet has not yet issued a retraction or altered its reporting.
Musk's denial of the donation came just a day before Tesla released a report of its second-quarter profits. The report showed the company's profits dropped 45% following a decline in the sales of its electric vehicles.
His denial also came days after Trump said he did not know about Musk's large donation plan during a rally in Michigan on Saturday.
"I read - I didn't even know this, he didn't even tell me about it - but he gives me $45 million a month. I talked to him just a little while ago to say I was coming here, 'How you doing?' and he didn't even mention it," Trump said, as quoted by Business Insider.
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Despite rejecting claims he is donating $45 million to Trump's campaign, Musk did acknowledge that he created a super political action committee (PAC) called the America PAC to help support Trump's presidential campaign.
A super PAC is a group that can raise unlimited funding for a campaign's independent expenditures. Funding from a super PAC can be used for ads and day-to-day operations---so long as the expenditures are not made in concert or cooperation with, or at the request or suggestion of a candidate.
The America PAC has received donations from several tech company leaders, including Ken Howery, who had previously been an executive at Paypal with Musk; Antonio Gracias, a private-equity leader; and Shaun Maguire, a partner at Sequoia Capital.
In addition, the America PAC is also led in part by Joe Lonsdale, a co-founder of the software company Palantir and a close friend of Musk, according to the New York Times.
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