Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk joined his sons Xæa-xii and President Trump in an oval office on February 11, 2025. Musk was tapped by President Donald Trump to lead federal cost-cutting efforts.
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
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President Trump said Elon Musk was a “big discount” for paying $10 million to resolve the lawsuit brought on by the president against the social media site he currently owns.
Speaking to Fox News host Sean Hannity in a pre-taped interview Tuesday night, Trump said he wanted a bigger payment.
“It’s very low. I wanted to get a lot more money than that,” Trump said.
Musk, who distorted his expression of confusion when Hannity asked the question, said, “I left it to the lawyers and team who are running Twitter.”
Now, Twitter bans Trump a few days after the January 6th summit riot, citing the possibility of further increases in violence. And Trump responded by suing the platform for alleged censorship.
These legal arguments were lost in court. US District Judge in California It was thrown The case holds that only the government, not the private sector, could violate someone’s initial right to amend. Trump’s legal team appealed to the federal court of appeals. It appeared I’m skeptical of Trump’s allegations.
But Trump’s lawyers have successfully made a suit after billionaire Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022, bringing more and closer to Trump’s trajectory over the next two years, culminating in masks in November last year. I continued to fight to keep it alive.
Despite working with the White House, Musk’s lawyers negotiated $10 million with Trump to end the pending lawsuit. Earlier this month, Musk’s lawyer wrote in court that the case would be voluntarily dismissed. Wall Street Journal beginning It has been reported At the time of payment.
This is the second high-tech company payment for Trump for him being launched from a social media site. Last month, Meta I agree To increase $25 million to resolve Trump’s suspension lawsuit from Meta’s Facebook and Instagram.
Trump also sued Google for banning him from YouTube, but the case is still pending.
The agreement between Musk X and Trump, the president discussed on Tuesday, is prominent given Musk’s role as the White House top official.
Musk, who led efforts known as the government’s Ministry of Efficiency, has broadened its reach from Trump to scale down the size of the federal government by actively reducing costs and in some cases trying to dismantle the entire agency. I was given authority. of legal issues relating to the limitations of executive agencies.
X did not respond to NPR’s request for comment.
He recovered his Trump account shortly after Musk purchased Twitter in October 2022.
In the same year, US District Judge James Donart threw away Trump’s free speech case on Twitter.
“The revised complaint is merely squelching allegations against the effect that some Democrats in Congress wanted Trump, as such “content and views” were “opposed.” , “The Preferences of These Legislators “He Supported” banned from Twitter,” “Donat I wrote it in his ruling. “However, the comments of a small number of elected officials are far from the rules of decisions that the state is responsible for.” Lawmakers can express their opinions without being considered the official voice of the “nation.” ”
