Joe Biden says that Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter owner Elon Musk’s ties to foreign countries are “worth being looked at” over national security concerns.
The president was asked about the world’s richest person’s financial and commercial connections to the likes of China and Saudi Arabia and whether he viewed the South African-born billionaire as a threat to American security.
“I think that Elon Musk’s cooperation and or technical relationships with other countries is worthy of being looked at, whether or not he is doing anything inappropriate – I’m not suggesting that, I’m suggesting it’s worth being looked at. That’s all I’ll say,” replied Mr Biden during a press conference on Wednesday.
Mr Musk closed his protracted deal to buy social media platform Twitter for $44bn last month, and advertisers have already paused their spending over fear about content moderation and the potential return of previously suspended figures such as Donald Trump.
The Tesla CEO used some of his enormous personal wealth and sold shares in the electric vehicle maker to fund the purchase, as well as securing billions of dollars in financing from groups linked to Saudi Arabia, Dubai, China and Qatar.
Tesla has also opened a massive factory in China and views it is an essential future market for the company, and critics have asked if the entrepreneur will be compromised by his business interests in the country, which has 1.4bn potential customers.
Some US politicians have taken notice, and on 31 October US Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, asked the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to investigate.
CFIUS is a federal interagency committee which looks at the national security implications of foreign investment in US Companies. The committee has the authority to CFIUS has the authority to retroactively investigate and to unwind deals if it feels it necessary.
Mr Musk has also injected himself into the Russia-Ukraine situation and was accused of parroting Kremlin talking points when he suggested on Twitter ways to end the conflict.
“It’s very clear that Elon Musk is transmitting a message for Putin,” Russia analyst Fiona Hill told Politico.
And she said of Vladimir Putin: “He uses prominent people as intermediaries to feel out the general political environment, to basically test how people are going to react to ideas.”
“It’s just fascinating, of course, that it’s Elon Musk in this instance because obviously, Elon Musk has a huge Twitter following.
“He’s got a longstanding reputation in Russia through Tesla, the SpaceX space programs and also through Starlink. He’s one of the most popular men in opinion polls in Russia. At the same time, he’s played a very important part in supporting Ukraine by providing Starlink internet systems to Ukraine, and kept telecommunications going in Ukraine, paid for in part by the U.S. government.
“Elon Musk has enormous leverage as well as incredible prominence. Putin plays the egos of big men, gives them a sense that they can play a role. But in reality, they’re just direct transmitters of messages from Vladimir Putin.”
It is not the first contentious moment between Mr Biden and Mr Musk, who has mocked the president on Twitter and called him a “damp sock puppet.”
Mr Musk has also said he is now a Republican voter and urged people to vote for the GOP head of the midterm elections.
Mr Biden has repeatedly excluded the Tesla boss from events promoting electric vehicles while including the likes of GM and Ford, with supporters of Mr Biden pointing out that both of those companies support union labour in their factories.
