Trump reportedly meets with Musk amid fundraising push
Donald Trump met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Sunday as the former US president seeks a major cash infusion for his reelection campaign, the New York Times has reported, citing sources.
According to a report by the outlet on Tuesday, Musk attended the gathering along with a number of wealthy Republican donors.
Trump and his team are working to find major contributors to shore up his finances for the election campaign against incumbent US leader Joe Biden, according to the NYT.
The newspaper claimed that Trump hopes to have a one-on-one meeting with Musk, although it is not clear whether the billionaire CEO of Tesla and Space X is planning to donate to the Republican frontrunner’s campaign.
Musk, who also owns social media platform X (formerly Twitter), has long cast himself as politically independent, and has donated to campaigns for candidates from both the Democrats and the Republicans over the years.
The tech mogul has admitted he voted for Biden in 2020, although he has since criticized the president and clashed with his administration, the NYT stated.
The South African-born billionaire has not said if he is willing to spend any of his billions to back Trump, although Musk’s social media posts suggest he is opposed to Biden winning a second term in November.
With a net worth valued by Forbes at $200 billion, Musk could “decide to throw his weight behind Mr. Trump” and almost “single-handedly erase what is expected to be Mr. Biden and his allies’ huge financial advantage” over the former president.
The discussion comes as Trump trails Biden in campaign funds, after his wealth took a hit from judgments against him in a New York civil fraud case and a separate defamation trial. In February, the former president was barred from operating his companies in New York and was ordered to pay $354 million in penalties for fraudulent business practices.
Financial reports last month showed that Trump’s coffers fell to $30 million as he funded successful Republican primary campaigns, significantly less than Biden’s estimated $56 million in campaign funds.
