Top senators are calling for a federal investigation into Musk’s alleged contact with Putin

Two top Senate Democrats have called for a federal investigation into Elon Musk’s reported contacts with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his top aides.

The senators urged the Pentagon and Justice Department to determine whether the talks, which the Kremlin has denied, should force a review of the federal government’s contracts with Musk’s company SpaceX.

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that the world’s richest person has held “several high-level talks” with Putin since 2022, while also maintaining contact with other top Russian officials.

Musk wrote on his X platform on Friday that he is “going to find out who is making these accusations and quash them.”

In another post, he labeled the two Democrats — Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a senior Democrat on the Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees — as “puppets” and ‘knuckleheads’. “.

The pair of Democrats sent one letter on Friday to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Department of Defense Inspector General Robert Storch asking “serious questions about Mr. Musk’s reliability as a government contractor and security clearance holder.”

Donald Trump’s ally currently benefits from billions of dollars in US defense and intelligence contracts, and also claims to hold a top-secret security clearance.

“Russia’s space ambitions pose a direct threat to U.S. national security,” Reed and Shaheen write, pointing to reports earlier this year that the U.S. adversary has deployed a counter-space weapon that could potentially be capable of destroying other satellites at low speeds to attack. orbit around the earth.

The senators note that Musk, unlike others with high-level security clearances, does not report his contacts with foreign government officials.

They add that the billionaire’s communications with Putin’s deputy chief of staff, Sergei Kiriyenko, stem from a Justice Department finding that Kiriyenko and other top officials were involved in an effort to spread Kremlin propaganda on social media, including on X (formerly owned by Musk) Twitter) platform.

“For these reasons, we are calling for an immediate investigation into whether Musk’s relationship with multiple high-level Russian officials warrants an investigation and a decision by the senior Department of Defense official on whether SpaceX has confirmed Musk’s involvement in the current or future US administration. contracts,” Reed and Shaheen write.

Musk, who backed Trump’s successful 2024 re-election bid with campaign appearances and millions of dollars in donations, was picked by the president-elect earlier this week to lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency.”

But he has also participated in the new president’s diplomatic efforts.

Musk has held phone conversations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in the past week.

The BBC’s American partner, CBS News, also reported this on Friday visited the residence of the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations in New York. Washington does not maintain diplomatic relations with Tehran.