PA Governor Suggests Elon Musk Should Be Prosecuted Over Pro-Trump Petition

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro suggested that Elon Musk should be prosecuted for donating $1 million to random voters who sign his pro-Trump petition.

On Saturday, Musk announced that he will randomly award $1 million a day to a swing state resident who signs the petition until Election Day. The petition, which can be found on the homepage for Musk’s America PAC, lists a number of pro-Trump policy positions and urges swing state voters to register to vote. It also includes links about how volunteers can get involved, as well as deadlines for voter registration and early voting.

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“We really want to get as many people as possible to sign this petition, so I have a surprise for you,” Musk announced during a town hall event in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on Saturday. “And it’s that we’ll be awarding a million dollars randomly to people who have signed the petition. Every day, until the election.”

On Sunday, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, suggested that Musk should be prosecuted during an appearance on “Meet The Press.”

“Elon Musk says he will be giving away a million dollars every day to random voters who sign his Super PAC’s petition,” NBC’s Kristen Welker noted. “You are a former attorney general. Is this legal?”

“I think there are real questions with how he is spending money in this race, how the dark money is flowing not just into Pennsylvania, but apparently now into the pockets of Pennsylvanians, that is deeply concerning,” the swing state governor replied without hesitation.

“Look, Musk obviously has a right to be able to express his views, he’s made it very, very clear that he supports Donald Trump. I don’t, obviously we have a difference of opinion. I don’t deny him that right, but when you start flowing this kind of money into politics, I think it raises serious questions that folks may want to take a look at.”

Welker followed up by directly asking whether Musk’s contest is legal. I think it’s something that law enforcement can take a look at,” Shapiro answered. “I’m not the Attorney General anymore in Pennsylvania, I’m the governor. But it does raise some serious questions.”

The term “dark money” refers to political spending from which the funding source is not disclosed.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg donated nearly $400 million in dark money funding, which was used to finance Democratic Party ballot harvesting operations in swing states throughout the 2020 election cycle. In 2022, cryptocurrency fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried was one of the largest donors of the campaign cycle thanks to dark money contributions that went largely to Democratic Party candidates.

Shapiro did not call for the arrest of Zuckerberg in 2020, however, nor did he object to Sam Bankman-Fried’s political spending before his arrest shortly after the midterm elections.

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