With CBS Mornings Plus leading the way, the major broadcast networks spent Monday morning giddily declaring Telsa founder and X owner Elon Musk could end up indicted by Biden-Harris Justice Department for his America PAC’s daily, $1 million giveaway to registered voters in swing states “raising new legal questions” and “blow[ing] past the line” of legality.
CBS Mornings Plus co-host Adriana Diaz told viewers that Musk had drawn “major attention for a new giveaway” and “red flags” from “legal experts” with the qualifications of voters having to be registered in seven swing states and sign a “petition support[ing] the First and Second Amendments.”
Diaz brought in progressive election lawyer and CBS News contributor David Becker with the softball: “[D]oes it cross the line?”
Becker predictably said it was illegal: “I think it doesn't just cross the line, but it very likely blows past the line. There is a statute on the books — it’s been on the books, federal law, for quite some time that says that you can't offer or accept payment for registration or voting.”
Becker added Musk’s “pretty clear” in wanting “to influence the election,” so he better “talk to his lawyers” as, if he doesn’t, the Biden-Harris regime will “press what is a criminal violation under federal law, punishable by up to five years in jail.”
Becker would know what influence peddling is given the fact that not only has he worked for the far-left group People for the American Way, but he co-founded the Center for Election and Innovation Research. In 2020, the group was the recipient of $50 million in what we now infamously refer to as Zuckerbucks.
According to our friends at the Capital Research Center, he was a former Justice Department lawyer in the Civil Rights Division who offered to help conspire with “the city of Boston... to help defeat a lawsuit opened against them by his employer, the DOJ, for voting infractions.”
Back to Monday, Dokoupil was floored at these “serious” penalties of “five years in jail” and snarkily declared that “maybe Elon Musk would [have] consult[ed] lawyers before the giveaway began.”
Dokoupil then asked Becker what would happen to the election itself if Musk isn’t stopped.
Becker didn’t so much answer the question as lobby his friends in Merrick Garland’s DOJ to act now and squash Musk by “send[ing] a letter” to Musk and reveal they’ll be “investigat[ing]” him (click “expand”):
BECKER: Well, I think, first of all, there is something that can be done. It’s very early on Monday morning. This was done on — over the weekend. I think we should expect the Department of Justice will do what it has done in the past, which is to, at a minimum, send a letter and say, this is a real problem here and we are going to continue to investigate this. They did this, for instance, with giveaways that Ben and Jerry’s were making in presidential elections past where they were offering free ice cream cones to people who came in with their “I voted” sticker, Starbucks did something similar. This is a lot more than an ice cream cone. This is a chance to win $1 million. So, I would expect there would be something and, hopefully, he will listen to advice he's getting and move away from this and stop it. But, if a crime has been committed, the Department of Justice is charged with enforcing laws. And I expect that, regardless of when the investigation would occur and to be completed, that it would — he's got potential criminal liability here.
DOKOUPIL: Wow.
ABC’s Good Morning America had ardent Trump hater Rachel Scott tut-tut on this, cheering claims that the $1 million contests are “raising new legal questions” since “[w]e talked to experts about this” who said “giving people money to vote or register to vote is a federal crime.”
NBC’s Today put Trump correspondent Garrett Haake on this and touted Governor Josh Shapiro (D-PA) without a verbal party identification as someone who thinks Musk should be reigned in (click “expand”):
HAAKE: With both campaign blitzing Pennsylvania, Elon Musk also hitting the trail, announcing a daily million dollar giveaway for registered voters in seven swing states who sign his petition in favor of free speech and the right to bear arms.
ELON MUSK: We are going to be awarding a million dollars to — [CROWD CHEERS] — randomly to people.
HAAKE: Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro responding on Meet the Press.
GOVERNOR JOSH SHAPIRO (D-PA) [on NBC’s Meet the Press, 10/20/24]: I think it’s something that law enforcement can take a look at.
HAAKE: NBC News has asked Musk and his political organization about those checks. No response yet[.]
To see the relevant transcripts from October 21, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).
