Elon Musk’s million dollar giveaways: ‘On the edge of what’s legal’

By Michael Baggs (with Emily Maitlis & Jon Sopel)

Elon Musk is giving away $1 million a day between now and the US election to anyone who signs up to his Super PAC, and registers to vote. But does this break the law, and will he face any consequences?

Read time: 5 mins

In brief…

• The billionaire has begun  paying people at Republican events who have signed up to his Super PAC organisation.
• Author Anne Applebaum tells The News Agents his actions come so close to the end of the election campaign, so there is unlikely to be any repercussions before America votes for its next president.
• The News Agents say Musk’s actions “take him up to the edge of what is legal, and maybe a bit beyond”.

Elon Musk is giving away $1 million a day between now and the US election to anyone who signs up to his Super PAC, and registers to vote. But does this break the law, and will he face any consequences?

What's the story?

Kristine Fishell went home from a Sunday Republican town hall event $1 million dollars richer, courtesy of Elon Musk.

The previous day, John Dreher also collected an oversized cheque.

Wearing a red MAGA hat, Dreher bounced onto the stage to collect his money from Musk, who announced the giveaway at the Saturday event – offering to give away the same amount every day between now and election day on 5 November.

It will be given to people from swing states Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina who sign his Super PAC petition to get Trump re-elected, from which he formed with a collection of other tech entrepreneurs who are backing his return to the White House.

A Super PAC pools contributions of its members to influence political decisions, or in this instance, the upcoming US election.

Questions have been raised about the legality of the offer. It is against the law to pay people to vote, or register to vote and carries a potential penalty of £10,000 or a five-year jail term.

Musk has previously suggested he believed he could go to jail if Kamala Harris wins the election, although gave no specifics of why, other than that he had been "trashing Kamala nonstop" since he began campaigning for Trump's re-election.

“It would be naive to assume that people hadn't always tried to pay for political influence in the US and elsewhere,” says Emily Maitlis.

“But the reason why the Elon Musk thing is particularly extraordinary is because of the eye-watering sums of money that are going in.

“It's not to campaign literature, or funding a jet, it is going directly to people. He's offering a million dollars a day in terms of a cash prize if your name is on a voter registration.”

'There is no way Elon Musk is going to jail'

Will Musk face any repercussions?

US journalist and author of Autocracy Inc Anne Applebaum tells The News Agents Musk has "entered a real grey zone" with his latest financial stunt – and is likely to get away with it, for now.

"It looks like coming close to violating campaign law in the last two weeks of the campaign," she tells The News Agents.

"It looks like something that you can get away with, and maybe it's just because nobody's tried it before that that we're just discovering this."

She describes him as a businessman who doesn't want to obey regulations, and says Trump appears to be the candidate that will "allow him to do that".

"You could argue that what he's doing now is exactly what the Russians were seeking to do in 2016," Applebaum adds.

"To spew conspiracy theories and to spread rumours of all different kinds on the left, on the right, that were designed to make people misunderstand the election or misunderstand Hillary Clinton."

Emily says that having someone like Musk campaigning the way he is means Vladimir Putin or other Russian influences can focus efforts in places such as Moldova, where election interference has been alleged this week.

"Putin doesn't even have to worry about America, because it's all in house," Emily says.

"Musk's doing it for him. So job done."

Jon Sopel says nothing will happen between now and election day on 5 November.

"There is no way that the wheels of justice in America are suddenly going to spin so fast that they are going to say: 'Elon Musk, you've broken the law. You're going to prison.' It's just not going to happen," he adds.

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What's The News Agents' take?

Emily describes Musk’s lottery as him having “found the loophole” in the law, but suggests the real problem comes in him targeting only the swing states, where the result of the vote is both uncertain – and crucial.

If just a few thousand people sign up to vote because of Musk’s lottery, then it could secure a win for Trump in these states.

Pennsylvania senator Josh Shapiro has said his actions “raise serious questions” and is “deeply concerning”.

Jon says Musk is pushing what is legal in America when it comes to alleged election interference.

"It seems to fly in the face of the law of the land in America, where you can't pay someone to vote and you can't pay someone to register to vote," he says.

"This is just one of the ways in which he is trying to put his thumb on the scales firmly for Donald Trump.

"It is the most obvious, and like so much that Elon Musk does, it seems to take him up to the edge of what is legal, and maybe a bit beyond."

Listen in full on The News Agents

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