President Trump said he would be willing to issue pre-emptive pardons to aides and allies, including the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk, if Democrats win enough seats to take control of the House and Senate and carry out widespread investigations and potential prosecutions.
In an interview with The New York Post released on Monday, Mr. Trump called the supposed threats against Mr. Musk just “talk,” as the interviewer suggested that Democrats wanted to arrest the tech mogul, “seize his factories” and “nationalize SpaceX,” which the government relies on to get payloads into orbit. Democratic leaders have discussed possible investigations into Mr. Musk and his business practices, but have not called for his arrest.
“I can tell you this, if they do, we just have to protect those people,” Mr. Trump said when questioned by Miranda Devine, a Post columnist.
Ms. Devine then followed up by asking if that could be done by “pre-emptively” pardoning Mr. Musk and others.
“I would if I needed to, sure,” Mr. Trump responded, noting that he had signed an executive order granting broad clemency to more than 1,500 of his supporters who were charged after storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. “I would not even think about it. I’d do it. I did it for J6.”
Mr. Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last month, Senator Alex Padilla, Democrat of California, called for an investigation into Mr. Musk, after reports that Ukrainian forces had experienced restrictions in satellite internet services built by SpaceX and used for communications in the country’s war against Russia. Mr. Musk has said that Ukraine violated the system’s terms of service, and that he was later asked by Mr. Trump to restore the communications network, according to reporting by The New York Times.
Mr. Musk, the world’s richest man, with a net worth that hovers around $1 trillion, has also come under scrutiny for pouring nearly half a billion dollars into the midterm elections in support of Republican causes and candidates. In an election where voters are focused on affordability and cost-of-living concerns, Democrats have hammered Mr. Trump’s party for its relationship with wealthy donors.
In social media posts, Mr. Musk has framed Tuesday’s election in alarmist terms, claiming that Democrats would turn the country into a “permanent one-party state.” He has used similar language in past election cycles, and issued a challenge to Democrats that dared to open investigations into him or his companies.
“Live by the sword, die by the sword,” he wrote on X, the social network he owns, last month. “Those who pick fights with me should understand that I will find out who is really pulling the strings and come for them, not just their puppets.”
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