Billionaire Elon Musk poured greater than $20 million right into a mysterious tremendous PAC on the finish of the 2024 marketing campaign, a part of greater than $250 million he spent total to spice up President-elect Donald Trump, new marketing campaign finance reviews present.
Musk financed RBG PAC, in keeping with the report the group filed Thursday night time with the Federal Election Commission. The tremendous PAC, which didn’t disclose its donors earlier than the election, launched adverts contending that Trump didn’t help a federal abortion ban.
All of the cash the group pulled in — $20.5 million — got here from a single donation from the Elon Musk Revocable Trust in Austin, Texas. RBG PAC spent virtually all of its cash on digital adverts, mailers and textual content messages, in keeping with the marketing campaign finance report, which lined Oct. 17 via Nov. 25.
The group’s web site says Trump and the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg agree on the abortion subject, drawing criticism from Ginsburg’s granddaughter Clara Spara, who advised The New York Times that the message was “nothing in need of appalling.”
Trump took credit score for the Supreme Court’s overturning Roe v. Wade, a choice that got here after three Trump-appointed justices voted with the bulk to overturn the nationwide proper to an abortion. (One of these justices, Amy Coney Barrett, was appointed to exchange Ginsburg weeks earlier than the 2020 election, after Ginsburg died in mid-September.) As president, he supported a federal ban on abortion after 20 weeks.
But throughout this marketing campaign, Trump backed away from that place and as a substitute declared that he supported states’ rights to resolve abortion legal guidelines. Democrats nonetheless hit Trump exhausting on his previous positions to argue that if he have been elected, he and a Republican Congress would prohibit abortion nationwide.
The late advert blitz from RBG PAC is barely a small fraction of Musk’s whole election spending this yr: He additionally financed America PAC, an excellent PAC that reported spending $157 million supporting Trump within the presidential race.
America PAC’s newest marketing campaign finance report confirmed Musk donated $238 million to the group all through the election cycle, together with in-kind contributions. And $120 million of that got here within the remaining weeks of the race alone.
Federal disclosures present America PAC spent closely on canvassing, textual content message-based get-out-the-vote efforts, printing and postage (more than likely for unsolicited mail), in addition to digital promoting. It additionally ran a controversial money giveaway that gave out $1 million every day to somebody who signed the group’s conservative-leaning petition.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner sued Musk and America PAC in late October making an attempt to halt the giveaway, however a choose within the state didn’t conform to cease this system. The Justice Department additionally warned the PAC across the similar time that the giveaway could be unlawful, but it surely has taken no public motion on it.
America PAC’s marketing campaign finance report lists every of the $1 million prizes as funds for a “spokesperson guide.”
Musk additionally gave $3 million to the MAHA Alliance, an excellent PAC affiliated with Robert F. Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” push, in late October.
It’s potential that Musk donated extra to pro-Trump efforts, too, as political committees proceed to file fundraising reviews pegged to Thursday night time’s deadline.
Musk, the founding father of Space X and CEO of Tesla, is one in all Trump’s high donors this cycle, however he has additionally been amongst his most seen. He has been a daily presence at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida property, and by Trump’s aspect throughout the transition (to the consternation of some in Trump’s orbit).
Trump chosen Musk to advise him on slicing spending throughout the federal authorities as a co-chair of his “Department of Government Efficiency” initiative.