Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help President-elect Donald Trump return to the White House, according to campaign finance records.
The billionaire tech mogul spent more than $270 million of his own money through two super PACs promoting Trump’s candidacy and other Republicans, including one that referenced the late liberal Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, according to federal election filings released Thursday night. the committee
Musk spent about $240 million on the pro-Trump super PAC America. The PAC was created after Musk was endorsed by Trump in July, making Musk the biggest political spender in the shortest amount of time.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk takes the stage as he joins former US President and Republican presidential candidate on October 5, 2024 in Butler, PA.
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
Half of the PAC’s money came in the final weeks of the election and the weeks after the election, and by Nov. 25, the PAC had only $2 million left in its account, according to the FEC.
Much of the money was spent on direct mail, collections and phone calls, PAC filings show.
The filing also showed a total of $9 million in payments to nine people labeled as “spokesperson consultants,” swing state voters who earned Musk’s controversial million-dollar-a-day bonus.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner He sued the PAC in October Musk was found to be running an illegal lottery in Pennsylvania.
Common Pleas Court Judge Angelo Foglietta he refused the order request weeks later after a lawyer for the PAC testified that the gift was not random, despite Musk’s claim that it was.
President-elect Donald Trump greets Elon Musk as he attends the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket on Nov. 19, 2024, in Brownsville, Texas.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
The PAC also reported about $433,000 in legal bills paid to THE GOBER GROUP PLLC, according to the FEC.
A new filing showed Musk was the sole funder of a pro-Trump super PAC called RBG PAC, giving the group $20 million in the final weeks of the election. The PAC used the initials of former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg and ran online ads featuring women saying Trump would support a national abortion ban.
Trump has long bragged about his role in ending Roe v. Wade by taking credit for appointing three of the six conservative justices who voted to overturn the case in 2022.
Clara Spera, Ginsberg’s granddaughter, chastised the PAC statement Telling the Washington Post that it “has no connection to the Ginsburg family and is an insult to my grandmother’s legacy.”
Earlier in the election cycle, Musk wrote large checks to House and Senate GOP supporters, including $12.3 million to two super PACs supporting Senate GOP candidates, and another $1.3 million to support other Republican supporters, FEC- according to the files of
In all, Musk spent at least $273 million on various Republicans at the federal level.
Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk speaks as Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump reacts during a rally in Butler, Pa., on Oct. 5, 2024.
Carlos Barria/Reuters
Musk has been co-chairing, along with Republican businessman and failed presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, an outside advisory board called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which aims to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget. so-called waste
The couple he met with Republican leaders on the Hill Thursday to discuss their proposals, including eliminating remote work options for federal employees.
