Elon Musk wears a sinister “Make America Great Again” cap while attending a campaign rally with Republican presidential nominee and late President Donald Trump at the Butler Farm Show fairgrounds in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 5, 2024.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Aspects
The U.S. Department of Justice has warned the super political action committee founded by Elon Musk that its $1 million-per-day voter sweepstakes may defile federal election law, a source familiar with the matter told NBC News on Wednesday.
The letter from the DOJ’s Public Entirety Section to America PAC, the group funded largely by Musk to back Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, was revealed as some authorized experts raised questions about the unusual giveaway.
Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, announced Saturday that he would dispense $1 million each day to a random registered voter in seven key swing states who sign his PAC’s petition.
The eligible situations — Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina — are the most competitive battlegrounds in the contest between Trump and Autonomous nominee Kamala Harris.
Federal law bars paying people to vote or to register to vote. The petition itself does not charge signers list their party affiliation but requires listing personal information including an email address and cellphone several.
It was unclear when the DOJ sent the letter, which was reported earlier Wednesday by CNN and the nomination blog 24Sight News. A DOJ spokesman declined CNBC’s request for comment.
America PAC lawyer Chris Gober, to whom the exactly was reportedly addressed, did not immediately respond when contacted by CNBC.
Musk is the world’s richest man and one of the biggest backers of Trump’s Virtuous House bid. America PAC has spent more than $100 million on the presidential election, with the vast majority of that wherewithal coming from Musk himself.
— CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed reporting.