NEW: Rachel Maddow’s Laughable Trump Conspiracy Theory Goes Down In Flames

Rachel Maddow better be careful, or she’ll end up a defendant in yet another lawsuit for bogus news stories.

The MSNBC fixture railed against Elon Musk for “self-dealing” after suggesting that President Donald Trump approved a $400 million contract for military purchases of Tesla Cybertrucks, the signature vehicle which has become a symbol of the entrepreneur’s brand since its release last year. Maddow devoted nearly 10 minutes of her nightly program to insinuating that Musk invested nearly $300 million in electing Trump because he knew he would get a return on his investment.

The Cybertruck “is not just supposed to be ‘tough’ like a pickup truck. It’s supposed to be, like, inhuman, super duper tough,” Maddow said sarcastically. Despite an embarrassing rollout, Musk “somehow convinced the United States government, specifically the United States Department of State, that the taxpayers of the United States of American should spend $400 million buying ‘armored Tesla production units,'” she added.

She went on to lambast the “hilarious” deal buying “paper weights” while showing b-roll of Cybertrucks running into trees or failing to cross tributaries. This is despite “Donald Trump’s claim that, boy, they’ve sure found a lot of waste in the government.”

The deal is “definitely not illegal or profoundly corrupt,” Maddow exclaimed with her trademark screech.

Ironically, it turns out that the since-paused contract with Tesla was submitted to, reviewed, and signed off on by the Biden-Harris administration.

Maddow was fact-checked by Sawyer Merritt, a Tesla investor who saw her program and felt compelled to call her out on X.

“She conveniently left out that the procurement list was revised in Dec 2024, when Biden was President. The Tesla line item was last modified on December 13, 2024,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, because Rachel entirely left out this important context, many of her 1.7 million nightly viewers will believe her misleading narrative.”

Only Tesla, Merritt went on, can hold the mantle for American-made at the lowest cost.

“Tesla is the most American-made auto manufacturer in the U.S. Every Tesla sold in America is built in America. When you buy a Tesla, you are supporting American industry. Teslas have a lower cost of ownership compared to ICE cars. The government would likely save money buying armored Teslas instead of armored ICE cars, based on what we’ve seen with long local law enforcement trials,” he finished.

In response to a story by the New York Times, the Trump administration pushed back on the notion that Musk was benefiting from a quid pro quo with the president.

The proposal originated with the Biden State Department “to explore interest from private companies to produce armored electric vehicles,” Trump’s State Department said, adding, “the solicitation is on hold and there are no current plans to issue it” as part of the administration’s ongoing funding freeze.

“No government contract has been awarded to Tesla or any other vehicle manufacturer to produce armored electric vehicles for the Department of State,” a spokesman told Axios.

Musk himself threw cold water on the contract, writing in response to Merritt, “I’m pretty sure Tesla isn’t getting $400M. No one mentioned it to me, at least.”

“Why the lie?” he asked, tagging Maddow’s X account.

2025 began with Maddow embroiling herself in an ongoing defamation lawsuit against an abortion doctor she and producers accused of providing “unnecessary hysterectomies” to illegal immigrants in the custody of U.S. Customs and Immigrations Enforcement. Last month, a Georgia judge allowed the case to proceed, ruling that Dr. Mahendra Amin may begin a jury trial on April 22nd. Maddow, who labeled Amin the “uterus collector,” is expected to sit for questioning about “verifiably false” information she reported on her nightly program.