The president of the United States, Donald Trump, denied Friday reports that Elon Musk would see US high secret plans for a possible war with China, saying that the links of his ally multimillionaire with Beijing raised possible conflicts of interest.
The rare recognition of Musk’s duel roles in business and the government occurred when Trump rejected the reports of the media that said the owner of the Space X and Tesla would receive information about the Pentagon about his Chinese strategy.
The reports fueled the concern for the influence of the richest man in the world in the White House as an unique, South African, who has become Trump’s closest advisor.
Musk visited the Pentagon on Friday, but Trump insisted that he was “there for Doge, not for China”, referring to the Musk department for government efficiency, which is expanding its cost impulse to the defense department.
“I don’t want to show it to anyone. You are talking about a possible war with China,” Trump told journalists in the Oval office when asked about the possibility of sharing the War Plan with Musk. “You would certainly not show it to a businessman … Elon has business in China and perhaps he would be susceptible to that.”
Musk Tesla’s car manufacturer produces some of its electric vehicles in a large gigafactory in Shanghai and is trying to compete with fast -growing Chinese manufacturers.
The businessman has become a cult figure in China and has encouraged ties with his leadership. It has also caused controversy by suggesting that Taiwan’s self -managed island should become part of China.
In the United States, Trump has repeatedly insisted that Musk has no conflicts of interest, even when Musk leads a tough review of government agencies in the United States that in some cases their companies have deals.
Musk’s Spacex has defense contracts of the United States government worth billions of dollars, even for the launch of rockets and for the use of the Starlink satellite service.
Trump has recently erased the line by promoting Tesla cars after the vandals attacks on Musk’s links with the White House. Trump suggested on Friday that such vandals could be deported to prisons in El Salvador.
‘People’s enemy’
According The New York TimesMusk had received an informative session on Friday about US military plans in case of a war with China, including maritime tactics and guidance plans.
The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post The apparent information session was also reported.
The times He later informed that the meeting in the Safe Room of the Pentagon’s “tank” had been canceled after his story was published on Thursday night.
Trump, who launched a series of attacks against journalists and media in recent days, furiously lashed out at the press about history.
“They are really the enemy of the people,” Trump said about The New York Times.
The Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, said that Musk’s “informal meeting” in the Pentagon would focus on innovation and efficiency, not on “China War Plans of High Secret.”
“He NYT I should immediately retract this false narrative, ”said Hegseth in X.
The tensions have shot between Washington and Beijing since the inauguration of Trump, since the two largest economies in the world impose a large number of tariffs on imports of the other.
Meanwhile, the Democrats have criticized Trump for delivering the administration policy to Musk even though he did not undergo background verifications and companies directed with government contracts.
The musk joined the choir of the criticism of The timeslabeling it as “pure propaganda” on its social media platform X.
In a separate publication that responded to Hegseth, he said that Friday’s meeting would not be his first visit to the United States Department of Defense.
“I’ve been in the Pentagon many times for many years. It’s not my first time in the building,” he wrote.
