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Musk holds high-level meeting with Pentagon

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Tesla CEO urges prosecution for Pentagon leakers

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Trump and Musk deny press report on China war plans

briefing

(Adds comment from New York Times in paragraph 5)

By Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali and Nandita Bose

WASHINGTON, March 21 (Reuters) - Billionaire Elon Musk

took his campaign to cut the U.S. federal government into

uncharted waters on Friday, holding an unprecedented top-level

meeting at the Pentagon and calling for the prosecution of any

Defense Department officials leaking "maliciously false

information" about his visit.

Musk, whose businesses have a number of Defense Department

contracts, met U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for 80

minutes in his first such talks at the Pentagon, which is

responsible for a large chunk of federal government spending. It

was unclear whether U.S. generals joined that meeting virtually.

The New York Times reported that Musk would be briefed on

secret war plans for China, something Musk, President Donald

Trump and others denied. Musk called the report "pure

propaganda" and urged legal action against leakers.

"I look forward to the prosecutions of those at the Pentagon

who are leaking maliciously false information to NYT. They will

be found," he wrote on X before the Hegseth meeting.

A New York Times spokesperson said leak investigations are

"meant to chill communications between journalists and their

sources and undermine the ability of a free press to bring out

vital information that may otherwise be hidden."

At the White House after the meeting, Trump said he did not

want to show the United States' plans for a potential war with

China to anybody and hinted at Musk's potential conflict of

interest.

"I don't want to show that to anybody. But certainly you

wouldn't show it to a businessman, who is helping us so much,"

Trump said. "Elon has businesses in China, and he would be

susceptible, perhaps, to that," Trump said.

Standing next to Trump, Hegseth said he had an informal

conversation with Musk which focused on innovation and

efficiencies.

"There was no war plans, no Chinese war plans. There was no

secret plans," Hegseth said.

Following controversy over the New York Times story, a

planned meeting between Musk and members of the Joint Chiefs of

Staff in a secure meeting room in the Pentagon, known as "The

Tank," ultimately did not take place.

Access to a closely guarded military plan would mark a sharp

expansion of Musk's role as the Trump adviser who is

spearheading efforts to cut U.S. government spending.

It would also fuel questions about conflicts of interest for

Musk, who as the head of Tesla and SpaceX also has

business interests in China.

"There is no legitimate national security or other rationale

for providing this information to Mr. Musk," two Democratic

senators, Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Duckworth, wrote in a

letter to Hegseth, demanding details on what information was

shared with Musk and why.

The White House has previously said Musk will recuse himself

if any conflicts of interest arise between his business dealings

and his role in cutting federal government spending.

While Musk already has several contracts with the Pentagon,

the opportunities for his companies, SpaceX in particular, under

Trump could drive billions of dollars of revenue to his firms.

Trump's planned Golden Dome missile defense shield, which could

require hundreds of sensors and other satellites to keep watch

for incoming ballistic missiles, would be a natural fit for

SpaceX and its Starlink unit.

Musk arrived in a motorcade at the Pentagon on Friday

morning and quickly moved upstairs to meet Hegseth. As he

departed, Musk was seen joking with the defense secretary, and

said the meeting went well.

"If there's anything I can do to be helpful, I would like us

to have a good outcome here," Musk said as he departed.

Musk's businesses Starlink and SpaceX have a number of

Pentagon contracts, raising questions about conflicts of

interest as he advocates for innovation and re-prioritization of

Pentagon spending to find efficiencies.

Last week, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard

said she had ordered an investigation into leaks from inside the

intelligence community and is also probing internal chat rooms

for any misconduct by employees.

During Trump's first term, his administration referred more

media leaks for criminal investigation each year than in any of

the previous 15 years, according to records released in 2021 by

the Justice Department to the independent watchdog group,

Project on Government Oversight, in response to a Freedom of

Information Act lawsuit.