Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk is insisting a recent encounter he had with former President Donald Trump was unplanned and that the former president and presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee did not ask him for money or a loan.
Mr. Musk faced questions about his potential financial support for President Trump during a contentious interview with former CNN host Don Lemon, which aired on Monday.
Mr. Musk had already denied plans to donate to either major party candidate in a March 6 post on social media platform X after rumors of his interaction with the former president first began to emerge. Mr. Lemon pressed Mr. Musk more directly about the encounter during their interview.
The former CNN host asked Mr. Musk to describe his conversation with President Trump, to which Mr. Musk said, “I was at a breakfast at a friend’s place and Donald Trump came by, that’s it.”
Mr. Lemon again asked Mr. Musk what he discussed with the former president.
“Let’s just say he did most of the talking,” Mr. Musk said, adding that the former president said “the normal things he says.” The Tesla and SpaceX CEO added that there “was nothing particularly groundbreaking” discussed during the conversation and “I don’t recall him saying anything that he hasn’t said publicly.”
Mr. Lemon then repeatedly asked Mr. Musk whether they had discussed any campaign donations or whether the former president asked for a loan to help with legal bills arising from a range of civil and criminal litigation he’s involved in.
“Are you going to loan him money to help pay his bills?” Mr. Lemon asked.
“No,” Mr. Musk replied.
“Not at all; pay his legal bills?” Mr. Lemon reiterated.
“I’m not paying paying his legal bills in any way, shape, or form,” Mr. Musk said.
“And he did not ask you for money?” Mr. Lemon followed up.
“And he did not ask me for money,” Mr. Musk replied.
The New York Times first reported that Mr. Musk met with the former president and leading Republican candidate during a March 3 encounter in which several wealthy Republican donors were also said to be in attendance. The publication reported, citing three anonymous sources who were allegedly briefed about the interaction, that the former president was “urgently seeking a cash infusion to aid his presidential campaign.”
In his interview with Mr. Lemon, Mr. Musk made no indication that there were any additional people at the breakfast interaction besides his friend and the former president.
In the interview, Mr. Musk indicated he is also waiting until later on in the election cycle to consider donations and endorsements for either of the two major candidates but added, “I’m leaning, leaning away from Biden.”
X Cuts Ties With Lemon
Mr. Lemon’s repeated questions about Mr. Musk’s interaction with President Trump were just one portion in a wide-ranging interview spanning more than an hour.
Mr. Lemon had actually partnered with Mr. Musk’s X social media platform following his firing from CNN last year, but that business arrangement appears to have ended shortly after he wrapped up his interview with the businessman.
During their interview, Mr. Lemon said Mr. Musk posts “a lot of controversial stuff” on the X and asked if he is fully sober when he makes many of these posts. Mr. Musk said he doesn’t drink and admitted to having “one puff” of smoked marijuana with podcast host Joe Rogan in 2018, to which Mr. Lemon then brought up the fact that Mr. Musk has a prescription for Ketamine, a psychoactive anesthetic that has seen growing use as a treatment for depression.
Mr. Lemon asked Mr. Musk about his Ketamine prescription, to which Mr. Musk replied that “it’s pretty private to ask somebody about a medical prescription” but then admitted he uses it under a doctor’s care to “get out of a negative frame of mind.” Mr. Lemon then asked Mr. Musk if he ever felt like he abused his Ketamine prescription. He also asked if Mr. Musk was worried that this Ketamine use could undermine the ability of his various companies to contract with the U.S. government.
At another point in the interview, Mr. Lemon argued with Mr. Musk about whether and the degree to which Democrats may be enabling illegal immigration to improve to bolster their position in the U.S. electoral political system. Mr. Musk argued that even if illegal immigrants aren’t able to vote, their presence in the United States counts toward congressional apportionment and the electoral college vote, and suggested Democrats might lose as many as 20 congressional seats and electoral college votes if the apportionment process only included U.S. citizens as opposed to all people in the United States.
At other points in the interview, Mr. Lemon broached Mr. Musk’s views on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. Mr. Musk said if corporate hiring standards are being lowered to accommodate more workplace diversity, they could compromise their quality and safety standards, potentially risking people’s lives. Mr. Lemon repeatedly insisted “there’s no evidence” that DEI programs are resulting in declining standards, to which Mr. Musk disagreed and said, “I believe that is a false statement that you are making.”
During another debate about racism, transgenderism, and “wokeness,” Mr. Musk expressed frustration that Mr. Lemon was misrepresenting his views on those issues, saying, “You keep putting words in my mouth.”
Toward the end of the interview, Mr. Lemon also questioned Mr. Musk about the issue of censorship and content moderation on social media platforms. Mr. Lemon said Mr. Musk’s preference for less restrictive content moderation practices “has made the X less appealing to advertisers” and led some companies to pull their ads off the platform.
At multiple other points near the end of the interview, Mr. Lemon said Mr. Musk appeared upset with his lines of questioning. Mr. Lemon alleged X canceled his partnership with the platform as a result of this interview.
X has said Mr. Lemon remains welcome to post his content on the platform but said it has decided against entering “into a commercial partnership” with the former CNN host “after careful consideration” of the arrangement.
