The U.S. government has not awarded Tesla a contract to produce “armored” electric vehicles, a State Department spokesperson said Thursday, with the agency’s $400 million spending on Elon Musk’s automotive giant vehicle. We have clarified the budget document that appears to detail the plan.
A spokesperson told MSNBC that the Biden administration asked the State Department to “explor the interest in producing electric vehicles from private companies.” Last year, in response to that request, the agency requested information to “sought interest.”
The department would attract attention from only one company at the time, and as “the next step in the process,” official solicitations would be sent to the vehicle manufacturer for bids, the spokesman said. “However, the spokesman added, “The solicitation is pending and there are no current plans to issue it.”
A spokesman revealed the issue a day after independent publication Drop Site News reported on the budget document, and waves of speculation and scrutiny about mask entanglements, which he now has a key advisor to President Donald Trump. It caused entanglement with the government, which he serves as one of the officials.
The budget documents cited in various news reports are procurement forecasts for 2025, essentially a list of future purchases. Before Trump took office, the spreadsheet entry, labeled “Armorned Tesla (production unit)” and last changed on December 13, stated that potential purchases are still in the “planning” stage. Ta. We did not specify a model of a Tesla car that does not manufacture “armored” vehicles.
Then, a few hours after the article was published, the State Department apparently removed the word “Tesla” from the spreadsheet and uploaded the revised version to the agency’s website, but the version of the list containing Tesla was still online on another State Department webpage. As of Thursday afternoon.
Musk, the CEO of Tesla, threw cold water on the issue. “I’m sure Tesla hasn’t won $400 million, at least no one mentioned me,” he wrote to X at 1:30am Thursday.
Tesla and Musk did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment on Thursday’s issue.
News reports have attracted a great deal of attention in part because of Musk’s power and influence in the Trump administration. He leads the government’s efficiency department and makes drastic efforts to dramatically reduce government spending and reduce federal workers. He condemned the federal government for widespread corruption and wasted spending.
Musk is also one of the most important and well-known contractors in the federal government. In recent years, Musk’s SpaceX company has been awarded billions of dollars on contracts. Silicon Valley Mogul faces growing questions about potential conflicts of interest given the Trump administration and his simultaneous role in the vast business holdings.
The budget spreadsheet listed potential allocations to other vehicle manufacturers, but a State Department spokesman said the contract “produces State Department armored electric vehicles to Tesla or other vehicle manufacturers.” He said that it won’t happen.
Lora Kolodny, CNBC contributed.
