· Government action
Report that Musk would be briefed on China war plans prompts denials; Musk visits Pentagon
What he said or did
The New York Times reported, citing two US officials, that Musk would receive a Pentagon briefing on military plans for a possible war with China. Musk met Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon the next day (NBC News; Axios).
Background
SpaceX is a major Pentagon and NASA contractor and Musk has extensive business interests in China through Tesla, raising conflict-of-interest questions (Axios).
Official response
Trump called it such a fake story
and said China will not even be mentioned or discussed
; he also said Musk would be susceptible, perhaps
because Elon has businesses in China.
Hegseth said There was no war plans
; Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell called it 100% Fake News
(NBC News). Musk said he looked forward to the prosecutions of those at the Pentagon who are leaking maliciously false information to NYT
(Axios).
What happened next
NBC News, citing three defence officials, confirmed a scheduled briefing where China would be one topic but could not confirm it would focus on war plans.
Sources
This entry records what was publicly said or done, as reported by the sources above. Quotes are attributed to the person who made them.
