Senator Richard Blumenthal, classification member of the Senate Senate Permanent Senate on Investigations, sent a letter to the Secretary of State Marco Rubio Thursday evening to require responses and documents relating to the possible purchase of the Department of State From $ 400 million of Tesla armored cybertrucks to the company Run Run of the company by Elon Musk.
“M. The double roles of Musk pose conflicts of interest so obvious that they hardly require any explanation,” wrote the Connecticut Democrat in the letter obtained by CBS News. “The intention of the Department of State D ‘Buying armored cybertrucks suggests that the conflicts of interest inherent in the installation of Mr. Musk of his friends throughout the government are not adequately managed and, in fact, increase per minute.
“In the 15 months following his release, the cybertruck was largely mocked and at least submitted Six distinct reminders. Indeed, Tesla would have had “disastrous” sales figures for the Cybertruck. It only seems that the type of reliable vehicle that the State Department would choose for this contract absent a heavy thumb on the scale. »»
Blumenthal asked for an answer before February 21. Last week, he opened a preliminary survey on Musk and his companies.
A senior administration officials affirms that the proposal of a Tesla contract with the State Department is from the Biden administration. A spokesperson for the State Department refused to comment when he is reached by CBS News, saying that they do not comment on the correspondence of the Congress.
Musk, the richest person in the world, who is also CEO of SpaceX and X (formerly Twitter), has huge government contracts and was a huge contributor In Mr. Trump’s campaign.
He heads the Ministry of Efficiency of the newly created government, or DOGEwhich, although not an official government agency, is aggressively pursuing ways to reduce the federal budget.
The Musk team left in computer systems In many agencies In search of what he calls waste, fraud and abuse. Many Proceedings have been filed contesting his authority to do so.
In October, GM Defense finished its first suburban shield – a heavy armored version of the suburbs for the Diplomatic Security Service of the State Department (DSS). The program is intended to provide armored SUVs to the DSS and more than a dozen other federal agencies, according to GM Defense. GM won the 10 -year contract up to $ 300 million in November 2023.
