By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal on Monday asked united state Secretary of State Marco Rubio to respond to inquiries regarding a reported strategy to invest $400 million to acquire armored variations of Tesla Cybertrucks to carry mediators.
Blumenthal claimed the State Department has actually openly specified the agreement was prepared throughout the Biden management and the Trump management terminated it. But the legislator, that is the leading Democrat on a Senate examinations subcommittee, claimed that account has actually been examined.
“The question has been raised whether, after significant public blowback, the Trump Administration created and backdated government documents to make it appear that the idea to spend $400 million in taxpayer money on Tesla Cybertrucks originated with the previous administration,” Blumenthal composed.
Tesla CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Elon Musk is a close consultant to Trump and assist lead an initiative to substantially reduce the federal government and cut various federal government agreements.
Tesla and the State Department did not quickly reply to ask for remark.
Blumenthal claimed if the State Department looked for to backdate a file it would certainly increase significant inquiries.
“If that occurred, the Trump administration not only recognizes the tremendous conflicts of interest inherent in Mr. Musk’s dual roles, but is also taking active steps to hide the fact that it is ensuring that Mr. Musk’s position is benefiting his companies,” Blumenthal composed.
Other inquiries have actually been increased regarding various other prospective disputes of passion for Musk, consisting of at the Federal Aviation Administration over a $2.4 billion telecoms agreement with Verizon and the capacity that the agreement can be provided to Musk’s Starlink satellite telecoms business, which belongs to SpaceX.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese and Chizu Nomiyama)
