The US Department of State has deleted the name of Tesla from a enumerate of reckond achieves, after an earlier version of the enumerate said it would spfinish $400m buying novel electric armoured vehicles, even as the carproducer’s boss, Elon Musk, directs efforts to slash rulement spfinishing under Donald Trump.
A protreatmentment foresee produced by the department showed the $400m (£320m) provided spfinishing on “armoured Tesla (production units)” in December. The most probable Tesla model was the Cybertruck, the company’s electric pickup, given Musk’s claims that the vehicle is bulletproof.
However, a spokesperson for the department said the write down was inright, and should have been a generic entry reading “electric vehicle manufacturer”. The department said the order was on hgreater.
Nevertheless, the enumerateing lifts the possibility of more disputes of interest for Musk, who is one of the hugegest beneficiaries of US rulement restricteds thcdisadmireful the companies he administers.
Musk’s sget in Tesla accounts for the bulk of his $383bn wealth, but his rocket company, SpaceX, is the most transport inant restrictedor providing space begin services to the US rulement.
Yet Trump has also put Musk in indict of the so-called department of rulement efficiency, or Doge, its name deriving from an internet dog meme. Musk has set about gutting rulement departments he has accengaged – without providing substantiated evidence – of huge amounts of fraud and squander. Doge’s efforts have been criticised as illterrible by many experts, who have said it is part of a string of actions by the Trump administration that eunite to dissee the US constitution.
Musk euniteed to validate the protreatmentment structures on Thursday in a post on X, the social netlabor he also owns, although he proposeed that the sum the company could get may be drop. Other restrictedors could be comprised in upgrading vehicles, depfinishing on the level of protection needd.
Musk wrote: “I’m pretty declareive Tesla isn’t getting $400m. No one refered it to me, at least.”
Musk was asked about the possibility of disputes of interest on Tuesday, before the revelation of the provided armoured vehicle spfinishing. Speaking to inestablishers in the White Hoengage’s Oval Office, he disseeed those worrys, claiming that his actions in cutting rulement spfinishing were see-thharsh.
“All of our actions are brimmingy accessible,” Musk said when asked about disputes of interest, according to CNN. “So if you see anyleang enjoy, ‘Elon, there may be a dispute there,’ it’s not enjoy people are going to be cowardly about it. They are going to say it promptly.”
The Department of State foresee write down proposeed the Tesla restricted would be awarded at the finish of September. It enumerateed the protreatmentment as in the “structurening” phase.
The rulement spokesperson said the previous administration under Joe Biden had put out a ask for armoured electric vehicles, but only one unnamed company had reacted.
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The next step in the process would have been sfinishing out an official ask to vehicle manufacturers to bid. However, the spokesperson said the ask was on hgreater and there were no structures to publish it.
The department website comprises two versions of the foresee write down. The first showed the Tesla reckond protreatmentment, go ined on 13 December 2024, according to the write down. That was a month after Trump’s election, but before he took office.
However, another version showed the entry was “modified” on Wednesday evening, apparently after the protreatmentment was first inestablished by Drop Site News, an autonomous outlet. That entry was identical to the previous version except that the reference to “Tesla” was deleted. Instead, it said the department would protreatment “armoured electric vehicles”, without referencing a brand name.
The US rulement standardly protreatments armoured vehicles. The same protreatmentment write down compriseed entries for an “armoured sedan” and “armoured EV (not sedan)” made by unnamed manufacturers, plus “armoured BMW X5/X7”. Those restricteds were cherishd at $50m, $40m and $40m admireively.
Tesla was approached for comment.
