Elon Musk has been donating to Republicans for years

Tesla (TSLA) and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has turn out to be a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump’s newest bid for the White Home. However it seems he has lengthy been a donor to Republican Celebration causes.

Musk publicly endorsed Trump in July, following an tried assassination on the Republican candidate’s marketing campaign occasion in Pennsylvania. That very same month, the Wall Road Journal (NWSA) reported Musk can be committing $45 million per 30 days to America PAC, a brilliant PAC supporting Trump’s presidential run. (Musk later stated that is “simply not true.”)

However a new investigation by the Journal discovered that Musk has made monetary commitments to the Republican Celebration for years. The publication, citing unnamed sources aware of the matter, experiences that, with the assistance of Republican consultants and attorneys, Musk has been quietly funneling tens of millions towards Republican efforts.

That features utilizing an LLC to ship cash to “social welfare” or “darkish cash” teams which are exempt from disclosing donors and might acquire limitless donations from folks and corporations, in accordance to the Journal.

In 2022, Musk funded $50 million value of promoting campaigns from Citizens for Sanity, a gaggle that has attacked the Democratic Celebration on numerous points, together with LGBTQ+ rights and immigration, the Journal reported. And final yr, Musk reportedly gave $10 million to help Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential run.

Musk, who’s the richest individual on the planet, has a web value of $264.3 billion as of Oct. 3, in accordance to Forbes.

The billionaire businessman has railed towards Democrats and their insurance policies on his social media platform, X. In a broadly learn submit on Sunday, for instance, Musk baselessly claimed the White Home was secretly importing migrants to sway the approaching election in favor of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Musk has additionally made a series of claims about his transgender daughter, together with that she was “useless” and “killed” after transitioning, which ignited his vow to “destroy the woke thoughts virus.”

For his half, Trump has invited Musk to head a new government commission tasked with conducting a monetary and efficiency audit of the federal authorities and proposing reforms. Musk pitched the thought final month throughout an interview with the previous president.

“No pay, no title, no recognition is required,” Musk wrote on X in response to the supply.

Previously, Trump floated having Musk seek the advice of as an unofficial advisor on AI or different points. Bloomberg Information reported in Might that Musk has counseled Trump on cryptocurrency coverage and may very well be given a job advising the presidential hopeful on the problem.

Musk in 2017 resigned from his spot on Trump’s White Home advisory councils after the then-president withdrew from the Paris local weather settlement, calling the transfer “not good for America or the world.” Nonetheless, in his interview with Trump, Musk stated climate change wasn’t an issue that needed immediate attention and walked again his earlier, harsher feedback on the oil and gasoline business.