{"id":2357764,"date":"2024-10-21T23:23:01","date_gmt":"2024-10-22T03:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/eleven-former-republican-officials-urge-merrick-garland-to-investigate-elon-musk-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2024-10-21T23:25:57","modified_gmt":"2024-10-22T03:25:57","slug":"eleven-former-republican-officials-urge-merrick-garland-to-investigate-elon-musk-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/eleven-former-republican-officials-urge-merrick-garland-to-investigate-elon-musk-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Eleven former Republican officials urge Merrick Garland to investigate Elon Musk &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"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\">28<\/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%2Feleven-former-republican-officials-urge-merrick-garland-to-investigate-elon-musk-washington-examiner%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=2357764&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--><p>Eleven former Republican\u2062 officials have written a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, \u2064urging him to investigate Tesla\u2064 CEO Elon \u200cMusk for his actions involving America PAC. The letter, which \u2062was obtained by the Washington\u200b Post, \u200bclaims that Musk&#8217;s initiative to pay registered voters who sign a\u200b petition defending the First \u200cand Second Amendments amounts\u200b to bribery.\u2063 The\u200b officials expressed\u200c concerns that \u2064the payments are effectively incentivizing voter registration,\u200c as the <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">petitioning process includes information<\/a> about how \u200bto register to vote and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/interview-actor-greg-ellis-on-family-law-bias-against-fathers-societys-devaluation-of-men-and-a-solution\/\" title=\"INTERVIEW: Actor Greg Ellis On Family Law Bias Against Fathers, Society\u2019s Devaluation Of Men, And A Solution\">offers financial incentives<\/a>\u2064 for\u2063 doing so.\u2063 They noted that the substance of \u200dthe petition \u200dis vague, questioning its genuine\u2063 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/psaki-dodges-question-on-federal-funding-for-abortions\/\" title=\"Psaki dodges question on federal funding for abortions\">public support<\/a> purpose, and\u2064 criticized the lack of transparency regarding the identities\u2062 and\u200d numbers of those signing \u2064it. In an attempt to\u200d increase participation, Musk \u2062has reportedly enhanced\u2063 the offer to include a lottery awarding $1 million daily \u2064to participants until the election.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Eleven former Republican officials urge Merrick Garland to investigate Elon Musk<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1841796\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Eleven former Republican officials signed a letter urging Attorney General <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/merrick-garland\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Merrick Garland\">Merrick Garland<\/a> to investigate Tesla CEO <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/elon-musk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Elon Musk\">Elon Musk<\/a> over the actions of his America PAC.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/documents\/8f24d8e7-9f44-4ea3-a33d-b7de2187f438.pdf?itid=lk_inline_manual_2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"letter\">letter<\/a>, obtained by the <em>Washington Post<\/em>, argued that Musk&rsquo;s latest move to pay registered voters who sign a petition in defense of the First and Second Amendments constitutes bribery.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We urge you to investigate whether America PAC&rsquo;s payments are prohibited payments for voter<br \/>registration. We recognize that they are framed as payments for signing a petition, or for<br \/>referring voters who sign,&rdquo; the letter read. &ldquo;But many of the payments are restricted to registered voters, so anyone who wishes to get paid must first register. To facilitate that, the petition webpage<br \/>includes links to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/can-christian-voter-outreach-beat-democrats-election-machine\/\" title=\"Can Christian Voter Outreach Beat Democrats&#039; Election Machine?\">voter registration websites<\/a> for each of the seven states, directly alongside the<br \/>offer of payment. And the signing and referral payments are available only until October 21, the<br \/>registration cutoff date in Pennsylvania.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The signatories argued that the petition was too &ldquo;bland,&rdquo; indicating that something was amiss.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Moreover, while the usual purpose of a petition is to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-private-schools-have-gone-woke\/\" title=\"Why Private Schools Have Gone Woke\">demonstrate public support<\/a> for some<br \/>proposition, America PAC&rsquo;s petition does not appear to serve that purpose. The substance of the<br \/>petition is the bland statement, &lsquo;I am pledging my support for the First and Second<br \/>Amendments,&#8217;&rdquo; they wrote. &ldquo;And, critically, America PAC has not made the names or numbers of petition signers public&ndash;so the petition provides no demonstration of public support for even that<br \/>statement.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>After initially offering $47 for every referral resulting in a signature, Musk upped the ante over the weekend by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/presidential\/3196144\/elon-musk-1-million-dollar-givewaway-swing-state-voters\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"announcing\">announcing<\/a> a lottery awarding of $1 million per day until the election to signatories.<\/p>\n<p>Nearly all of the signatories of the letter calling for Musk&rsquo;s investigation are already known as vocal opponents of Trump, including former special adviser to Vice President Mike Pence Olivia Troye; George H.W. Bush Deputy Attorney General <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/author\/donald-ayer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Dan Ayer\">Dan Ayer<\/a>; and former Rep. Claudine Schneider.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One of the signatories, Richard Painter, Chief Ethics Lawyer to President George W. Bush, wrote a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/American-Nero-Matters-Donald-Trump\/dp\/1948836017\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"book\">book<\/a> titled, <em>American Nero: The History of the Destruction of the Rule of Law, and Why Trump Is the Worst Offender<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The group isn&rsquo;t the first to cast doubt on the legality of Musk&rsquo;s move; Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) cast doubt over the legality of Musk&rsquo;s giveaway in Pennsylvania, adding that it is &ldquo;something that law enforcement could take a look at.&rdquo; He clarified that while Musk is free to vocalize his support for Trump, the manner of his financial investment into ensuring Trump&rsquo;s victory &ldquo;raises serious questions.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1841796\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1841796\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eleven ex-Republican officials call for an investigation into Elon Musk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2653,"featured_media":2357765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/20241020-Elon-Musk-03.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[32192,3976,32465,43476,32076],"class_list":["post-2357764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-elon-musk","tag-investigation","tag-merrick-garland","tag-republican-officials","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/20241020-Elon-Musk-03.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2357764","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\/2653"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2357764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2357764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2357765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2357764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2357764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2357764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}