Buttigieg dismisses Musk’s Helene federal response claims

Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called out tech giant Elon Musk on Friday for making false claims about the federal government blocking flights with deliveries for Hurricane Helene victims.

Musk posted a screenshot of a conversation with a person who said the air space had been “shut down” and that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was “throttling flights.”

“The level of belligerent government incompetence is staggering!!” Musk wrote to his followers.

About an hour later, Buttigieg responded to his claims, which he noted were inaccurate.

“No one is shutting down the airspace and FAA doesn’t block legitimate rescue and recovery flights. If you’re encountering a problem give me a call,” Buttigieg stated.

Following their public conversation, Musk posted a message thanking Buttigieg for speaking with him offline.

“Thanks for the call. Hopefully, we can resolve this soon,” Musk replied vaguely, leaving people to wonder about what transpired. 

Musk is a staunch supporter of former President Trump and has poured millions into the Republican Party since 2022. After the Category 4 storm made landfall, Musk offered to provide Starlink internet service to Trump to boost his rescue efforts.

The Transportation secretary has been on the ground working to facilitate recovery efforts in Tennessee. While there he met with Gov. Bill Lee (R), who serves as chair of the Republican Governors Association. 

“I’ve seen a lot of things in the four years that I’ve had this job, but I have never seen anything like the devastation that we are seeing from around the region — parts of Tennessee, North Carolina — really six or seven states facing this,” Buttigieg said in an interview with 6 News. “And your heart goes out to so many people who are impacted and many of them are in remote areas, mountain areas, places when a bridge gets washed out you don’t have another one next to it to use, places where you count on these roads to get to where you’re going.”