{"id":1442135,"date":"2022-04-17T08:01:10","date_gmt":"2022-04-17T12:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1442135"},"modified":"2022-04-17T08:01:53","modified_gmt":"2022-04-17T12:01:53","slug":"elon-musk-faces-federal-heat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/elon-musk-faces-federal-heat\/","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk Faces Federal Heat"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">10<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Felon-musk-faces-federal-heat%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1442135&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<div class=\"inline-module inline-module--columnist inline-module--author\">\n<div class=\"inline-module--author__img\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Now I get why he\u2019s called \u201cCrazy Elon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bankers who cover Elon Musk \u2014 the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/04\/09\/spacex-capsule-docks-at-iss-with-an-all-private-astronaut-crew\/\">electric-car, space-travel<\/a> and now, possibly, social-media impresario \u2014 tell me his own board members came up with that name a few years ago, long before he made a seemingly improbable <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/04\/14\/elon-musk-offers-to-buy-twitter-for-41-billion\/\">$43 billion bid for Twitter.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It was around the time he was juggling about 10 things at once, including opening new factories, fending off short sellers and regulators, and trying to keep his EV car company Tesla <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2020\/11\/04\/elon-musk-says-tesla-was-month-away-from-bankruptcy-in-2018\/\">out of bankruptcy.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>As it turned out, Musk was going crazy in a visionary way. His bid to buy Twitter, the most powerful media platform in existence today, and take on the progressive <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2020\/10\/28\/twitter-is-running-a-blackmail-operation-cooperate-or-no-traffic-for-you\/\">social-media establishment<\/a> will only enhance his reputation among his many admirers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s hard to believe that just a few years ago, Musk was sleeping on the Tesla factory floor, lashing out at critics on social media, and getting heat from the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/03\/29\/elon-musk-likens-himself-to-eminem-in-legal-battle-with-sec\/\">Securities and Exchange Commission<\/a> for tweeting \u2014 falsely, it charged \u2014 that he was taking Tesla private at $420 a share.<\/p>\n<p>It was a huge premium on Tesla\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/02\/17\/elon-musk-lawyer-sec-gone-rogue-stiffed-tesla-investors-40m\/\">then-stock price, <\/a>which was sagging because investors really did think Musk was certifiable and his company was producing fugazy cars and fugazy revenues. To get out of the jam, Elon had to pay some money to the feds and promise not to tweet too much. Meanwhile, Tesla just barely managed to skirt bankruptcy and Elon appeared to just barely have kept himself out <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/04\/14\/mark-cuban-elon-musk-is-f-king-with-the-sec-with-twitter-buy-offer\/\">of the loony bin.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>What happened next was remarkable in American entrepreneurial history: Musk, for all his weirdness, confounded the critics. He got his factories in order, built more EVs and turned Tesla profitable. In between it all, he put <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/04\/08\/private-astronaut-team-strapped-in-for-space-station-launch\/\">rockets into space.<\/a> He smoked a joint <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2018\/09\/07\/elon-musk-smokes-weed-on-joe-rogan-podcast\/\">with Joe Rogan,<\/a> which nearly got his US security clearance revoked. But it made him a legend with the cannabis crowd, just as his dabbles in digital currencies that made him a hero with the crypto peeps.<\/p>\n<h2>He\u2019s still got his fans<\/h2>\n<p>He also went on to create a satellite Internet venture, and a company that wants to create super-speed <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/02\/18\/elon-musks-boring-company-plans-tunnels-in-texas-miami\/\">transportation through tunnels<\/a> so people can travel at a fraction of the time and cost, and I\u2019m sure I\u2019m leaving a few things out.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Twitter-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Twitter-2.jpg\" alt=\"In this file photo taken on October 26, 2020 shows the logo of US social network Twitter displayed on the screen of a smartphone and a tablet in Toulouse, southern France.\" class=\"wp-image-21931242\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Twitter-2.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Twitter-2.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Twitter-2.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=512 512w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Elon Musk has made a $43 million bid to take over Twitter.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">LIONEL BONAVENTURE\/AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Meanwhile, his tweets that got him in trouble now brought him new fans, often from the right, because he remade himself once again from tech visionary into a free-speech advocate. He called out Twitter for <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/11\/28\/media-helped-hide-the-real-joe-biden-by-censoring-hunter-stories-devine\/\">censoring conservatives.<\/a> He even took on progressives who believed his EVs will save the world. Musk wasn\u2019t afraid to admit that we need to drill and produce <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/04\/15\/white-house-restarting-federal-oil-gas-lease-sales-next-week\/\">those gas guzzlers<\/a> to help the working class, who can\u2019t afford his stuff, get to work each day.<\/p>\n<p>He angered the left, continued to <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/04\/14\/price-of-elon-musks-twitter-bid-is-yet-another-pot-joke\/\">annoy the SEC<\/a> (he never conformed to their tweeting rules) but built a brand as an iconoclast. Tesla\u2019s stock soared. Musk became a billionaire more than 100 times over.<\/p>\n<p>If he was spread too thin, the market didn\u2019t seem to care. Investors now bet that he might be crazy but he also might just save the world from climate disaster and a lot more.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Proof that Crazy Elon had suddenly become a cultural icon was his appearance on <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/05\/09\/billionaire-elon-a-musk-see-on-mediocre-episode-of-snl\/\">\u201cSaturday Night Live.\u201d<\/a> It was a bit awkward, and at times a little weird; his South African accent often didn\u2019t translate well into comedy. But he came off as self-deprecating, sometimes funny, and oddly relatable.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/SpaceX.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/SpaceX.jpg\" alt=\"A SpaceX&#039;s Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Crew Dragon spacecraft is launched at NASA&#039;s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the United States, April 8, 2022.\" class=\"wp-image-21931241\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/SpaceX.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/SpaceX.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/SpaceX.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=512 512w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>While Elon Musk tries to buy Twitter, his SpaceX venture is getting private astronauts to the atmosphere.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Joel Kowsky\/Nasa\/Xinhua via ZUMA Press<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Target on his back<\/h2>\n<p>Maybe that\u2019s why, on the eve of Musk doing something even more outlandishly nonconformist (and maybe even crazier in his <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/04\/14\/tom-brady-wants-a-favor-from-elon-musk-if-he-buys-twitter\/\">bid to buy Twitter,<\/a> the seemingly ubiquitous social-media outfit that he calls the world\u2019s \u201cde facto town square\u201d), the government overseers let it leak to me and Fox Business\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/EleanorTerrett\/status\/1515001545334665218?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Eleanor Terrett<\/a> that Musk is in their crosshairs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>His old pals at the Securities and Exchange Commission and now the Justice Department have launched a joint investigation into <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/04\/15\/elon-musk-considers-bringing-in-partners-on-twitter-bid-sources\/\">Musk\u2019s business activities,<\/a> a source close to the matter says.<\/p>\n<p>Exactly what they\u2019re looking at isn\u2019t known, but here are some clues: Lawyers say he didn\u2019t file the right paperwork when accumulating his <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/04\/14\/elon-musks-twitter-takeover-offer-leaves-wall-street-skeptical\/\">9%+ stake in Twitter;<\/a> he may not have come clean early enough on his intentions to try taking over the entire company. (Remember how for a hot minute he was on the Twitter board, which would have prevented a takeover?)<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Tesla2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Tesla2.jpg\" alt=\"Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks at the \" Cyber Rodeo \/><\/a><figcaption>After nearly tumbling Tesla into bankruptcy in 2018, Elon Musk is now riding high after debuting a $1.1 billion manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas on April 7, 2022.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Jay Janner \/Austin American-Statesman via AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>He appears to continue to flout his settlement with the SEC over his tweeting and there have always been questions over the accuracy of his disclosures about <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/02\/24\/elon-musk-doubles-down-on-china-with-new-tesla-plant\/\">EV production rates.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>These might make for a case against Musk. But he isn\u2019t acting like a guy worried he\u2019s guilty of something. He keeps taking on the woke <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/02\/19\/larry-fink-as-wall-st-dr-evil-woke-within-reason\/\">corporate status quo<\/a> (and the SEC, which he called \u201cbastards\u201d last week), something that I understand has riled up Dems who at least for now control Congress and thus the various federal regulatory agencies.<\/p>\n<p>Are they looking to derail Elon from owning maybe the most important social-media platform on the planet? Are they afraid he might reinstate <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/04\/14\/trump-says-he-wont-return-to-twitter-if-elon-musk-buys-it\/\">Donald Trump on Twitter<\/a>, the politician the left hates even more than <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/04\/15\/putins-also-destroying-ukraines-history\/\">Vladimir Putin<\/a>? Are they worried conservative voices might get equal billing as those on the left with Elon running the show?<\/p>\n<p>You know the answers to those questions, so you shouldn\u2019t be surprised Crazy Elon is in the crosshairs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Now I get why he\u2019s called \u201cCrazy Elon.\u201d Bankers who cover Elon Musk \u2014 the electric-car, space-travel and now, possibly, social-media impresario \u2014 tell<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":498,"featured_media":1443772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1442135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1442135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/498"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1442135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1442135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1443772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1442135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1442135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1442135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}