by Elon Musk continued his Washington, DC tour on Friday with visits to the White House and Capitol Hill, including several powerful Republicans who are investigating the Biden administration’s efforts to influence major social media platforms, as well as conservatives’ alleged censorship from part of Big Tech.
Musk met with House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), according to a person familiar with the matter, and House Oversight and Accountability Speaker James Comer (R-Ky), according to a spokesman for the committee.
The offices of Jordan and Comer declined to share details of the meetings. The GOP tech billionaire’s Friday goodwill tour followed a Thursday meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, where Musk apparently wished the speaker a happy birthday. While it’s unclear exactly what Musk discussed with Republican lawmakers this week, it’s telling that he’s been making the rounds with the new chairmen of committees with jurisdiction over tech platforms.
Musk also met with two senior White House officials on Friday to discuss how the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Act, which together aim to invest billions in electric vehicles, could “advance electric vehicles and increased electrification more broadly,” the White House press secretary said. Karine Jean-Pierre said.
Musk met with John Podesta, the president’s senior adviser on clean energy innovation, and Mitch Landrieu, who oversees the implementation of infrastructure legislation. Reuters reported the bout first.
“The awareness raising and the meeting speak volumes about how important bipartisan legislation on infrastructure and the Inflation Reduction Act is to the president, especially with regards to electric vehicles,” said Jean-Pierre.
Musk, who heads Twitter, Tesla and SpaceX — and was formerly the world’s richest man — has sided with Republicans in recent months, backing the GOP in midterms, bringing former President Donald Trump back to the platform and backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSeantis for president — even though he called the party Democrats “division and hatred”.
Republicans – with Jordan and Comer leading the way – have set their sights on investigating the Biden administration’s alleged jaw on social media companies to censure conservatives and have praised Musk for releasing internal documents – known as the Twitter files – which reveal some of the deliberations on Twitter’s decisions to ban Trump and remove Covid misinformation, among other topics.
Comer announced plans to hold a hearing in early February where he asked former Twitter executives to discuss their removal of New York Post reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop.
However, Musk also spoke with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Thursday Jeffries’ office said the encounter was a chance encounter and not a planned event. Musk himself tweeted to speak with McCarthy and Jeffries, saying they’ve discussed “ensuring this platform is fair to both parties.”
The McCarthy and Jefferies offices did not respond to a request for comment on what additional topics were being discussed.
