Despite years spent raging at “Big Tech” for engaging in what it called “election interference” and “censorship,” the Media Research Center suddenly went quiet when Elon Musk did those very things, by himself and through X/Twitter. Jorge Bonilla cried that Musk is an innocent victim of “lawfare” in an Oct. 20 post:
The most recent interview of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro on NBC’s Meet the Press makes crystal clear that the Regime’s mouthpieces believe that additional lawfare against Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk is in order, in retaliation for his having the temerity to endorse Donald Trump for the presidency of the United States.
[…]The record reflects that Elon Musk is the victim of retaliatory lawfare and had been so well before his decision to publicly endorse Donald Trump. The primary driver behind this lawfare is his decision to purchase the social media outlet formerly known as Twitter.
Bonilla’s first example of Musk’s supposed victimhood was this:
There was the Delaware case that cost him $55bn; having accepted an all-or-nothing compensation package at Tesla in 2018, and achieved targets described at the time as “laughably impossible”, a judge promptly found that the scale of his reward was “unfathomable” and should be cancelled. Shareholders, in turn, voted to restore it, kicking off an entirely new legal battle.
As we’ve noted, there are valid reasons why Musk’s compensation package was rejected by the court, largely due to the fact that the Tesla board is not independent from Musk. Bonilla didn’t mention any of that; instead, he whined that his political activities were being looked into:
Welker now calls for a fresh round of lawfare because of Musk’s political activities. Although Shapiro refuses to provide a direct answer to Welker’s calls for inquisition, he does tacitly approve this lawfare by suggesting that Musk’s activities “raise questions” and are something that “law enforcement can take a look at.” These “questions” are due to the fact that Musk is spending his own money on a Super PAC, with some of these expenditures going towards giveaways incentivizing voter registration.
Bonilla didn’t explain why Musk is suddenly above the law. He then tried to play whataboutism:
Shapiro’s concerns about the influence of “dark money” in our politics might be taken more seriously had he not posed next to Grand Dauphin Alex Soros in a manner reminiscent of a 12-point buck laying, tongue out and arrow still protruding from his belly, next to the hunter that bagged him.
Bonilla offered no evidence that Soros has violated election law, as Musk seems to have.
The next day, Curtis Houck complained that legal questions were raised about Musk’s attempt to bribe voters into voting for Musk:
With CBS Mornings Plus leading the way, the major broadcast networks spent Monday morning giddily declaring Telsa founder and X owner Elon Musk could end up indicted by Biden-Harris Justice Department for his America PAC’s daily, $1 million giveaway to registered voters in swing states “raising new legal questions” and “blow[ing] past the line” of legality.
CBS Mornings Plus co-host Adriana Diaz told viewers that Musk had drawn “major attention for a new giveaway” and “red flags” from “legal experts” with the qualifications of voters having to be registered in seven swing states and sign a “petition support[ing] the First and Second Amendments.”
Diaz brought in progressive election lawyer and CBS News contributor David Becker with the softball: “[D]oes it cross the line?”
Becker predictably said it was illegal: “I think it doesn’t just cross the line, but it very likely blows past the line. There is a statute on the books — it’s been on the books, federal law, for quite some time that says that you can’t offer or accept payment for registration or voting.”
Becker added Musk’s “pretty clear” in wanting “to influence the election,” so he better “talk to his lawyers” as, if he doesn’t, the Biden-Harris regime will “press what is a criminal violation under federal law, punishable by up to five years in jail.”
Rather than offer any evidence that backs up the legality of Musk’s giveaway, Houck attacked Becker, claiming that “not only has he worked for the far-left group People for the American Way, but he co-founded the Center for Election and Innovation Research. In 2020, the group was the recipient of $50 million in what we now infamously refer to as Zuckerbucks.” Houck offered no evidence that the “Zuckerbucks” — which Houck conveniently forgot to tell readers went toward helping put on elections during a pandemic and encouraging people to vote, not anything “infamous.”
Houck also groused that Muck’s legally dubious behavior was brought up at the Oct. 21 White House press briefing.
Despite legitimate questions about what Musk was doing, Catherine Salgado gushed over it in an Oct. 22 post:
X owner Elon Musk is offering Americans who publicly commit to supporting free speech a chance for lucrative prizes in his latest idea to encourage enthusiasm for protecting the First Amendment.
Musk explained the purpose of his petition-tied offer after leftist author Stephen King accused him of paying voters to register Republicans, noting the offer is meant to arouse support for constitutional rights among Americans of all political affiliations. People who sign Musk’s America PAC petition endorsing First and Second Amendment rights have a chance to win $1 million every day.
Musk posted, “All you need to do is sign the @America petition in support of the Constitutional rights to free speech & bear arms to have a daily chance of winning $1,000,000! You can be from any or no political party and you don’t even have to vote.”
The petition, which Musk promoted, states, “The First and Second Amendments guarantee freedom of speech and the right to bear arms.” It continued: “By signing below, I am pledging my support for the First and Second Amendments.” The petition does promise $47 for each registered voter an individual refers to sign the petition, but does not specify which political party.
Furthermore, the petition promises that one signer in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, Wisconsin, or Michigan would receive $1 million every day between Oct. 22 and Election Day on Nov. 5.
Salgado didn’t mention the legal issues that have been raised about Musk’s giveaway, even though it looks not unlike bribery.
The same day, Bill D’Agostino continued the complaints that the law might be equally enforced against Musk:
The leftwing media are calling for Elon Musk to be arrested and imprisoned for his voter registration giveaways.
Musk recently pledged to give away $1 million per day to a select few individuals who signed a petition through his political action committee, America PAC. According to the terms, the recipients, who are chosen at random, will not be required to vote for any particular candidate (or anyone at all) in order to receive the payout.
However, given Musk’s support for Trump — and the fact that giveaways have taken place exclusively at Trump rallies — the pro-Harris media unanimously have deemed his sweepstakes a campaign finance violation, and are lobbying for the Department of Justice to step in:
[…]Of course, we all know the media aren’t lobbying for Musk to be locked away because they care so deeply about election integrity. For them, this isn’t about election integrity at all; it’s about Trump. Musk is aiding the media’s most hated enemy, and for that, they want to destroy him.
D’Agostino and the rest of the MRC aren’t defending Musk because cares about “election ingegrity” — they love that he’s willing to bribe people into voting for him.
Houck whined further in a Oct. 24 post:
On Thursday, the major broadcast network morning news shows were eager to share through anonymous sources that the Joe Biden and Kamala Harris Justice Department (DOJ) has officially put Tesla founder and X owner Elon Musk on notice with the claim his daily $1 million giveaway to registered voters in seven swing states might be deemed illegal.
In turn, for the left, there’s hope alive for the DOJ to subject Musk to a criminal investigation.
CBS has been by far the most aggressive with coverage all week on this. CBS Mornings co-host Nate Burleson cued up the latest Musk segment by sharing “CBS News has confirmed a Justice Department warning to Musk’s super PAC” originally reported by CNN.
[…]Jarrett also covered much of this on NBC Nightly News, hyping that Musk has “earned the attention of the Justice Department” and touting senior Washington correspondent Hallie Jackson asking Harris about it while traveling with her campaign.
Meanwhile, CBS congressional correspondent Nikole Killion ended her CBS Evening Newspiece on the John Kelly hubbub by boasting that “CBS News has learned that the Justice Department has sent a letter to a super PAC run by one of Trump’s biggest backers, Elon Musk. The DOJ says that a recent $1 million giveaway to registered voters to sign a petition could violate federal law.”
But as we learned a few days later — but the MRC has yet to tell its readers — Musk’s giveaway was rigged. Winners were not chosen at random but, rather, chosen based on who would be effective political spokespeople, which would seem to be a sign that nobody who might vote for Kamala Harris was deliberately not chosen — and which raises further questions about the legality of Musk’s giveaway.