Elon Musk, who has been stepping up criticism of Joe Biden, has donated to a political group working to elect rival presidential candidate Donald Trump.
It’s unclear how much Musk donated, but one source said it was “a sizable amount” given to a group called America PAC.
Bloomberg reported that the PAC, a group that can receive unlimited contributions for political activities, will be required to disclose its list of donors by July 15.
In March, Trump met with Musk and other wealthy donors and caused such an uproar that Musk later made a claim on social media.
“Just to be very clear, I will not be donating money to any of the candidates for president of the United States,” he said on March 6.
Elon Musk, who has been ramping up criticism of Joe Biden, has donated to a political group working to elect rival presidential candidate Donald Trump.
In May, he also denied media reports that there had been talks about a possible advisory role for him in any Trump presidency.
Musk has yet to make any official comment on the donation.
Biden campaign spokesman James Singer said Musk knows Trump is “a fool who will sell out America, cutting taxes while raising taxes on the middle class by $2,500.”
“Joe Biden has stood up to people like Elon and fought for the middle class his entire career, and that’s why he will win in November,” Singer said in a statement.
Unlike other billionaires, Musk has not spent much on political donations, but he has previously donated to both Republicans and Democrats.
Musk has personally provided funding to politicians including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Marco Rubio, George W. Bush and John Kerry.
His companies, Tesla and SpaceX, have benefited from federal government contracts and subsidies.
In recent years, however, Musk appears to have leaned more toward the Republican Party.
In March, Trump met with Musk and other wealthy donors and caused such a stir that Musk made a statement on social media afterward: “To be very clear, I am not donating money to any of the candidates for President of the United States,” he said on March 6.
This may be partly due to a snub by the Biden administration in 2021 after failing to invite Tesla to an electric vehicle summit.
“Let’s not forget that the White House gave Tesla the cold shoulder and excluded us from the EV summit,” Musk wrote in December, more than two years after the attack.
The following year, he encouraged his followers on X, formerly Twitter, to vote for a Republican Congress before the midterm elections.
After Musk purchased the social media platform Twitter in 2022, he reinstated Trump’s account after it was suspended in the wake of January 6.
Musk has generally opposed left-leaning “woke” policies and has echoed right-wing rhetoric on immigration.
“America will fall if it tries to take over the world,” Musk posted on X on Tuesday.
He also suggested that Democrats are “allowing large numbers of illegals to come in” to commit voter fraud, despite no evidence to support this.
At the start of the Republican primary season, Musk gave signals that… Supported Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
In recent years, Musk appears to have leaned more toward the Republican Party. This may be partly due to a snub by the Biden administration in 2021, when it did not invite Tesla to an electric vehicle summit.
DeSantis kicked off his campaign with a live-streamed interview with the billionaire, but that did not materialize into a donation.
Last month, Trump reiterated his commitment to immediately abandon the Biden administration’s “mandate” to support the electric vehicle industry. But he added: “I’m a big fan of electric cars. I’m a fan of Elon.”
“He does an incredible job with Tesla.”
Musk said they had “some conversations” and that Trump is a “big fan of Cybertrucks,” referring to Tesla’s electric pickup trucks.
While he has publicly criticized Biden’s policies on immigration and electric vehicles and even his age, Musk has not made any formal endorsements in the November race and Trump has said he does not know if he has Musk’s support.
Musk’s views have damaged his reputation among some consumers, according to a CivicScience survey shown exclusively to Reuters.