Billionaire Elon Musk, unconditional support of Donald Trump, is at the heart of a new controversy on Friday, after the publication of press information reporting his regular contacts with Vladimir Putin.
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According to an article from Wall Street Journalthe Russian president and the richest man in the world have reportedly had regular exchanges since the end of 2022, which the Kremlin denies.
Their conversations touched on personal themes, but also geopolitical or commercial ones, according to this article posted online Thursday evening and based on statements from Western and Russian officials.
In the last stage of the American presidential campaign, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla is omnipresent, showing a clear desire to influence the decisions of the world.
Since his surging participation in a Donald Trump rally at the beginning of October, the man who also owns X (formerly Twitter) has not hesitated to pour millions of dollars into the campaign – 118 million according to the latest figures.
And in recent days, as if he were a candidate himself, he has increased public rallies in the key state of Pennsylvania and launched a million-dollar daily lottery, which earned him a letter of warning of the Ministry of Justice.
The South African businessman, a naturalized American, is also continuing his propaganda operation in
Kamala Harris’ running mate in the November 5 presidential election, Tim Walz recently accused Elon Musk of “spending millions to help Donald Trump buy an election” before suggesting that the billionaire was the Republican candidate’s real running mate.
“Staggering sums”
With information from Wall Street Journalconcerns are rising a notch in the United States, because Elon Musk holds a top-secret clearance due to the activities of SpaceX, which launches rockets for NASA and the Pentagon.
According to the daily, his alleged secret contacts with Putin “raise potential national security concerns among some members of the current administration.”
“This is absolutely false information published in the newspaper,” assured the spokesperson for the Russian presidency, Dmitri Peskov, adding that Vladimir Putin and Elon Musk had had “a single contact” which dates from “before 2022” .
For his part, Elon Musk did not respond to requests for comment.
In the past, he has explained that his “companies have probably done more to undermine Russia than anything else,” denying any collusion with President Putin.
If he wins the election, Donald Trump has pledged to appoint Elon Musk to head a commission charged with reducing bureaucracy and waste in government.
“I’m politically active now because I think the future of America, the future of civilization is at stake,” the billionaire explains during the public rallies he organizes.
For him, the values defended by Donald Trump are not “right-wing values, as is often said”, but the “fundamental values” of America.
For Adav Noti, of the Campaign Legal Center association, which defends the transparency of electoral financing and respect for the laws, “it is extremely problematic that the richest man in the world can throw his money out the window in an attempt to directly influence the outcome of this election.
“This is not how our democracy should work,” he added.
The amount of money spent by Elon Musk is in fact “staggering,” Larry Sabato, professor at the University of Virginia, told AFP.
“Whether the money is well spent is another matter,” he says. “The super-rich often think that money is the answer to everything, but that’s not the case.”
