Just four months ago, Elon Musk said he wouldn’t be “donating money to either” candidate for president.
Now, he’s reportedly pledging to donate $45 million — each month — to a super political action committee backing former president Donald Trump.
The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reports that Musk will back America PAC, a group formed in June that will focus on registering voters and other “get out the vote” activities. The Journal reports that Musk plans to start donating to the committee in July. In total, Musk could contribute some $180 million to the PAC.
It’s the culmination of more than a year of Musk’s public shift toward the right-wing and a sign of his growing ties to Trump. Despite the former president and his chosen running mate’s shared distaste for electric vehicles, Musk formally endorsed Trump on Saturday.
“I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery,” Musk said on X, just hours after the former president was the target of an assassination attempt.
Over the past several months, Musk has reportedly developed a closer relationship with the ex-president, talking with him “several times a month” about topics like the U.S. Space Force — which Trump created — as well as immigration. Musk has also counseled Trump on EVs, cryptocurrency policy and a potential advisory role if he wins a second term in November, Bloomberg News reported. The Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder has denied the report.
Axios reports that Musk, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, and “Paypal mafia” member David Sachs encouraged Trump to pick Vance as his running mate on Monday. Vance, a Republican representing Ohio in the Senate, is a former venture capitalist with ties to Peter Thiel, a co-founder of Palantir and Paypal.
As of June 30, America PAC has received about $8.75 million from donors, most of which has already been spent. The group has been backed by a number of major backers entrenched with backgrounds in private equity or venture capital.
Antonio Gracias, the founder and CEO of Valor Equity Partners, is a Musk ally and was one of the first institutional investors in Tesla. He’s also tied with a few others as America PAC’s biggest donor on file, contributing $1 million to the group.
Doug Leone, a Sequoia Capital partner, has also contributed $1 million, as has Alliance Resource Partners CEO Joe Craft and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale’s Lonsdale Enterprises. Jimmy John Liautaud, the founder and former chairman of Jimmy John’s, has also donated $1 million. In 2020, Liautaud donated $212,000 to Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign.
Other donors include the billionaire Winklevoss twins, and Sequoia’s Shaun Maguire. After Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts in May, Maguire said he donated $300,000 to Trump and his affiliates.
By Agencies
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