Billionaire Elon Musk on Friday took his campaign to cut the US federal government into uncharted waters, holding an unprecedented top-level meeting at the Pentagon and calling for the prosecution of any US Department of Defense officials leaking “maliciously false information” about his visit.
Musk, whose businesses have a number of defense department contracts, met US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for 80 minutes in his first such talks at the Pentagon, which is responsible for a large chunk of federal government spending. It was unclear whether US generals joined that meeting virtually.
The New York Times (NYT) reported that Musk would be briefed on secret war plans for China, something Musk, US President Donald Trump and others denied.
Photo: Reuters
Musk called the report “pure propaganda” and urged legal action against leakers.
“I look forward to the prosecutions of those at the Pentagon who are leaking maliciously false information to NYT. They will be found,” he wrote on X before the Hegseth meeting.
A New York Times spokesperson said leak investigations are “meant to chill communications between journalists and their sources and undermine the ability of a free press to bring out vital information that may otherwise be hidden.”
In a memo released late on Friday, Hegseth’s chief of staff called for an investigation into “unauthorized disclosures of national security information,” to include the potential use of a polygraph tests.
At the White House after the meeting, Trump said he did not want to show the US’ plans for a potential war with China to anybody and hinted at Musk’s potential conflict of interest.
“I don’t want to show that to anybody, but certainly you wouldn’t show it to a businessman, who is helping us so much,” Trump said.
“Elon has businesses in China, and he would be susceptible, perhaps, to that,” he said.
Standing next to Trump, Hegseth said he had an informal conversation with Musk that focused on innovation and efficiencies.
“There was no war plans, no Chinese war plans. There was no secret plans,” Hegseth said.
Following controversy over the New York Times story, a planned meeting between Musk and members of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff in a secure meeting room in the Pentagon, known as “The Tank,” ultimately did not take place.
Access to a closely guarded military plan would mark a sharp expansion of Musk’s role as the Trump adviser who is spearheading efforts to cut US government spending.
It would also fuel questions about conflicts of interest for Musk, who as the head of Tesla Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp also has business interests in China.
“There is no legitimate national security or other rationale for providing this information to Mr Musk,” US Democratic senators Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Duckworth wrote in a letter to Hegseth, demanding details on what information was shared with Musk and why.
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