Lawmakers Demand Solutions From Rubio Over the $400 Million Armored Tesla Contract

Politicians are urgent Secretary of State Marco Rubio to reply questions on a authorities contract for armored Teslas that never existed. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-NY) and Congressman Gregory Meeks (D-NY) each despatched letters to Rubio final week with an in depth listing of questions they need the Secretary to reply.

The letters concern a Biden-era State Division contract for armored Teslas that, if fulfilled, would have enriched the Elon Musk-owned firm to the tune of $400 million. “The choice to contemplate buying Tesla automobiles for this objective highlights the apparent conflicts of curiosity inherent in Mr. Musk’s twin roles because the Chief Govt Officer of Tesla, Inc. and the sensible head of the Division of Authorities Effectivity,” Blumenthals’s letter stated.

Blumenthal is a member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Safety and Governmental Affairs and the chairman of its Investigations subcommittee. His letter is dated March 3 and he’s demanding solutions from Rubio by immediately.

Meeks is a rating member of the Home’s Committee on Overseas Affairs. He despatched his letter on March 7 and is demanding his solutions no later than March 14. “We write to you to request solutions and documentation to answer a collection of media experiences that the Division of State and Elon Musk supposed to interact in illegal procurement actions that may represent a critical violation of federal procurement legal guidelines, and in doing so deliberate to unlawfully enrich Mr. Musk,” Meeks stated in his letter.

The saga of the armored Teslas started final month when Drop Site News uncovered a line merchandise in a procurement forecast that known as for spending $400 million on armoring Teslas. This doc just isn’t a funds, it’s a forecast put collectively by State that talks about cash they could spend sooner or later.

When D.C. decides to spend cash, it might probably take a very long time. First, it places out a Request for Data (RFI), a sign to contractors about what it desires. Then, it seems to be by way of the RFIs and, after a prolonged decision-making course of, decides whether or not to spend the cash. There’s a 2024 RFI about armoring electric vehicles here.

After I talked to the State Division about this story, they advised me that using the phrase “Tesla” had been a clerical error and stated that it was a Biden-era initiative that wasn’t transferring ahead. They’d put out the RFI, they stated, and solely acquired one response again.

Somebody at State additionally went again to the unique procurement doc and adjusted the phrase “Tesla” to “electrical automobile.” Within the journalism enterprise, we name this a “stealth edit,” and it tends to make you look responsible.

The armored Teslas saga continued to explode. On the finish of February, NPR reported that it had paperwork that undercut State’s denials. NPR didn’t share these documents or instantly quote them. Based on its reporting, Biden’s State Division deliberate to spend about $483,000 in 2025 shopping for “light-duty EVs.” $483,000 just isn’t $400 million. It’s significantly lower than that. NPR additionally didn’t say that the electrical automobiles referenced within the paperwork could be Teslas.

Blumenthal’s letter to Rubio assumes that State is shopping for Teslas, although, and that it’s going all in on Cybertrucks. “This concern was exacerbated by the truth that the automobile in query was a Tesla Cybertruck, a failed experiment of a automobile which has been topic to quite a few remembers since its announcement, and wouldn’t fairly be thought of for this objective absent a heavy thumb on the size,” Blumenthal stated.

NPR’s story featured a number of consultants who’ve conflicting opinions concerning the viability of up-armored Cybertrucks as State Division automobiles. Some say it’s the right automobile, others say it could be horrible. However, as finest I can inform, no contract for the acquisition of Cybertrucks exists or has ever existed. NPR doesn’t declare that the State Division plans to spend cash on Cybertrucks, simply that it may.

I spent the morning crawling by way of the general public database of presidency contracts. The State Division has spent the previous couple of years shopping for electrical automobiles. A few of them are Teslas. The entire value of the Teslas marked as “mild responsibility” by State in 2024 is around $500,000. Many of the particular person contracts are for Model Ys and will probably be used in South East Asia.

Blumenthal’s letter spends a number of time decrying State’s use of Cybertrucks, one thing that was most likely by no means deliberate. Meeks, nevertheless, spends extra time on what I believe is the true scandal right here: stealth enhancing the forecast doc.

“Screenshots printed by NPR in its February 24 reporting confirmed that within the two weeks since Drop Website first printed information of the procurement of Armored Tesla automobiles, the Division had quietly edited the procurement forecast paperwork to take away any particular point out of Tesla however didn’t instantly take away the undertaking itself,” Meeks stated. “This implies the Division could have supposed to maneuver ahead with the undertaking however obscure any involvement by Mr. Musk or Tesla.”

On the time, State advised me that writing “Tesla” in that house was a clerical error. It insisted it ought to have been a generic entry that learn “electrical automobile producer.” On one hand, altering it makes them look responsible. However, the very actual graft and corruption perpetrated by Musk and different Trump associates is out within the open. They’re hardly making an attempt to cover it.

Verizon as soon as had a contract to improve the communications methods of the Federal Aviation Administration value round $2 billion. Musk recommended it wasn’t as much as the duty and stated that SpaceX, an organization he owns, ought to do it as an alternative. That’s happening. Musk and his firms have been going through a number of investigations and pending rules associated to Neuralink, X, and SpaceX. Utilizing DOGE, he’s decimated the agencies in command of a lot of these investigations.

Musk has celebrated these perceived wins publicly. He posts about them on X. Trump praised Starlink throughout an interview with Sean Hannity. There’s going to be a number of corruption within the subsequent 4 years, and a number of it merely gained’t be hidden.

If State finally ends up shopping for Teslas, Musk will put up about how superior it’s going to be for the federal government to drive his vehicles. Trump will announce the take care of fanfare and reward. He’d come out and say he acquired a extremely whole lot from Elon on electrical automobiles. It gained’t be hidden. It’ll be proper in entrance of our faces.