The Justice Department has “warned” Elon Musk’s America PAC, his pro-Trump political action committee, that it “may” be violating federal law by giving away $1 million to registered voters, according to a new report from CNN.
“A letter from the Justice Department’s public integrity section, which investigates potential election-related law violations, went to Musk’s political action committee, according to people briefed on the matter,” the outlet wrote.
Musk recently started offering $1 million per day to registered voters who sign a petition to support the First and Second Amendments. The petition targets voters in six swing states — Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin. Republican, Democratic and Independent voters are all eligible to win, Musk said, as long as they’re registered.
“The First and Second Amendments guarantee freedom of speech and the right to bear arms,” the petition says. “By signing below, I am pledging my support for the First and Second Amendments.”
America PAC’s first winner was awarded a giant lottery-style check at a Pennsylvania town hall event last weekend, and a few others have won since then.
Musk hasn’t responded publicly to CNN’s report. The pinned post on his X account is from Tuesday, highlighting a smiling North Carolina man and his family after he won a $1 million check.
Musk’s move has drawn the ire of many on the left who are accusing him of buying votes for Donald Trump, his preferred candidate in the 2024 election.
Questions about the $1 million-a-day giveaway’s legality have also been asked. U.S. election law says anyone who “pays or offers to pay or accepts payment either for registration to vote or for voting” faces up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Brad Smith, the former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, told The New York Times that Musk was in “something of a gray area,” but that it ultimately was “not that close to the line.”
“He’s not paying them to register to vote. He’s paying them to sign a petition — and he wants only people who are registered to vote to sign the petition,” Smith said. “So I think he comes out OK here.”
What is not up for debate is that Musk has been pushing hard for Trump to beat Democratic nominee Kamala Harris on Nov. 5. Musk publicly endorsed Trump after his first assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July. Since then, he’s posted on X in favor of Trump, hosted a live conversation with him on X Spaces in August, and joined Trump on stage when he returned to Butler earlier this month.
The world’s richest man has also put a lot of money into getting Trump back into the White House. Musk reported last week he’d donated $75 million to America PAC.
Vice President Harris, meanwhile, isn’t hurting for big money donors, either.
Harris has raised more than $1 billion since replacing President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee in July, and her backers include Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, former Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman.
On Tuesday, it was reported Bill Gates donated $50 million to help Harris win the election.
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