Elon Musk, Donald Trump Meet in Florida as Former President Woos Wealthy Donors to Fund His Cash-Strapped Campaign

By Jace Dela Cruz

Mar 06, 2024 01:55 AM EST

Elon Musk, one of the world's richest men, reportedly met with former President Donald Trump on Sunday in Palm Beach, Florida, along with some unnamed wealthy Republican donors.

(Photo : NICHOLAS KAMM,BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on May 31, 2017 shows a file photo taken on January 23, 2017 showing SpaceX CEO Elon Musk listening to US President Donald Trump speak during a meeting with business leaders in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, DC, on January 23, 2017.

Elon Musk Meets Donald Trump in Florida

Three sources with knowledge of the meeting confirmed the tech billionaire's meeting with Donald Trump to The New York Times. The meeting comes as cash-strapped Trump actively seeks for big donors to help him beat President Joe Biden in the 2024 election.

The New York Times reported that it is unclear if Elon Musk has decided to contribute to Trump's presidential campaign. According to the service known as "Elon Jet," the private jets belonging to Trump and Musk were seen landing at the West Palm Beach International Airport on March 3 within minutes of one another.

"Elon Jet" utilizes publicly available data to track more than a hundred jets belonging to celebrities, politicians, and executives. Like many business leaders, The New York Times reported that Musk has donated to both Democratic and Republican candidates.

However, his donations have been fairly evenly split between the two political parties over the years, and he has not spent heavily on a presidential election.

According to CNBC, Musk did not endorse Trump in his 2016 or 2020 presidential campaigns, and they have had their share of clashes. However, the SpaceX founder's recent social media posts suggest he thinks it is vital that Biden be defeated in November.

Elon Musk Criticizes Joe Biden For 'Importing of Voters'

On Tuesday, Elon Musk criticized the Biden administration's handling of immigration issues. In a post on his X account, he accused the administration of "both importing voters and creating a national security threat from unvetted illegal immigrants."

Musk added that it "is highly probable that the groundwork is being laid for something far worse than 9/11" in "just a matter of time," as he referred to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks carried out by the Al-Qaeda on US soil that left almost 3,000 people dead.

Musk is not vocal about who will get his vote in the 2024 presidential election. But last November, he said he does not see himself voting for Joe Biden, according to Deadline.

"I think I would not vote for Biden... I am not saying I would vote for Trump but I mean... this is definitely a difficult choice here," Musk said during a 90-minute appearance at the New York Times DealBook Summit.

Musk admitted that his issue with Biden stemmed from the White House not including Tesla in an event on electric vehicles that it hosted several months after Biden took office.

The Tesla CEO recalled that Biden even added "insult to injury" by praising General Motors for leading the "electric car revolution."