A dog walker pauses to take a picture of a Tesla Cybertruck parked in San Francisco in January 2024. The State Department is expected to purchase $400 million worth of Tesla vehicles this year. File Photo by Terry Schmitt/UPI |
License PhotoFeb. 13 (UPI) — The U.S. State Department documents show it is expected to purchase $400 million worth of armored vehicles from Tesla, the car manufacturer owned by President Donald Trump‘s key advisor Elon Musk.
The documents detail the procurement forecast for the State Department during the 2025 fiscal year. Though they do not specify which model of Tesla vehicle is to be purchased, the “Armored Tesla (Production Units)” specified in the document seems to suggest the stainless-steel plated Cybertruck, which Musk has advertised as being bulletproof.
The deal, first revealed by reports on Wednesday, is expected to raise already high ethical concerns surrounding Musk and his relationship to the Trump administration.
Musk, the world’s richest man, spent nearly $300 million on Trump’s election campaign. Since Trump’s inauguration, he has been leading the Department of Government Efficiency and its mandate of slashing so-called wasteful spending from the federal government. He has vowed to cut $2 trillion from the U.S. budget.
Musk is already a major contractor with the U.S. government. According to USASpending.gov, his SpaceX launch vehicle service has received more than $3.3 billion in the last fiscal year and some $13 billion since 2020.
Trump has attempted to address concerns surrounding Musk and his involvement with the federal government.
Earlier this month, the president told reporters that Musk cannot do anything without his administration’s permission. And then on Sunday, he told Fox News that his top advisor was “not gaining anything” from his government position.
