Elon Musk is increasingly opening his wallet to support Donald Trump’s presidential bid. Not content with having already donated $75 million to his political action committee AmericaPAC, created three months ago to support the campaign of the former president of the United States, the head of Tesla and Space revealed on Saturday, October 19, another of his riches ideas.
Until November 5, the date of the elections, he promised to pay one million dollars each day to whoever signed his petition aimed at defending the first two amendments to the US Constitution, guaranteeing freedom of expression and the right to bear arms. Two political markers clearly associated with the Republican camp.
Elon Musk presented the first million-dollar check to a certain John Dreher on Saturday during a meeting organized in Pennsylvania.
“By the way, John didn’t know (that he had won a million dollars),” said the billionaire as he handed the check to the lucky signer.
As Elon Musk clarified on Sunday on his X account, only petition signers who vote in one of the key states, these territories where the outcome of the election between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will be decided, can claim the jackpot. In addition to Pennsylvania, Arizona, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Michigan, Georgia and Nevada are part of this unofficial list.
A legality that is debated
“We want to make sure that everyone in the key states knows (about the petition) and I suspect that will help us,” he added.
Already on Friday, Elon Musk announced on his social network that each registered voter in Pennsylvania who signed his petition or sponsored a new signatory would receive $100 (about 92 euros) from him. “Earn money by supporting something you’ve already done”: make money by supporting something you already believe in… Offer valid until Monday at midnight,” he warned.
These initiatives by the richest man in the world raise the question of their legality. Experts interviewed by the Wall Street Journal were divided on the matter. One of them, Richard Hansen, believes that “they may have crossed the red line” and that whether they are legal or not depends on the intention behind them.
The former president of the Federal Electoral Commission, Bradley Smith, on the contrary, considers that the link between the sums paid and the fact of registering on the electoral lists is “too tenuous” to be considered outside the law.
Source: BFM TV
