However, the billionaire says that he founded the America PAC support association. The same Trump-supporting association is also mentioned in the Wall Street Journal’s original article.
Billionaire Elon Musk denies newspaper reports that he is supporting the former US president Donald Trump’s presidential campaign with $45 million a month.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) wrote about Musk’s alleged intentions last week, based on its own sources.
Musk commented on the alleged donations by a conservative commentator Jordan Peterson in a conversation with Peterson, which Peterson has shared on the messaging service X.
– Are you surprised by the fact that you are donating a significant amount of money to enable Trump’s election, Peterson asks Musk and inquires whether the billionaire could have seen this possible, say, five years ago.
– First of all, what has been reported in the media is simply not true. I’m not donating 45 million a month to Trump, Musk replies.
Instead, Musk says he has founded a so-called Super PAC, known as America PAC. Among other things, according to the Washington Post, America PAC is a pro-Trump support association.
Musk: Some donations to a charity
Musk says that the support association is known as America PAC. He emphasizes that donations made directly to candidates are relatively small due to restrictions, while the Super PAC system enables larger donations.
Based on the conversation between Musk and Peterson, it remains unclear what kind of possible donations Musk himself will make to the America PAC he mentioned.
The billionaire also commented on the donation claims on X in his reply to another user.
– This is more than stupid. I never said I would donate $45 million a month to Trump, he says in his response and claimed that the Wall Street Journal article was completely false.
– How can I back out of something that has never happened, Musk asked.
Under another user’s update, Musk says that he will make some donations to America PAC. However, the billionaire describes his donation as “much lower,” apparently comparing his donation intentions to the amounts previously reported by the WSJ.
Back in early March, Musk said he would not donate to either party’s candidate. However, the other week, Musk publicly said that he supports Trump after he was wounded in an assassination attempt.
Money from support associations, for example, for election ads
In its original article, the Wall Street Journal also referred to the America PAC mentioned by Musk to Peterson, to which the alleged monthly donations were to be directed. America PAC is said to focus, among other things, on voters in the equatorial states and to campaign for voter registration and early voting.
The United States Election Commission’s website states that so-called Super PACs can accept unlimited donations from individuals, corporations, unions and other PACs. These donations can be used to finance, among other things, so-called independent expenses. According to the WSJ, those support associations can finance, among other things, advertisements supporting or opposing candidates.
Musk responded to the news shared by the WSJ’s messaging service X with a meme image. According to Time magazine, which also wrote about Musk’s alleged donation intentions last week, Musk could be considered to have indicated with his answer that the WSJ article was fake news.
At least Ilta-Sanomat has previously reported on Musk’s recent dispute in Finland.