Elon Musk was secretly spied on by several agencies in the Biden administration amid fears over his links to foreign powers, according to a bombshell report.
Musk was trailed by government agencies in 2022 and 2023 including Homeland Security and the Justice Department, focusing on foreign nationals visiting his properties, the report says.
Insiders told the Wall Street Journal that the investigations into Musk were primarily looking into whether he was being swayed by foreign powers ‘in Eastern Europe and elsewhere’, but never progressed to bringing charges.
Sources said the probes highlighted concerns about the number of foreign nationals in Musk’s inner circle as he was gaining influence in the US and before he began publicly supporting Donald Trump.
Last year, Musk poured upwards of $250 million into Trump’s campaign through a super PAC, the America PAC, raising questions over the unprecedented level of spending in the 2024 election.
But according to the Journal, scrutiny over Musk’s close proximity to foreign powers did not end when he began gaining favor in Trump’s orbit. Staff at the super PAC said they were disturbed with how often Musk continued to bring outsiders into sensitive issues.
Two insiders within the PAC said they were growing wary of who was joining Musk at key meetings, but did not offer details on who the people were that were coming under scrutiny.
They said his travel with foreigners was so frequent that they were forced to introduce ‘extensive vetting’ to separate the PAC’s activities and Musk’s movements, saying they were worried about their influence.
Musk, a naturalized US citizen who was born in South Africa, has a number of highly sensitive government contracts with his businesses including SpaceX, which Trump threatened to sever last week as the two men dramatically fell out.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk declined to comment, and said the White House referred the outlet to Homeland Security. The DHS and SpaceX did not immediately respond to Daily Mail’s requests for comment.
The outlet said that officials at several agencies including the FBI had been briefed on the investigations into Musk’s ties to foreign nationals, but the status of the probes is unclear.
The investigations under Biden predate Musk’s move into Trump’s orbit, which also raised concerns over conflicts of interest between his multiple businesses and proximity to power.
And even when Musk was seen favorably by the president, insiders said Musk’s proximity to a number of foreign nationals was a source of tension within Trump’s White House.
Two campaign staffers also told the outlet that they were worried about the number of foreign nationals in Musk’s inner circle when he was campaigning for Trump.
Earlier this year, concerns over Musk’s complicated business ties also led Trump to step in and prevent him from receiving a top-secret military briefing about war plans with China.
Musk notably has high-level security clearances, primarily through his role running SpaceX as he works with space programs at a number of nations around the world.
He has been said to be in contact with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, a relationship that has come under close watch amid his invasion of Ukraine.
Last year, officials told the Journal in a separate report that Putin asked Musk to turn off his Starlink internet service to Taiwan as a favor to China.
Russian forces were also reported to be buying up Starlink terminals last year to help bolster their attacks on Ukraine.