Elon Musk Bankrolled Right-Wing Groups Years Before Trump Endorsement

Elon Musk covertly funneled tens of millions of dollars to conservative groups and Republican campaigns years before he publicly threw his weight behind former President Donald Trump, according to The Wall Street Journal. The newspaper reported Wednesday that the tech mogul secretly gave more than $50 million to bankroll a series of ad campaigns by Citizens for Sanity, a group with ties to former Trump aide Stephen Miller, in late 2022. He also separately donated $10 million to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential bid in 2023, the Journal reported. (DeSantis mothballed his campaign in January.) The money was routed through a group called Faithful & Strong Policies, people familiar with the matter told the newspaper. All the while, Republican consultants and lawyers reportedly helped erase Musk’s tracks, discussing the contributions to Citizens for Sanity on the encrypted messaging app Signal, for instance. Musk endorsed Trump for president in July, but previous reporting has indicated that the X owner had quietly begun expressing support for the former president as early as February. Musk did not reply to the Journal’s request for comment.