Two top Congressional Democrats, U.S. Reps. Gregory Meeks and Jared Moskowitz, have raised concerns to Secretary of State Marco Rubio regarding a canceled plan to purchase $400 million worth of armored electric vehicles from Tesla. NPR’s recent reporting on the Trump administration’s initiative to acquire Teslas led the lawmakers to assert that this plan would unlawfully benefit Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO and a White House official. Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal also pressed Rubio for details on the Tesla purchase plans.
The State Department spokesperson clarified that the $400 million estimate was part of a study initiated during the Biden administration, with no current plans for the purchase. Notably, a leaked document revealed that the original budget for electric vehicle acquisition in 2025 was $483,000, raising suspicions of document alterations to remove Tesla references. Meeks and Moskowitz questioned whether the Department manipulated records to portray the $400 million value as originating from the previous administration.
Rubio was asked to confirm if the purchase amount was intentionally changed, identify those responsible for the alteration, and provide evidence that the contract has been definitively abandoned. While the document suggests the Tesla procurement initiative began under Trump, the specifics of its inclusion and direction remain unclear. Both the State Department and Musk have not responded to requests for comments on the matter.
