Elon Musk's business ventures not undergoing national security review, White House says
Musk's SpaceX has provided internet service to Ukrainian forces through Starlink
Evercore ISI fundamental research analyst Mark Mahaney and EVannex CEO Matt Pressman join 'The Claman Countdown' to react to Musk addressing his potential Twitter deal on Tesla's Q3 earnings call.
Reports that the Biden administration is mulling a national security review of Elon Musk's business ventures, including SpaceX's Starlink funding in Ukraine and his plans to acquire Twitter, are not true, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday.
"Those reportings are not true, so we'll leave that there," Jean-Pierre told reporters. "The national security review – that is not true."
Bloomberg reported last week that U.S. officials are concerned about the SpaceX CEO's behavior after he threatened to pull the plug on Starlink funding in Ukraine unless the Pentagon provided funds for the service.
FILE PHOTO: SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 13, 2019. (REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo / Reuters Photos)
Ukrainian officials have credited Starlink with helping forces hold off Russia's invasion. Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, tweeted earlier this month that Musk "helped us survive the most critical moments of war" and said Ukraine "will find a solution to keep #Starlink working."
Musk has since said that Starlink will "just keep funding Ukraine govt for free" even though the company "is still losing money."
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Musk responded to a tweet about the White House denial of a national security review with the "crying laughing" emoji on Monday.
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Bloomberg also reported that U.S. officials were considering a national security review of Musk's Twitter deal through the Treasury Department's Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
SpaceX Starlink internet terminal installed in Odesa, southern Ukraine. (Nina Lyashonok/ Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images / Getty Images)
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Foreign investors in the $44 billion deal include Qatar's sovereign wealth fund and cryptocurrency exchange Binance, whose holding company is registered in the Cayman Islands,
Musk has until Friday to close the deal or will face trial in the Delaware Court of Chancery.