Elon Musk has waded into Donald Trump’s legal case against Britain’s Labour Party as he declared ‘war’ on the party.
Yesterday, lawyers for the Republican presidential candidate filed a complaint to the Federal Election Commission, accusing Labour of making ‘illegal foreign campaign contributions’ which was ‘accepted’ by Kamala Harris’s campaign.
Rules about foreigners working in US elections are strict and state that they must volunteer and cannot receive any payment.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has this morning insisted that no rules were broken because Labour activists were campaigning ‘in their spare time’ and said the incident won’t affect his working relationship with Trump.
Trump supporter and billionaire Musk has voiced his opinion on the lawsuit and also declared ‘war’ against the British Labour Party.
Elon Musk campaigning with Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. Elon Musk has waded into Donald Trump ‘s legal case against Britain’s Labour Party after Trump accused ‘far left’ activists of ‘blatant foreign interference’ in the upcoming election
Trump on the Republican campaign trail in North Carolina. Yesterday, lawyers for the Republican presidential candidate filed a complaint to the Federal Election Commission, accusing Labour of making ‘illegal foreign campaign contributions’ which was ‘accepted’ by Kamala Harris ‘s campaign
Rules about foreigners working in US elections are strict and state that they must volunteer and cannot receive any payment. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (pictured) has insisted that no rules have been broken because Labour activists were campaigning ‘in their spare time’
Trump supporter and billionaire Musk has voiced his opinion on the international incident by declaring ‘war’ against the party
Musk made the post on X in response to an unverified post allegeding that Labour was trying to ‘kill Musk’s Twitter‘ by supposedly harassing advertisers. He responded: ‘This is war.’
The CEO of the Musk-owned social media platform also voiced her opinion on the allegation. In a repost of the same post Linda Yaccarino said: ‘This is unconscionable and wrong. Evil thrives in darkness. We will continue to expose those seeking to silence our users.’
She ended the post in all block capitals: ‘NOW IS THE TIME TO PROTECT FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND SAVE DEMOCRACY!’
Musk also reposted a copy of Trump’s original release about the filed complaint – in which it was claimed Labour’s ‘far left’ policies had ‘inspired Kamala’s dangerously liberal policies and rhetoric.’ Musk response to the complaint was simply ‘Good.’
Former President Trump’s campaign have cited a now-deleted post on LinkedIn by Sofia Patel, Labour’s head of operations, which said 100 current and former staffers were going to be volunteering in battleground states such as North Carolina and Nevada.
Musk was also one of the first to join the Republican outrage surrounding British Labour activists volunteering in the US.
When the story first broke earlier this month, Musk responded by saying the move ‘is illegal’.
But his reply was quickly met with a humiliating community note stating that the Federal Election Commission (FEC) explicitly permits foreign nationals to serve as campaign volunteers.
Trump supporter and billionaire Elon Musk has voiced his opinion on the international incident on his platform X
Musk campaigning in Butler. He responded to an unverified post allegeding that Labour was trying to ‘kill Musk’s Twitter ‘ by supposedly harassing advertisers by posting: ‘This is war’
The FEC, which regulates US elections, states that foreign volunteers are not allowed to donate money to campaigns or spend money on their behalf, nor can they ‘participate in the decision-making process’ but they may, however, participate in activities as an ‘uncompensated volunteer’.
This is the most recent spat between Musk and the new Labour government in the UK.
Last month Musk was shunned from the UK government’s International Investment Summit.
He was not invited due to his social media posts during the riots which engulfed Britain in August, the BBC claimed.
On X, Musk claimed: ‘I don’t think anyone should go to the UK when they’re releasing convicted pedophiles in order to imprison people for social media posts.’
The Tesla chief executive and owner also came under fire in August for saying ‘civil war is inevitable’ in response to a post blaming the violent demonstrations on the effects of ‘mass migration and open borders.’
A spokesperson for Keir Starmer quickly addressed Musk’s comment, telling reporters ‘there’s no justification for that.’
Musk took to X to call the move ‘illegal’ after Labour’s head of operations posted an ad on LinkedIn looking for people to participate
Kristine Fishell is one of the winners of Elon Musk’s daily $1million giveaway. An election law expert has now joined a cacophony of voices describing the move unethical or even potentially illegal
Despite the soar relationship between the British prime minister and Musk, Starmer has insisted he has a good relationship with Trump.
Pressed on whether the episode could jeopardise his relationship with Mr Trump, Sir Keir said: ‘No.’
He added: ‘I spent time in New York with President Trump, had dinner with him, and my purpose in doing that was to make sure that between the two of us we established a good relationship, which we did, and I was very grateful to him for making the time.’
Meanwhile, experts have warned that Elon Musk’s daily giveaway of $1million to registered voters in key swing states could be breaking the law.
The Tesla CEO and world’s richest man recently announced that everyday until the presidential election, on November 5, he would giveaway a large cash sum to a random registered voter from seven swing states who have signed his America PAC petition in support of the first and second amendment.
Speaking to CNN Derek Muller, who teaches at Notre Dame Law School, said: ‘When you start limiting prizes or giveaways to only registered voters or only people who have voted, that’s where bribery concerns arise.’
Mr Muller warned that by limiting the giveaway to only registered voters it appears as though Musk is handing out cash for voter registration.
