WASHINGTON: Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and an avid supporter of Donald Trump, was plunged into new controversy on Friday after a report that he is in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Wall Street Journal story, which has been denied by the Kremlin, comes days after the US Justice Department sent a letter to Musk’s America PAC warning that its $1 million giveaways to registered voters may violate federal law.

Musk, 53, the chief executive of SpaceX and Tesla and the owner of X, has thrown his millions, time and considerable influence into sending the former Republican president back to the White House since endorsing him in July.

Musk has reportedly donated $118 million to his personal pro-Trump political action committee, an organisation which collects funds for elections.

He’s also appeared on stage with Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania and hosted a series of town halls on his own in the battleground state seen as critical in the November election.

Musk, who supported Barack Obama but has become increasingly conservative in recent years, peppers his 202 million followers on X daily with messages championing Trump and denigrating his opponent, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.

Many of the posts by the South African-born billionaire decry the number of migrants crossing into the United States from Mexico or echo discredited conspiracy theories.

Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz has accused Musk of spending millions to help Trump “buy an election” and jokingly suggested that the billionaire — not J.D. Vance — is Trump’s real running mate.

Trump has pledged if he wins the election to tap Musk to head a “government efficiency commission” tasked with slashing bureaucracy and waste.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2024