Demis Hassabis: DeepMind - AI, Superintelligence & the Future of Humanity | Lex Fridman Podcast #299
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gfr50f6ZBvo
>>>23157372
Thug in black bloc appears to swing on a police officer in Peoria, AZ and gets immediately taken down.
https://x.com/DrewHLive/status/1932526178835030507
Peaceful protestors.
https://x.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1932630983133835693
Priorities: Looting hot chips.
https://x.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1932631608068112656
Democrats are the party of domestic terrorism.
https://x.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1932623482551943313
These are the real insurrectionists, Laura Ingraham says
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOK6nAxdAy0
China, U.S. officials reach agreement for allowing rare-earth, tech trade
-The U.S. and China have reached consensus on trade, representatives from both sides said after high-level talks in London.
-The negotiators will now seek approval on the framework from the U.S. and Chinese presidents, before implementing it.
-The talks follow a breakthrough trade agreement reached in mid-May that paused new tariffs for 90 days.
The U.S. and China have reached an agreement on trade, representatives from both sides said after a second day of high-level talks in London, with the deal now awaiting a nod from the leaders of the two countries.
“We have reached a framework to implement the Geneva consensus and the call between the two presidents,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters.
That echoed comments to reporters from Li Chenggang, China’s international trade representative and a vice minister at China’s Commerce Ministry.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke by phone late last week, stabilizing what had become a fraught relationship with both countries accusing each other of violating the Geneva trade agreement. At a meeting in Switzerland in mid-May, the world’s two largest economies had agreed to a 90-day suspension of reciprocal tariffs added in April, and a rollback of certain other measures.
Lutnick said he and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will head back to Washington, D.C., to “make sure President Trump approves” the deal outline. If Xi also agrees, then “we will implement the framework,” Lutnick said.
The fact that the two sides will now brief their leaders “is a clear sign that some disagreements or unresolved details still require internal discussion,” said Jianwei Xu, senior economist at Natixis. The framework agreement signals a commitment to de-escalate and continue the dialogue process, but whether it will lead to “concrete agreements or substantive breakthroughs” continues to be uncertain, he said.
Chinese restrictions on rare-earth exports to the U.S. are a “fundamental part” of the latest agreement and the U.S. expects the issue “will be resolved in this framework implementation,” Lutnick said.
He indicated U.S. restrictions on sales of advanced tech to China in recent weeks would be rolled back as Beijing approves rare-earth exports.
“This deal is taped together by the two sides’ leverage over each other, not common principles or shared interests,” said Scott Kennedy, senior adviser and trustee chair in Chinese Business and Economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. “The chances for further stops and starts is quite high.”
While Chinese state media had been quick to announce Xi’s call with Trump last week, Beijing’s official mouthpieces were conspicuously silent more than one hour after Lutnick’s comments, except for a lower-profile mention citing Vice Commerce Minister Li as saying that the talks helped build bilateral trust.
On Tuesday local time in London, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters he was headed back to the U.S. in order to testify before Congress.
Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, the lead negotiator on trade talks with the U.S., and Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao also participated in this week’s discussions.
China’s CSI 300 index was trading slightly higher, while U.S. stock futures were down as investors awaited details on the trade framework.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/11/us-china-agree-on-framework-to-implement-geneva-trade-consensus-.html
4 Top Biden Aides To Testify On His Alleged Cognitive Decline
Four former senior aides to former President Joe Biden will testify to the House Oversight Committee about Biden’s alleged declining health while in office.
A spokesperson for Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the chair for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, confirmed to HuffPost that Neera Tanden, former director of the Domestic Policy Council, and Anthony Bernal, former senior adviser to the first lady, will testify later this month. Ashley Williams, former deputy director of Oval Office operations, and Annie Tomasini, former deputy chief of staff, will testify in July.
A spokesperson for Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last week, President Donald Trump ordered his administration to investigate his predecessor, alleging that Biden’s aides covered up his “cognitive decline” and criticizing Biden for using an autopen to sign documents, like pardons. Presidents, including Trump, have used autopens since 2011.
Biden defended himself in a statement last week.
“Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency,” Biden said. “I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.”
Comer sent a letter demanding testimony from five former Biden aides. In May, Comer urged Biden’s former doctor, Kevin O’Connor, to testify. O’Connor refused, according to Politico, and then Comer issued a subpoena to him last week.
“The American people deserve full transparency and the House Oversight Committee is conducting a thorough investigation to provide answers and accountability,” Comer said. “The cover-up of President Biden’s mental decline is one of the greatest scandals in our nation’s history. These five former senior advisors were eyewitnesses to President Biden’s condition and operations within the Biden White House. They must appear before the House Oversight Committee and provide truthful answers about President Biden’s cognitive state and who was calling the shots.”
The investigation comes after journalist Jake Tapper released his book “Original Sin,” which detailed Biden’s mental decline. According to the book, Biden would often forget people’s names, and top Democrats refused to press Biden on whether he was capable of running for a second term in 2024.
While appearing on “The View” in May with former first lady Jill Biden, Joe Biden said there is “nothing to sustain” reports that his mental capacity declined while he was president. Jill Biden added that the people who wrote “those books” weren’t in the White House with them.
Comer has also requested testimony from Michael Donilon, former senior adviser to the president, Anita Dunn, former senior adviser to the president, Ronald Klain, former chief of staff, Bruce Reed, former deputy chief of staff and Steve Ricchetti, former counselor to the president.
https://ca.style.yahoo.com/news/rubio-orders-firings-usaid-staffers-214703081.html
White House to scale back global AIDS funding: let Africa start paying for it
The White House is trying to assure House Republicans wary of plans to slash global AIDS funding that the administration will spare some prevention programs that would have been on the chopping block.
The promises come as GOP leaders race to shore up votes for a $9.4 billion spending cuts package ahead of a scheduled Thursday vote. The planned cuts to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a signature effort of former President George W. Bush that is credited with saving millions of lives, have been especially problematic for many Hill Republicans.
In recent days, White House officials have conveyed to GOP leaders that they will not only maintain life-saving treatments under PEPFAR but will also — in response to concerns from more than a dozen House Republicans — preserve some prevention programs as well, according to three people granted anonymity to discuss the private assurances.
Speaker Mike Johnson’s whip team spent Monday evening on the House floor counting votes on the overall “rescissions” package, which targets public broadcasting and broader foreign aid efforts, in addition to the hundreds of millions of dollars in overseas AIDS funding. The whip team conveyed the altered plans in conversations and text messages with lawmakers. Some Republican lawmakers have pressed the White House directly about Trump’s request to nix funding for fighting AIDS around the globe.
White House budget director Russ Vought told appropriators last week that the Trump administration wants to take “an analytical look” at “the prevention itself” and instead fund “life-saving treatment” for people with AIDS. But Vought said the White House is still planning to scale down PEPFAR and other programs.
“It is something that our budget will be very trim on,” Vought said of funding AIDS prevention work, “because we believe that many of these nonprofits are not geared towards the viewpoints of the administration. And we’re $37 trillion in debt. So at some point, the continent of Africa needs to absorb more of the burden of providing this health care.”
Lawmakers are also raising concerns about deep cuts across public media — targeting PBS and NPR, as well as their local affiliates.
Nevada Rep. Mark Amodei, a top GOP appropriator, said in a brief interview Tuesday morning that he spoke with Majority Whip Tom Emmer on the House floor Monday evening about trying to spare local PBS affiliates from deep funding cuts. Amodei said he is pressing for more information about how local affiliates get funding from the larger public media networks and if there is a way lawmakers can cut off the networks without harming the affiliates.
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/06/10/congress/pepfar-cuts-rescissions-aids-funding-00396385
Google offers buyouts to employees across the company, including Search
-Google on Tuesday offered buyouts to employees within its knowledge and information and central engineering units as well as marketing, research and communications teams, CNBC has learned.
-Some teams are also mandating office returns for remote workers who live within 50 miles of an office, Google confirmed to CNBC.
-The buyouts are part of the company’s effort to reduce headcount, which Google has continued to do in waves since laying off 12,000 employees in 2023.
on Tuesday offered buyouts to employees across several of its divisions, including those within its knowledge and information and central engineering units as well as marketing, research and communications teams, CNBC has learned.
Knowledge and information, or K&I, is the unit that houses Google’s search, ads and commerce divisions. The buyouts Tuesday are the company’s latest effort to reduce headcount, which Google has continued to do in waves since laying off 12,000 employees in 2023.
CNBC could not confirm how many employees were impacted by the latest round of buyouts. The Information reported earlier that the company offered buyouts to employees in the search and ads unit.
The “voluntary exit program” applies to U.S.-based employees, and some teams are also mandating office returns for remote workers who live within 50 miles of an office, the company confirmed. They will be expected to assume a hybrid work schedule “in order to bring folks more together in-person.”
“Earlier this year, some of our teams introduced a voluntary exit program with severance for U.S.-based Googlers, and several more are now offering the program to support our important work ahead,” Google spokesperson Courtenay Mencini wrote in an emailed statement to CNBC.
K&I has approximately 20,000 employees. The unit underwent a re-organization in October that resulted in Google executive Nick Fox taking over the helm. Fox sent out a memo on Tuesday saying that employees who are not meeting expectations may want to take the buyout and that those who are excited by their work and doing well to remain with the company.
“I want to be very clear: If you’re excited about your work, energized by the opportunity ahead, and performing well, I really (really!) hope you don’t take this! We have ambitious plans and tons to get done,” Fox wrote, according to the memo which was reviewed by CNBC. “On the other hand, this VEP offers a supportive exit path for those of you who don’t feel aligned with our strategy, don’t feel energized by your work, or are having difficulty meeting the expectations of your role.”
The buyouts come after finance chief Anat Ashkenazi in October said that one of her top priorities would be to drive more cost cutting as Google expands its spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure in 2025.
Google is also overhauling a popular internal learning platform to focus on teaching employees how to use modern AI tools in their work in a shift away from some of its nice-to-have programs to more business-essential offerings, CNBC reported Tuesday.
Google has done multiple buyout offers in a few units this year, making it a preferred strategy to reduce headcount.
“Platforms and Devices” — the company’s hardware unit that consists of 25,000 full-time employees working on Android, Chrome, ChromeOS, Google Photos, Google One and the Pixel devices — offered full-time U.S.-based employees the option to apply for a buyout in January. “People Operations,” also known as the company’s human resources department, offered voluntary buyouts in February. Google’s legal and finance teams have also announced buyouts this year, a company spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday.
As part of the People Operations buyouts, mid to senior-level employees received severances of up to 14 weeks of salary and one additional week for every full year of service.
In his Tuesday memo, Fox said he’s been “paying close attention” to the other units’ buyout offerings. Fox decided to also offer buyouts after hearing positive feedback from the other units, he wrote.
The pivot to buyouts come after Google faced backlash for laying off 6% of its workforce in January 2023. At the time, employees said their access to company systems were unexpectedly cut off. Some of them were long-time employees, stellar performers or on medical or maternity leave, CNBC reported at the time.
The broadness and abruptness of the layoff at a time when the company was still reporting stellar earnings, created a division in trust and drop in morale. Executives later acknowledged its impact on morale.
Earlier this year, some employees praised Google’s decision to offer buyouts rather than immediately laying off employees, CNBC reported at the time.
“The P&D email portends layoffs, which sucks but offering buyouts first is what we asked for, is the right thing to do,” one employee wrote in an internal forum at the time.
However, buyout announcements have often been accompanied by a demand: come back to the office. Google has demanded that some remote employees return to the office if they want to keep their jobs and avoid being part of broader cost cuts at the company, CNBC reported in April.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/10/google-buyouts-search-ads-unit.html
GM to invest $4 billion in U.S. plants amid tariffs for Mexican-produced vehicles
-GM plans to invest $4 billion in several American plants, including adding production of two popular Chevrolet vehicles that are currently built in Mexico.
-The Detroit automaker announced the plans Tuesday, as there have been few indications of progress in trade talks between the Trump administration and Mexican leaders.
-The investment and moves will likely be hailed as a win for Trump’s policies and automotive tariffs, which took effect for imported vehicles in April and many auto parts in May.
DETROIT — General Motors
plans to invest $4 billion in three American assembly plants, including moving or increasing production of two Mexican-produced vehicles to U.S. plants.
The Detroit automaker announced the plans Tuesday, as there have been few indications of progress in trade talks between the Trump administration and Mexican leaders. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump implemented 25% tariffs on imported vehicles and 25% tariffs on many auto parts imported into the U.S.
GM said the investment will add assembly of the gas-powered Chevrolet Blazer and Chevrolet Equinox that are currently produced in Mexico to two other plants in the U.S. and convert a large idled plant in Michigan — formerly expected to build all-electric trucks — to make gas-powered SUVs and trucks in 2027.
GM declined to discuss the future of the Ramos Arizpe plant that currently produces the vehicles in Mexico. A source familiar with the plans said production of the Blazer will fully move to the U.S. from Mexico, while production of the Equinox is expected to be additive to the Mexican plant, which also will produce for other markets.
The investment and moves will likely be hailed as a win for Trump’s policies and automotive tariffs, which took effect for imported vehicles in April and many auto parts in May.
“We believe the future of transportation will be driven by American innovation and manufacturing expertise,” said GM CEO Mary Barra said in a release. “Today’s announcement demonstrates our ongoing commitment to build vehicles in the U.S and to support American jobs. We’re focused on giving customers choice and offering a broad range of vehicles they love.”
The new investment, which will take place through 2027, will give GM the ability to assemble more than two million vehicles per year in the U.S., according to the automaker.
GM said its Fairfax Assembly in Kansas will add production of the gas-powered Chevrolet Equinox beginning in mid-2027. The gas-powered Chevrolet Blazer will be added to Spring Hill Assembly in Tennessee starting in 2027, according to the company.
The Detroit automaker said its 2025 capital spending guidance is unchanged at between $10 billion and $11 billion. But it expects annual capital spending in the range of between $10 billion and $12 billion through 2027.
GM has been analyzing its North American production footprint for months amid the tariffs, with executives saying they weren’t going to make any decisions — instead taking a “wait and see” approach — until they got further clarity on the regulatory environment, including the auto levies.
GM CFO Paul Jacobson said late last month during a Bernstein investor event that the tariffs wouldn’t probably be “as bad as the market reacted to.” He said potential trade deals with other countries and the automaker’s ability to mitigate some costs of the tariffs were promising signs.
The Detroit automaker previously said it expected to be able to offset between 30% and 50% of the North American tariffs without deploying any capital in the short-term.
GM CEO Mary Barra during the Bernstein event said the company is “going to see us be very resilient and, again, strengthen our business as we move forward — in some cases, seize opportunities where the vehicles are so successful.”
Those opportunities now appear to include pulling back additional spending on electric vehicles. The Orion Assembly plant in suburban Detroit, which will be retooled for gas products, was expected to be its second EV-exclusive plant in the U.S.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/10/gm-to-invest-4-billion-in-us-manufacturing-plants-amid-tariffs.html
Treasury Sec. Bessent leaves London, but U.S.-China trade talks continue
-U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he is departing ongoing trade talks with China.
-Bessent said he has to leave London to travel to Washington, D.C., to testify before Congress.
-Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will continue the negotiations with Beijing.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday he is departing ongoing trade talks with China because he has to travel to Washington, D.C., to testify before Congress the next day.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will remain in London to continue the negotiations with Beijing, which are still underway after two lengthy days of talks, Bessent said.
Lutnick said earlier that the parties were “trying to finish” by Tuesday evening.
The talks have been “productive,” Bessent said as he left the ornate Lancaster House near Buckingham Palace where the discussions are taking place. The remaining negotiators “are continuing as needed with the Chinese delegation,” he added.
The two economic superpowers are meeting for the second time in as many months as they seek to sort out key differences during a volatile moment in their ongoing trade war.
The discussions are expected to center on hashing out an agreement to ease U.S. controls on exports to China in exchange for Beijing committing to free up its export of key minerals known as rare earths.
Disputes over rare earths and export controls emerged in the weeks after trade talks in Geneva, Switzerland, led both sides to temporarily pare back most of the tariffs on each others’ goods.
The Chinese delegation included Vice Premier He Lifeng, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and top trade negotiator Li Chenggang.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/10/us-china-trade-london-bessent.html
It's not an invasion they said.
https://x.com/KarluskaP/status/1932218247325348005
Wall Street Apes
@WallStreetApes
LIVE: ICE protester in Los Angeles climbing a traffic light to raise the Mexico Flag.
This imagery is just perfect for what Democrats have done to California. It’s been completely overrun with illegals and now LA has illegals standing on traffic lights waiving the Mexico Flag.
https://x.com/WallStreetApes/status/1932297860999180599
Speaker Johnson on Newsom's handling of LA situation.
https://x.com/ABC/status/1932482450653147424
Alaskan Tribal Leaders Offer ‘Immense Gratitude’ To Trump For Killing Biden Oil Development Bans
Prominent community members of Alaska’s North Slope warmly welcomed top Trump administration officials last week while ripping into the prior administration led by former President Joe Biden.
A trio of Trump cabinet officials – Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright – traveled to northern Alaska last week to announce that Biden-era restrictions on oil development in the region would be rescinded. The cabinet officials met with North Slope residents in Utqiagvik, Alaska.
Inupiat tribal leaders and officials greeted the news enthusiastically, according to video of the meeting obtained by The Daily Wire.
“When we had a similar meeting with the former Secretary of the Interior, that rule was announced after everybody got on the plane and flew out,” said Josiah Patkotak, mayor of North Slope Borough. He added that the prior administration’s rule “was contrary to what the public comment was.”
“Here we are, full transparency from our own secretary, and I think that deserves another round of applause,” Patkotak said after Burgum announced the administration’s intent to scrap the Biden-era restrictions.
Last year, the Biden administration banned oil and gas exploration and drilling across 10.6 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska (NPRA), a reserve set aside decades ago by Congress for future oil development. The administration put tight restrictions on development on another roughly three million acres of the reserve. In total, over half of the roughly 23-million acre reserve was locked to development.
“Our ask is the same as always: that the North Slope Inupiat be central to discussions and decisions about land use in our region,” said Rex Rock, Sr., the president and CEO of the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation.
“Under the previous administration, as you heard, there were many actions that undermined our people’s self-determination, ignored our voices, and negatively impacted our communities. Their 2024 rule, Management and Protection of the National Petroleum Reserve – Alaska, was not supported by a single entity in our region – and they still chose to implement it,” he said.
“Our region opposed the 2022 NPRA integrated activity plan because it took 50% of the NPRA off the table for development, which impacts the ability of our region to provide services to our people and communities,” Rock added.
Charles Lampe, the current president of the Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation, said that under the Biden administration, the North Slope and its residents “were under attack” by environmental groups. Groups such as The Wilderness Society have long pushed for federal restrictions on Alaska’s North Slope that would ban development and industry, even in the petroleum reserve.
“On Day 1, President Trump told the Fish and Wildlife Department to deny that request. And that was such an amazing thing for us to be able to see. And we were so proud of our president then because he made sure that our ancestral homelands weren’t going to be stolen, [but] protected,” Lampe said. “So, I really need to bring back this just immense gratitude to President Trump for that action.”
“If the other guy would have won,” said Lampe, refering to former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, “there’s no doubt in my mind that our homeland would have been stolen, and there’s nothing we could have done about it.”
https://www.dailywire.com/news/alaskan-tribal-leaders-offer-immense-gratitude-to-trump-for-killing-biden-oil-development-bans
Gunther Eagleman™
@GuntherEagleman
🚨HOLY CRAP Hegseth just UNLOADED on a Democrat who tried to imply that he didn't care about our troops.
MORE OF THIS!
I stand by Pete Hegseth!
https://x.com/GuntherEagleman/status/1932460861349658771
Rapid Response 47
@RapidResponse47
.
@POTUS
on this weekend's Army 250 Celebration in D.C.: "We're going to be celebrating big on Saturday — and if there's any protester that wants to come out, they will be met with very big force."
https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1932480100026511650
Amazon plans to invest $20 billion in Pennsylvania to expand cloud computing infrastrucure and advance AI innovation
-Amazon plans to invest at least $20 billion in Pennsylvania to expand its AI infrastructure, creating 1,250 new high-skilled jobs and supporting thousands more in the AWS data center supply chain.
-Since 2010, Amazon has invested $26 billion in Pennsylvania, contributing more than $26 billion to the Commonwealth’s GDP and supporting 27,000 full and part-time jobs, as well as 37,100 indirect jobs across various facilities.
-Amazon will bring training and education programs, including data center technician programs, fiber optic fusion splicing workshops, and STEM awareness and learning opportunities for K-12 schools, to local communities.
-Amazon is launching the Amazon Northeastern Pennsylvania Community Fund with a $250,000 commitment for grants up to $10,000 supporting STEM education, sustainability and environment, digital skills, culture and heritage, health and well-being.
https://www.pa.gov/governor/newsroom/2025-press-releases/gov-announces-amazon-to-invest20b-in-palargest-capital-inves.html
U.S. Agencies Tracked Foreigners Traveling to See Musk
Homeland Security and the Justice Department kept tabs on foreign nationals visiting Musk’s properties in 2022 and 2023, reflecting concerns about influence.
Several U.S. government agencies in 2022 and 2023 tracked foreign nationals coming and going to Elon Musk’s properties, according to people familiar with the matter.
The investigation included the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department. It focused on people visiting the tech billionaire, from countries in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, who might have been trying to influence him. Until last week, Musk was one of President Trump’s closest advisers.
The investigation didn’t progress to charges and its current status couldn’t be determined. Officials at several agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had been briefed on it.
The probe, predating the current Trump administration, highlights concerns about the number of foreign nationals in Musk’s orbit. Musk runs five companies, including SpaceX, with sensitive government contracts, and has had unprecedented access to top government officials.
The current Trump administration has sounded alarms about the influence of foreigners on the country. Trump recently imposed travel bans and restrictions on more than a dozen countries and on foreign students enrolling at American universities.
Musk didn’t respond to requests for comment. A White House spokeswoman referred requests for comment to DHS and the FBI, and White House officials said they had no knowledge of any previous investigation. The FBI declined to comment.
Trump re-entered office in January after a historic comeback campaign that was buoyed by more than $250 million from Musk’s super political-action committee, mostly funded by the billionaire, and his other political giving. Musk, who was born in South Africa and is a naturalized U.S. citizen, dominated the early days of the administration as a special government employee tasked with slashing the federal budget. But his alliance with Trump imploded last week in a spectacular war of words that saw both men hurling insults and threats.
Even as they worked together over the past few months, however, there had been signs of tension over Musk’s association with foreign nationals.
Musk traveled with foreigners to such an extent that the staff of his super PAC, which he started last year to help re-elect Trump, became concerned about who was joining him at meetings and events, two people familiar with the group’s operations said.
An official at the group, called America PAC, said they had to institute extensive vetting to keep foreigners out of their efforts. Two campaign staffers also said they were worried about Musk’s coterie of foreign nationals.
Through his businesses and status as the world’s richest man, Musk had established his own relationships with heads of state around the world, sometimes in eyebrow-raising ways.
The Wall Street Journal reported in October that Musk has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022. Musk’s contacts with foreign nationals led SpaceX lawyers to advise him against seeking a higher security clearance, for fear that he might have to explain the relationships or have his clearance revoked entirely, the Journal reported.
As chief executive of SpaceX, Musk has top-secret security clearance, which gives him access to some national-security secrets. SpaceX, which Musk founded in 2002, has worked with national-security agencies since its early days.
https://archive.is/eza49#selection-2823.0-2899.228
AOC looks like a retard when dancing but she's wearing a red dress if you're into vile witches.
https://x.com/Bubblebathgirl/status/1932243284572696770
U.S. Agencies Tracked Foreigners Traveling to See Musk
Homeland Security and the Justice Department kept tabs on foreign nationals visiting Musk’s properties in 2022 and 2023, reflecting concerns about influence.
Several U.S. government agencies in 2022 and 2023 tracked foreign nationals coming and going to Elon Musk’s properties, according to people familiar with the matter.
The investigation included the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department. It focused on people visiting the tech billionaire, from countries in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, who might have been trying to influence him. Until last week, Musk was one of President Trump’s closest advisers.
The investigation didn’t progress to charges and its current status couldn’t be determined. Officials at several agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had been briefed on it.
The probe, predating the current Trump administration, highlights concerns about the number of foreign nationals in Musk’s orbit. Musk runs five companies, including SpaceX, with sensitive government contracts, and has had unprecedented access to top government officials.
The current Trump administration has sounded alarms about the influence of foreigners on the country. Trump recently imposed travel bans and restrictions on more than a dozen countries and on foreign students enrolling at American universities.
Musk didn’t respond to requests for comment. A White House spokeswoman referred requests for comment to DHS and the FBI, and White House officials said they had no knowledge of any previous investigation. The FBI declined to comment.
Trump re-entered office in January after a historic comeback campaign that was buoyed by more than $250 million from Musk’s super political-action committee, mostly funded by the billionaire, and his other political giving. Musk, who was born in South Africa and is a naturalized U.S. citizen, dominated the early days of the administration as a special government employee tasked with slashing the federal budget. But his alliance with Trump imploded last week in a spectacular war of words that saw both men hurling insults and threats.
Even as they worked together over the past few months, however, there had been signs of tension over Musk’s association with foreign nationals.
Musk traveled with foreigners to such an extent that the staff of his super PAC, which he started last year to help re-elect Trump, became concerned about who was joining him at meetings and events, two people familiar with the group’s operations said.
An official at the group, called America PAC, said they had to institute extensive vetting to keep foreigners out of their efforts. Two campaign staffers also said they were worried about Musk’s coterie of foreign nationals.
Through his businesses and status as the world’s richest man, Musk had established his own relationships with heads of state around the world, sometimes in eyebrow-raising ways.
The Wall Street Journal reported in October that Musk has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022. Musk’s contacts with foreign nationals led SpaceX lawyers to advise him against seeking a higher security clearance, for fear that he might have to explain the relationships or have his clearance revoked entirely, the Journal reported.
As chief executive of SpaceX, Musk has top-secret security clearance, which gives him access to some national-security secrets. SpaceX, which Musk founded in 2002, has worked with national-security agencies since its early days.
https://archive.is/eza49#selection-2823.0-2899.228