Elon Musk donated about $44 million to his pro-Donald Trump spending group during the first half of October, according to federal disclosures on Thursday as the billionaire ramped up his efforts for the Republican candidate to win in the Nov. 5 election.
The monetary contributions which was disclosed in a filing to the Federal Election Commission by Musk’s America PAC group, had come after a prior report revealed he gave the group around $75 million over three months between July and September.
The America PAC group is focused with turning out voters in the closely contested states that could majorly decide the election also it had disclosed spending more than $47 million in just the first half of October.
Trump’s campaign is mostly reliant on outside groups for canvassing voters, meaning that the super PAC founded by Musk – the world’s richest man – plays a huge role in what is expected to be a razor-thin election between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Independently, Trump’s campaign reported spending over $88 million on ads in the first half of the month, leaving him with $36 million in the bank for the final lap of campaigning, according to a separate filing to the Federal Election Commission. Note that Trump’s campaign had raised $16 million during the period.
Harris’s campaign on the other hand, has made claims to outraising and outspending Trump’s campaign in recent months. This was as they reported spending more than $130 million on ads in early October.
Harris’ campaign raised $97 million during the first half of the month and had $119 million in the bank on October 16, according to its disclosure.
Meanwhile, another conservative super PAC, the Sentinel Action Fund, had reported receiving $2.3 million from Elon Musk.
Musk’s donations to America PAC has propelled him into the exclusive club of Republican mega donors – a list that also includes notable banking heir, Timothy Mellon and casino billionaire, Miriam Adelson.
As part of its plan to garner support for Trump, America PAC has been giving away $1 million everyday to a randomly selected signatory of its online petition (which is only open to registered voters in battleground states).
However, on Wednesday, October 23, the Justice Department sent a letter to America PAC warning that the giveaways may contravene federal law, according to a CNN report.
But the petition falls into a gray area of election law, and legal experts are conflicted about whether Musk could be running afoul of legal prohibitions on paying people to register to vote.
America PAC has yet to react to the Justice Department’s letter.
