Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Trump delivers a speech during a campaign event in Charlotte, North Carolina, the United States, on July 24, 2024.
Marco Bello | Reuters
Donald Trump said Thursday that Elon Musk “never told me” he would pledge $45 million a month to support his presidential campaign, days after Tesla The SpaceX CEO has denied reports that he would do so.
“I have a great relationship with him and I think he’s a good guy,” Trump said of Musk in a phone interview with Fox News.
“I was told he was going to give me $45 million a month. I said, ‘That sounds like a lot, even for Elon,'” the Republican presidential candidate said.
But Musk “never told me he was donating ($45 million),” he said.
“But he did say ‘I strongly support you,’ even though I oppose the electric vehicle mandate,” Trump said, referring to the Biden administration’s policy aimed at prioritizing electric vehicles over gasoline-powered vehicles.
Musk’s endorsement came shortly after Trump narrowly escaped assassination at a July 13 campaign rally.
Just over a week ago, President Joe Biden announced that he would withdraw his re-election bid, leaving Vice President Kamala Harris as the de facto Democratic nominee.
Two days after the Trump rally shooting, The Wall Street Journal The report quoted people familiar with the matter as saying Musk plans to donate $45 million a month to the newly formed pro-Trump super PAC.
The PAC has received huge donations from other major tech and financial figures, including Joe Lonsdale and the Winklevoss twins.
But Musk said in an interview with conservative public figure Jordan Peterson that the numbers reported by the Wall Street Journal were “simply not true.”
“I’m not donating $45 million a month to Trump,” Musk said in an interview posted on Monday on X, a social media site he owns.
Musk also said he created the super PAC, called USA PAC, to “promote the principles that make America great in the first place.”
In a post on Key value.
During a visit to Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Musk doubled down when asked about his reported $45 million monthly commitment.
“I never said I donated $45 million a month to Trump,” Musk saysInvited by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to attend the Congress speech. “That’s a fictional story created by the Wall Street Journal.”
Musk announced in March that he would not donate to “any U.S. presidential candidate.” But the announcement left open the possibility that he could contribute indirectly through a political action committee, which he has now confirmed he will do.
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