The Trump campaign employed VanAkin between June and October. He received $14,000 in payments labelled “advance consulting & per diem” — for planning logistics ahead of campaign rallies — and $16,000 in travel reimbursements, according to FEC filings.

Musk's Tesla stake rose by $111 billion — 65% — last year. All but $2 billion of Musk’s Tesla gain and about 98% of what other Tesla shareholders gained came after Election Day, when Musk began hanging out extensively with Donald Trump and started calling himself Trump’s “first buddy.

Fresh from pouring his money and energies into helping Donald Trump win reelection, Elon Musk has trained his sights on Europe, setting off alarm bells among politicians across the continent. The Tesla and SpaceX chief executive has endorsed the far-right Alternative for Germany,

Elon Musk’s efforts to influence European politics raise questions about the degree to which he speaks for himself or President-elect Donald Trump.

WASHINGTON − Elon Musk is keeping the pressure on European leaders. Musk frequently wields his 211.5-million-follower account on X, the social media platform he bought for $44 billion in 2022, to air political grievances and promote far-right issues.

The publicity was a potential boon for AfD, which has been frozen out of mainstream politics in part because its leaders have downplayed Nazi atrocities.

Elon Musk hosted a a wide-ranging conversation on X that touched on immigration, energy policy, space colonization, God and Adolf Hitler.

Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily.

Elon Musk shared a brief video he received from a friend in Los Angeles of the destruction from the Southern California wildfires, Wednesday. (Credit: Elon Musk via X)

Elon Musk's posts on social media platform X are being assessed by the Government's counter-extremism unit to see if they pose a danger a Britain, it has been reported. The tech billionaire has brutally attacked Sir Keir Starmer online,