The Justice Department is warning Elon Musk that his $1 million donation to registered voters may be illegal

CNN
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The Justice Department warned Elon Musk's America PAC in recent days that its $1 million giveaway to registered voters in swing states could violate federal law, people with knowledge of the matter told CNN.

Musk, who supports former President Donald Trump and is spending millions of dollars supporting his candidacy, announced the $1 million prize through his political action committee aimed at increasing voter registrations in closely contested states.

Musk's initial promise to pay prices to registered voters immediately sparked concerns among election law experts and some state officials, who questioned whether it violated the law.

Federal law prohibits paying people to register to vote. The petition language currently promises $1 million in prizes for randomly selected people who sign a petition in support of First and Second Amendment freedoms. However, to sign the petition, you must be registered to vote in certain states.

A letter from the Justice Department's Public Integrity Division, which investigates potential election-related law violations, was sent to Musk's political action committee, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

CNN has reached out to Musk, several email addresses listed on the super PAC's website, the group's treasurer and Musk's press team on the X Platform for comment.

The Justice Department declined to comment.

“We want to try to get over a million, maybe two million voters in the battleground states to sign the petition in support of the First and Second Amendments,” Musk said as he announced the sweepstakes at a Trump campaign rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Saturday. “We will randomly award $1 million every day from now until the election to people who sign the petition.”

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After Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat and former attorney general, said Sunday that the giveaways were “deeply troubling” and deserved legal scrutiny, Musk said posted on his X platform, he said it was “concerning that he would say something like that.”

Responding to a post that claimed Musk was “paying for Republican registration,” Musk said said Winners “can be of any political party or no political party and don’t even have to vote.” He didn’t address the potential legal problem of opening the lottery only to registered voters.

The Super PAC will take place on Sunday, the second day of the competition has reformulated his message around the giveaway and described the money as payment for a job. In social media posts, the group said the winners would be “selected to earn $1 million as a spokesperson for America PAC” – and then released pro-Trump testimonial videos featuring the winners.

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However, several election law experts who spoke to CNN pointed out that the fine print on Musk's super PAC website explaining the official terms and conditions of participation has not changed. Only signers of the petition can win the $1 million prize, and signers “must be registered voters from Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania or Wisconsin.”

It's not clear when Musk received the Justice Department's letter and whether it led to any changes to the messaging surrounding the giveaways.