Legal analysts are weighing in on the Department of Justice (DOJ) that reportedly warned billionaire Elon Musk that a $1 million gift to someone who signed a petition in the middle of this year’s presidential election may be illegal.
Musk, who has endorsed former President Donald Trump, randomly offered $1 million to one registered voter each day to sign a petition pledging “support for the First and Second Amendments.”
The lottery-style giveaway is being offered by Musk’s “America” super PAC and is only open to voters in the potentially important battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Arizona, Georgia and Nevada.
On Wednesday, CNN reported that Musk’s super PAC had been sent a letter from the DOJ’s public integrity division about its bounty program that could violate federal election laws, which prohibit payments to vote and register to vote.
Musk defended give, said it does not require the entry of voters of a specific political party and that “you do not even have to vote,” although only registered swing state voters are eligible.
JIM WATSON/AFP
Dave Aronberg, state attorney for Palm Beach County, Florida, said Newsweek that Musk has been operating in the “gray area of the law” through direct messages on the billionaire’s social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
“It’s complicated,” Aronberg said. “Under federal law, you can’t pay people to register to vote or to vote. But that’s not what we’re doing here. It seems like Musk is operating in a gray area. He’s not directly paying to vote or registering to vote. , but rewarding people at random.”
“I don’t think the threat of the DOJ is going to stop the richest man in the world from doing this and everything else he’s done to try to get Trump elected,” he added. “Prosecutors don’t like gray areas, so I would be surprised if there were criminal charges.”
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani, president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, agreed that Musk “is doing well” but will not be prosecuted, in emailed comments. Newsweek.
“Musk walks a very fine line,” Rahmani said. “Federal law is clear. They cannot pay people to vote or register to vote… Paying people to sign a petition is not necessarily illegal, unless the petition is merely a pretext to bribe participants to vote or register to vote. .”
“I don’t think it’s enough for a criminal prosecution,” he said. “Musk has probably done enough to frame this as a payment or a lottery to sign the petition. The fact that the signatories must also be registered to vote to have it is dubious, but not enough to clearly violate the law in us”.
Syracuse University law professor David Driesen suggested that Musk and Trump were “trying to tilt the electoral field,” while arguing that the DOJ had been “spitting it out” by simply warning Musk that his actions were “probably” illegal.
“Allies for autocrats are trying to help them tilt the electoral field,” Driesen said in emailed comments. “That’s how they’re destroying democracy. And that’s what Musk is doing. It’s good that the Department of Justice is responding to this, but it’s not enough. Just saying. can being illegal is mealy mouthed when you’re dealing with people who have a lot of resources.”
“The agency should say if Musk doesn’t stop this, they’re going to start a criminal investigation,” he said. “Criminal charges in this case may be difficult, because they have disguised their legitimacy … It is more likely to be a civil enforcement matter. The DOJ should retain power until the end of the process.”
Newsweek reached out for comment to the DOJ through its online press contact form Wednesday night.
Musk’s super PAC also offered state petition signers another payment of $47 per voter referred, with the prize rising to $100 in Pennsylvania, where polls showed Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris neck and neck less than two weeks earlier. Election Day.
A poll released by YouGov this week found that a 62 percent majority of Americans believe it should be “illegal to pay people to sign political petitions,” with only 17 percent approving the legality of paying people to sign political petitions.
