Elon Musk attended President Donald Trump's interview with Troy Meink, a move that one Senate Democrat is calling "highly inappropriate" as she calls for more scrutiny on the Air Force secretary nominee, Politico reported Friday.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is raising questions as to whether Musk, whose interests include billions of dollars in national security and defense contracts, "hand-picked Meink" for the role, according to the report.
Meink's own written disclosure to the Senate Armed Services Committee, obtained by Politico, said that Musk "was one of many people present" for his December interview but that only Trump asked questions.
"I have no relationship with SpaceX or Mr. Musk outside of a professional relationship in the execution of my current duties," Meink said in his written answers, according to the report.
However, Warren was one of two Democrat senators who questioned Meink in February about whether he favored Musk in a classified, multibillion spy satellite contract. Reuters reported that Meink, a top official at the National Reconnaissance Office, changed the contract requirements in a way that made Musk's SpaceX the company best suited to fulfill it.
Now, Warren is suggesting Musk repaid the favor.
"Musk sitting in on Meink's interview was highly inappropriate, raising more questions about whether he hand-picked Meink — and if so, why," Warren said in a statement. "Nobody elected Musk to anything — he should not be selecting our national security officials, especially if they have the power to give him billions in taxpayer dollars."
At best, one ethics expert told Politico that Musk sitting in on Meink's interview is bad optics.
"I've never seen anything like this before — a military contractor helping pick the people who run the Pentagon," Richard Painter, the former chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush told Politico. "If Musk helped pick him, Meink needs to recuse from anything involving Musk's companies."
The White House brushed aside the criticism.
"The decision to hire Troy Meink was done so independently of anyone, and the final decision came to Trump and Trump alone," White House spokesperson Harrison Fields told Politico. "Any assertion otherwise is just sensationalist journalism."
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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