The Justice Department has warned tech billionaire Elon Musk and his pro-Trump political action committee that its $1 million daily handouts to registered voters in swing states may violate federal election law, media outlets reported Wednesday.
The department’s public integrity section, which investigates potential election-related law violations, sent the letter to Musk’s America PAC "in recent days," according to CNN.
The Justice Department declined to comment in response to requests from USA TODAY. Musk did not respond to a request for comment sent to him on X, his social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Musk has defended what he said are random giveaways in a post on X, saying those eligible for the $1 million prizes "do not need to register as Republicans or vote in the Nov. 5 election.
But his PAC’s online petition offering the money says that those eligible must pledge to support the Second Amendment, a political shorthand for anti-gun control measures that are favored by Trump and opposed by his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Our goal is to get 1 million registered voters in swing states to sign in support of the Constitution, especially freedom of speech and the right to bear arms,” it says. It also provides links to online voter registration forms in the eligible states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina.
So far, Musk has not publicly addressed the potential legal problem of only opening the lottery to registered voters.
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