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Recent findings suggest that President Donald Trump’s State Department sought to secure a $400 million contract with one of Elon Musk’s businesses, even as they minimized the significance of this lucrative deal when reported by the media.
The State Department announced earlier this month that it had decided to discard plans to acquire $400 million worth of “armored electric vehicles,” with Tesla initially named as the supplier in its own documents.
After news broke about the expensive contract, references to Tesla were quickly removed from the records, despite the fact that Musk was simultaneously leading government budget cuts and layoffs as part of his role in the Department of Government Accountability, raising serious conflict of interest concerns.
Officials stated that discussions regarding the contract originated during Joe Biden’s administration, and noted that Tesla was the sole company that responded to inquiries about replacing existing vehicles.
However, NPR reported on Monday that a document from the State Department indicated that the Biden administration had budgeted only $3.5 million — less than one percent of the $400 million publicly discussed in Trump’s administration. The Biden proposal detailed expenditures of $483,000 for electric vehicles and an additional $3 million for supporting equipment, including charging stations.
A spokesperson from the State Department affirmed to The Independent that the substantially higher figure cited in the current administration’s document was “an estimate; as mentioned, this was a request for information, not a solicitation for a contract.” The request was meant solely to collect information, and the Department of State has no plans to proceed with a formal solicitation,” the spokesperson clarified.
Musk has denied any knowledge of the $400 million figure and termed the claims of self-dealing as “false.”
This controversy arises as Musk continues to implement significant budget cuts and lay off federal employees on behalf of Donald Trump, even though his companies have received close to $21 billion in federal subsidies since 2008.
The recent turmoil was triggered by a State Department procurement forecast that projected spending $400 million over five years on “armored Teslas” for U.S. diplomatic personnel, as first noted by Drop Site News.
The document was last modified on December 13, shortly after Donald Trump’s electoral win but prior to his official inauguration.
On February 13, following Drop Site’s initial report, the document was subtly altered, changing “armored Teslas” to “armored electric vehicles.”
Experts consulted by NPR expressed that the $400 million figure could potentially cover the complete replacement of the State Department’s diplomatic vehicle fleet with Tesla Cybertrucks but raised concerns about the practicality of such a decision.
It remains uncertain which administration’s aides or officials initially proposed the $400 million amount.
