Tech billionaire Elon Musk is nothing short of a cultural icon these days, thanks to his success with his companies Tesla and SpaceX, and the purchase of the social media website Twitter, which he renamed X.
Musk is even in President-elect Donald Trump’s inner circle these days after helping him along the campaign trail heading into the November Presidential election. He is set to join Trump’s administration as an efficiency expert, but it’s looking like he won’t have the same security clearance as some of his peers.
“Wow. Elon Musk’s lawyers have advised him not to seek a higher security clearance because ‘Musk would have had to answer questions from the government about his contacts with foreign nationals and drug use,'” revealed one reporter on Twitter.
Wow. Elon Musk's lawyers have advised him not to seek a higher security clearance because "Musk would have had to answer questions from the government about his contacts with foreign nationals and drug use."
He's hiding his conversations with Putin. pic.twitter.com/eZvX0O6Sfy
— Karen Piper (@PiperK) December 17, 2024
Fans reacted to the news on social media.
“Remember when they found coke at mar a largo when musk was there!! Extremely concerning,” one person wrote on Twitter.
“Honestly I think when scientist talk from different countries it shouldn’t be a big conspiracy thing. I get if it’d political but not if it’s science…he did get his rockets from Russia that’s probably why they are using that. They were their old outdated ones. To start space x,” another person added.
“The level of clearance you have dictates what foreign contacts you can have without having to watch every word you say to prevent being charged with federal crimes. He’s a businessman, not a politician,” another person wrote.
“He admitted to the conversations, though. This is strictly to avoid being deposed about them on record, a process that would undoubtedly be used to mobilize efforts to sabotage him, just more openly and forcefully than they’re doing currently,” one person wrote.
It will be interesting to see how Musk and Trump’s administration handle this.
