The latest documents show that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has invested at least $260 million in an attempt to return Donald Trump to the White House. The massive infusion makes Musk one of the largest single political underwriters in the presidential race and underscores the world's richest man's outsized influence on this year's election.
Documents filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Thursday showed that Musk donated $238 million to America PAC, a super PAC he founded this year to work on behalf of Trump in key states.
Musk is also a financial backer of other pro-Trump groups that emerged in the final days of the election, including one that spent millions on ads defending Trump's claims on abortion. It attempts to connect Trump's views on abortion to those of late Supreme Court justice and liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The document documents that Musk donated $20.5 million to RBGPAC on October 24 through a trust named in his name. The organization was founded in mid-October, with Musk as its sole donor. Ginsburg's granddaughter Clara Spera publicly denounced the ads as misleading, calling them an "insult" to Ginsburg's legacy as a staunch defender of abortion rights.
The documents also show that Musk also donated $3 million to the super PAC MAHA Alliance. The committee ran explicit ads in key battleground states urging supporters of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to back Trump in the final stretch of the campaign. Kennedy himself ended his independent campaign this summer and endorsed Trump.
Musk has become a key supporter of Trump during the transition to a second term in the White House. Now, the president-elect has appointed Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to oversee a new Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE) aimed at cutting government spending.
On Thursday, local time, at a meeting attended by Republican members of the House and Senate, Musk and Ramaswamy listened to many suggestions on how to cut spending and government waste, including some ideas that have been circulating among conservatives for many years.
In addition to Musk, Trump has selected a number of other major donors for the incoming administration. Cantor Fitzgerald investment bank CEO Howard Lutnick has been nominated by Trump to be commerce secretary, documents filed late Thursday showed. Lutnick donated nearly $3 million in "in-kind" stock to pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc. on Oct. 21. Lutnick has previously donated $6 million.
Other Trump supporters who have gained positions in the Trump administration have also donated to MAGA, including former wrestling executive Linda McMahon, who was nominated for education secretary. McMahon donated more than $20 million to super PACs aligned with Trump. In addition to their respective positions, McMahon and Lutnick serve as co-chairs of operations for the Trump transition administration.
Other supporters selected by Trump to donate seven figures to MAGA companies include former Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler, who leads the Small Business Administration (SBA); Scott Bessent, nominated to be Treasury secretary; and two of Trump's key diplomatic posts in Europe, Arkansas investor Warren Stephens and Charles Kushner, the father-in-law of Trump's daughter Ivanka.
Other ultra-wealthy people who have donated late include venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, whose companies have invested in cryptocurrency businesses. Documents show that they donated $23 million to PAC Fairshake, a major cryptocurrency industry super, in November. Fairshake and allied groups have invested heavily in influencing congressional races. Andreessen and Horowitz also contributed to a pro-Trump super PAC.
Trump, who once believed cryptocurrencies were a scam, has become a fan of digital assets and has made clear his intention to break away from the Biden administration's aggressive regulation of the industry. This week, he announced that Paul Atkins, a cryptocurrency advocate and co-chairman of the Token Alliance, will serve as chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In addition, Trump also announced on Thursday that technology investor David Sacks will become his White House "czar", responsible for overseeing AI and digital cryptocurrency policy.