news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

musk secretly funded desantis, former trump aide

ifeng.com technology news on october 3, beijing time, elon musk, the world’s richest man, has publicly expressed his support for trump. however, according to the wall street journal, his financial support for causes related to the american republican party is much more extensive than the outside world previously knew, and it started earlier.

musk has quietly donated millions to groups associated with former trump aide stephen miller and to groups supporting florida gov. ron desantis’ presidential bid, according to people familiar with the matter. ten million dollars.

musk appears to have undergone a rapid political shift this year, and his donations have never been reported before. the donations show that musk was a major force in funding republican initiatives and candidates long before he formed a super pac to support former president trump.

miller (left) and musk

the donations have also made musk one of the largest donors to conservative causes, and combined with his large following on social media, he has become one of the most influential figures in american politics. so far, however, the winning record of the candidates he supports has been mixed at best.

over $60 million in secret donations

in the fall of 2022, musk spent more than $50 million to fund a series of advertising campaigns launched by an organization called citizens for sanity, according to information and tax filings provided by people familiar with the matter. most of the ads, which aired in key battleground states in the days leading up to the midterm elections, attacked democratic positions on contentious issues such as medical care for transgender children and illegal immigration.

"sane citizen" was incorporated in delaware in june 2022, and its directors and officers are regular employees of miller's nonprofit legal organization. miller served as a senior aide during the trump administration, the architect of trump's restrictive immigration policies and a key supporter of the administration's socially conservative initiatives.

the next year, musk donated $10 million to desantis’ presidential campaign, people familiar with the matter said.the funds were channeled through a group called faithful & strong policies, with more than half of the money ending up in never back down, a political action committee supporting desantis. back down). desantis withdrew from the presidential race in january. musk's donation to desantis' presidential campaign has not been previously reported.

as of press time, representatives for musk and desantis had not commented.

republican advisers and lawyers helped musk cover up the transactions. musk uses a limited liability company to donate to some organizations, which are well-known 501(c)(4) organizations (tax-deductible) under u.s. tax law. sometimes called "social welfare organizations" or "black money" organizations, they are not required to disclose donors and can raise unlimited amounts of money from individuals and businesses.

desantis

however, these organizations are required to report the money they donate, allowing the wall street journal to track the flow of money through a range of such organizations. people familiar with the matter said the organizations belong to musk. when discussing musk's donation to sane citizen, people involved in the transaction often communicated via the encrypted messaging app signal.

the wall street journal recently reported that musk secretly invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in ads attacking the liberal district attorney in austin, texas.despite musk's attempts to oust him, the prosecutor easily won the primary in march. most of the ads run by sensible citizen aired ahead of disappointing republican midterm election results and targeted key battleground states.

"i lost my son"

for musk, the transgender issue touches him deeply. in april 2022, his transgender daughter publicly severed ties with him. within months, he began donating to miller's organization.

musk's then-18-year-old daughter said in a name-change petition in a california court that she no longer wanted anything to do with musk "in any way, shape, or form."

according to people close to musk, musk believed that his daughter’s estrangement from him stemmed from the indoctrination of his children into “woke thinking,” which aroused his political awakening and led him to switch to the republican party.

earlier this year, musk said in an interview with psychologist jordan peterson that he signed documents approving the administration of puberty blockers to underage children during the pandemic without fully understanding the consequences. .

"as a result, i basically lost my son," he said, "so i vowed to destroy the awakened mind virus after that, and we're making some progress."

musk's daughter said on her threads account that she has no regrets about transitioning. "i know exactly what i'm doing and medical sex reassignment helps stop further irreversible damage that can occur during male puberty," she said in a post in july.

in the eyes of his daughter, musk was an absentee father (who did not accompany his children as they grew up) and mocked her femininity and gender identity. "i want to make one thing very clear," she said, "it was me who cut him off, not him who cut me off."

funds transfer

the conservative organization founded by trump's former aide miller is called "american first legal" and has similar interests as musk. the group accused the u.s. federal trade commission (ftc) of carrying out partisan retaliation against musk and x after he acquired twitter, which has been renamed x.

america first laws filed ethics and inspector general complaints with the ftc and sued the agency last year after it stepped up its demands for regulatory information from x after musk acquired it. currently, the lawsuit is still ongoing.

in 2021, miller founded america first laws to challenge biden administration initiatives that were inconsistent with trump-era priorities. miller described the nonprofit legal group as an alternative to the american civil liberties union (aclu) and challenges diversity initiatives and school district transgender policies, as well as filing complaints against businesses and school districts.

musk-funded “sane citizens” are made up of employees of america first law.sensible citizen's 2022 tax filings list its chairman as gene hamilton, who is also the executive director of america first laws. the secretary and treasurer of sensible citizen are also employees of america first law.

midterm election ads from “sane citizen”

tax filings show that "sane citizens raised more than $90 million in the second half of 2022, much of it from two other organizations that do not have to disclose donors: building america's future and the free future fund," according to people familiar with the matter. both organizations were revealed to be tied to republican consultants phil cox and generra peck.

people familiar with the matter said musk’s donations to sane citizen were routed through building america’s future.building america's future has been a pro-business organization that supports protecting companies from covid-19-related lawsuits and opposes tax increases. in 2020, building america's future listed peck as chairman and raised $300,000 in funding.

building america's future changed its board of directors around the time musk became a donor, according to 2022 tax filings. that year, it raised more than $53 million, nearly five times its 2021 fundraising amount. tax filings show building america's future transferred $43 million to "reasonable citizens." people familiar with the matter said the money came from musk.

corporate and tax documents show that in january 2022, building america’s future established a branch in delaware, the freedom future fund, and raised an additional $34 million that year. delaware corporate filings show the group transferred approximately $28 million to sane citizens before disbanding in december 2022.

in just a few months, sensible citizen has spent nearly all of its money on ads to air around the 2022 midterm elections. they accuse democrats of promoting sex-reassignment surgery on children and describe illegal immigrants as responsible for a crime wave and a drain on economic resources.

some of the ads targeted specific democratic elected officials, such as president joe biden, democratic sen. mark kelly of arizona and democratic sen. raphael warnock of georgia. other ads showed photos of other democratic officials, suggesting former house speaker nancy pelosi, senate majority leader schumer and others were complicit in enacting the policies the ads attacked.

musk has said he has historically voted for democratic leaders until recently, according to attendees.he has said in private meetings that illegal immigration is one of his main concerns about the country's trajectory. miller helped shape much of trump's first-term immigration policy agenda, which focused on building a wall on the southern border to stem the flow of migrants and a travel ban on seven mostly muslim countries.

from desantis to trump

trump is not musk’s preferred presidential candidate. in 2023, musk began to intend to support desantis's presidential campaign. that spring, tech investor david sacks arranged a meeting between musk and desantis after hosting a fundraiser at the florida governor’s home, according to people familiar with the matter.

during that late-night meeting, musk and desantis agreed on opposing the diversity, equity and inclusion initiative (dei), which runs counter to their views on elitism. musk and desantis share an "anti-woke" mentality, people familiar with the matter said. musk told desantis he was interested in supporting him financially and made a large donation.

according to people familiar with the matter, in june 2023, musk donated a total of us$10 million to the "loyal and strong policy" organization, making him one of desantis's largest financial supporters.

trump

more than half of musk’s donations were later transferred to a desantis super pac called never back down, according to people familiar with the matter. federal election commission records show that never back down received two tranches of funding totaling $5.5 million from faithful and strong policy in june 2023. some of those donations were guaranteed (or made to ensure the funds were used for specific purposes) by peck, a republican political consultant and desantis' former campaign manager.

however, desantis misjudged trump's resilience and dropped out of the presidential race before the republican primary.

this spring, musk began to fully support trump. he criticized trump in 2016, saying that trump did not seem to possess certain qualities that could represent the united states well, and in 2022 he suggested that trump should retire.

even as musk considered forming a super pac to support trump, he told close friends that he was not a big fan of trump. but in april, during a meeting at musk’s austin apartment, musk said he believed trump would be tougher on crime and government spending, two concerns about him, according to a person familiar with the matter. fields.

in may of this year, musk established the american political action committee with the goal of winning over 800,000 voters who were unwilling to vote for trump in several swing states. musk told some of the original donors that he would fund most of the organization's expenses. (author/xiao yu)

for more first-hand news, please download the phoenix news client and subscribe to phoenix technology. if you want to see in-depth reports, please search "ifeng.com technology" on wechat.