State Dept Drops Biden Plan To Purchase Armored Teslas

The State Department said Thursday that it had put plans to buy armored electric vehicles on hold after reports that the $400 million order would go to Tesla, whose chief executive, Elon Musk, is one of President Trump’s most important advisers and supporters.

The NY Times reports the agency pushed back against suggestions that the purchase was designed to benefit Mr. Musk, saying in a statement that the plans stemmed from a request by the Biden administration “to explore interest from private companies to produce armored electric vehicles.”

On Wednesday, a gleeful Rachel Madd criticized the government procurement plan to purchase "armored electric vehicles" from Tesla, owned by Elon Musk. However, the document she referenced was actually published during the Biden administration, weeks before Trump's inauguration.

Maddow displayed a 2025 State Department procurement plan that listed a $400 million purchase of "armored Teslas." The plan did not specify which Tesla model was under consideration. 

The document came back into discussion after Drop Site News and The New York Times reported that the Trump administration had issued an updated version of the document, removing Tesla's name and describing the vehicles simply as "armored electric vehicles."

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow

According to Mediaite, Maddow spent several minutes deriding the proposal as a "paperweight" and a taxpayer-funded benefit to Musk, highlighting what she saw as a conflict of interest due to Musk's significant financial support for Trump's campaign and his role in leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

However, she omitted the fact that the document was from December 2024, during Biden's term. She introduced it ambiguously as "the latest procurement forecast." 

Axios clarified on Thursday that the Biden administration had considered having private manufacturers produce electric armored vehicles in 2024, but no official solicitation was made. A State Department official also refuted the claims, stating, "No government contract has been awarded to Tesla or any other vehicle manufacturer to produce armored electric vehicles for the Department of State."

Elon Musk responded to Maddow's segment, labeling it a "hit piece" and denying any knowledge of such a contract, tweeting, "I’m pretty sure Tesla isn’t getting $400M. No one mentioned it to me, at least."

This situation would mark an unusual policy direction for the Trump administration, which had previously reversed many of Biden's electric vehicle initiatives.