WASHINGTON − The Justice Department has warned tech billionaire Elon Musk and his pro-Trump political action committee that its $1 million daily handouts to registered voters in swing states may violate federal election law, media outlets reported Wednesday.
The department’s public integrity section, which investigates potential election-related law violations, sent the letter to Musk’s America PAC “in recent days,” according to CNN.
The Justice Department declined to comment in response to requests from USA TODAY. Musk did not respond to a request for comment sent to him on X, his social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
In recent weeks Musk has very publicly thrown his support – and his money – behind Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, adding the $1 million daily lottery last weekend.
Musk has defended what he said are random giveaways in a post on X, saying those eligible for the $1 million prizes “do not need to register as Republicans or vote in the Nov. 5 election.”
Sign-up for Your Vote: Text with the USA TODAY elections team.
But his PAC’s online petition offering the money says that those eligible must pledge to support the Second Amendment, a political shorthand for anti-gun control measures that are favored by Trump and opposed by his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Our goal is to get 1 million registered voters in swing states to sign in support of the Constitution, especially freedom of speech and the right to bear arms,” it says. It also provides links to online voter registration forms in the eligible states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina.
So far, Musk has not publicly addressed the potential legal problem of only opening the lottery to registered voters.
Robert Heberle, the head of the Justice Department’s election crimes branch, sent the “brief warning letter” to America PAC lawyer Chris Gober, saying that offering anything of value to influence voting was in violation of U.S. law barring payments to sway votes, according to the media outlet 24sight.news.
ABC News, citing a source, also said the letter came from DOJ’s election crimes branch within its public integrity section.
Musk’s online petition said Wednesday that four voters have earned the payout – the first three in Pennsylvania followed by a fourth in North Carolina. The offer expires on Election Day, Nov. 5, the PAC says.
On Monday, 11 former Republican lawmakers, Justice Department officials and advisers asked Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate the billionaire and SpaceX founder for handing out the cash prizes to swing state voters if they sign his political organization’s petition.
The letter argued that the prizes established by Musk violate laws against paying people to register to vote.
“We are aware of nothing like this in modern political history,” wrote the former Republican officials, who no longer work for the U.S. government.
