Democratic senators push for probe into Musk's calls to Russia - Reuters

Reuters notes that Musk, appointed to a government position by newly elected US President Donald Trump, controls billion-dollar contracts with the Pentagon and intelligence agencies as CEO of aerospace company SpaceX.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a senior Foreign Relations Committee member, and Senate Armed Services Committee chair Jack Reed informed US Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Pentagon's Inspector General that Musk’s involvement in these SpaceX programs should be investigated for potential revocation of his rights and exclusion after recent reports in October about his conversations with Russian officials. Revocation of rights refers to exclusion from certain contracts and privileges.

"These relationships between a well-known US adversary and Mr. Musk, a beneficiary of billions of dollars in US government funding, pose serious questions regarding Mr. Musk's reliability as a government contractor and a clearance holder," said the joint statement from the Democratic senators.

However, Shaheen and Reed's call for a federal investigation is an unlikely attempt as Trump prepares to return to the White House with Musk's support. Musk spent over $119 million on the Republican’s election campaign and was appointed to head the future US Department of Government Efficiency.

Reuters also added that several Democratic lawmakers publicly called for an investigation into Musk's ties to Moscow after The Wall Street Journal reported last month on an alleged contact. However, no letter to US officials who could initiate such an investigation had been previously reported.

Reports on Russian contacts

Reuters reminded that reports of Musk's contacts with Russian officials surfaced in 2022. At that time, political scientist Ian Bremmer claimed that Musk told him he had spoken with Putin about the war in Ukraine and Russia's red line for the use of nuclear weapons. Musk publicly denied Bremmer's statement, saying he had only spoken with Putin 18 months ago, and the conversation was about space.

Last month, The Washington Post, citing unnamed US, European, and Russian officials, reported that the billionaire had several conversations with Russian officials, including Putin and his first deputy head of the administration, Sergei Kiriyenko.

Shaheen and Reed wrote in a letter on Friday that they were deeply concerned about Musk's alleged communication with Kiriyenko.

"Communications between Russian government officials and any individual with a security clearance have the potential to put our security at risk," they added.

Earlier, RBC-Ukraine reported that after the US election, American billionaire Elon Musk began to irritate the inner circle of the elected president, Donald Trump. The reason for this is that Musk allegedly behaves like a co-president.