Democratic PAC files FEC complaint over Trump-Musk interview

The Democratic organization End Citizens United filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Tuesday over former President Trump’s interview with tech billionaire Elon Musk.

Trump spoke with Musk on social media platform X, which Musk owns, on Monday night for roughly two hours after their conversation was delayed by technical difficulties. In its complaint on Tuesday, End Citizens United alleged that the interview was a corporate contribution that violated campaign finance laws.

“The Donald Trump-Elon Musk campaign rally hosted on X wasn’t just an incoherent diatribe of lies marred by technical difficulties, it was a blatantly illegal corporate contribution to Donald Trump’s campaign,” End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller said in a statement.

“This brazen corporate contribution undermines campaign finance laws and would set a dangerous precedent for unfettered, direct corporate engagement in campaigns. The FEC must investigate this corporate-funded campaign event and hold Trump, his campaign, and X Corp. accountable,” she added.

The complaint notes that federal campaign finance law prohibits corporations from making contributions to federal candidates, who cannot accept the contributions. It said that the “conversation” between the former president and Musk “amounted to a virtual campaign event for Donald J. Trump financed by X.”

The two men discussed a wide range of topics on the livestream, including the attempted assassination on Trump and his views on immigration and the economy. Musk has endorsed Trump in the 2024 campaign.

It also said while there is a media exemption under the law, the resources used by X “to support Trump’s campaign event is not protected by the media exemption.”

“Here—the considerable resources of X to host Trump’s campaign event, including dedicating real-time staff to address technical difficulties specifically for the campaign event and the time of its owner to participate in the event—are of significant value to the Trump Campaign,” the complaint reads.

The Hill has reached out to Trump’s campaign and X for comment.