Trump floats pardons to ‘protect’ Elon Musk and staffers from Democrat investigations
President Donald Trump said he would be willing to protect Elon Musk and his staff if Democrats take control of Congress after the midterm elections this week.
In an interview for the “Pod Force One” podcast published Monday, Trump said he would move to “protect” the billionaire SpaceX and Tesla CEO if Congressional investigators targeted him.
Trump also indicated that he was weighing pre-emptive pardons for his close aides and others around him should the Democrats pursue investigations, according to Axios. It is a notion that the president has floated before to keep his team from facing prosecution for actions during the first two years of his term.
The president was asked by “Pod Force One” host Miranda Devine about rumors of Musk being investigated and having his assets seized.
“It’s talk. But if it is talk, we’ll have to protect them,” Trump said on the podcast.
His comments come as Musk has spent nearly half a billion dollars against Democrats during this election cycle. Filings with the Federal Election Commission obtained by Bloomberg show that Musk has injected $77 million into his America PAC in the first half of October alone. That brings his total political donations during this election cycle to over $445 million.
Musk has also spent at least $71 million in supporting Republicans in Senate races in Ohio, Michigan, Texas, Iowa and Maine. His PAC has also spent $33.1 million on the race between Texas Democrat James Talarico and Republican Ken Paxton, Musk’s PAC has spent $33.1 million.
Trump made it clear that he will consider pardons even beyond Musk if Democrats pursue an investigation.
“I would if I needed to. Sure,” Trump told the podcast Monday.
“I would not even think about it. I’d do it,” he added.
Trump’s comments come as Democrats on the House Oversight Committee reportedly gear up to target Musk over his multi-million-dollar campaign contributions and government cost-cutting efforts, if the party takes control of Congress in Tuesday’s election.
“Our committees need to be doing oversight both into the Trump administration, but I think even more importantly or equally importantly into the corporations and ultra-rich people who have tried to corrupt our government,” Representative Greg Casar, a Texas Democrat and member of the House Oversight Committee, told Politico’s flagship newsletter Playbook last month. “And, of course, Elon Musk is on that list because it takes two to tango.”
