It Turns Out Elon Musk Bankrolled That Pro-Trump Ruth Bader Ginsburg Super PAC Her Granddaughter Called ‘Appalling’

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Elon Musk gave $20.5 million to a shadowy political action committee called RBG PAC in the closing weeks of the presidential election, according to a new filing with the Federal Election Commission that was flagged by NBC News.

The PAC ran ads stating Trump does not support a federal abortion ban. Its website’s homepage features images of Trump and late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg side by side with the caption “Great Minds Think Alike.” Ginsburg wrote in support of reproductive freedom and supported the precedent put forth in the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, which established the constitutional right to abortion.

In 2022, the court overturned that decision in  Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Three of the justices who voted to strike down Roe were appointed by Trump.

On October 25, The New York Times reported that the new RBG PAC would begin spending $20 million on ads to help elect Trump. The group’s money came from a single, then-unidentified donor.

“The RBG PAC has no connection to the Ginsburg family and is an affront to my late grandmother’s legacy,” Ginsburg’s granddaughter and abortion rights lawyer Clara Spera told the Times before Musk was revealed to be behind it. “The use of her name and image to support Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, and specifically to suggest that she would approve of his position on abortion, is nothing short of appalling.”

The day before the Times’ report was published, Musk gave the group $20,500,000 – its sole donation – according to an FEC filing made public on Thursday.

The money was part of a massive push by the right-wing billionaire to get Trump elected. Musk donated $238 million to America PAC, which he founded toward that aim.

After being elected, Trump appointed Musk as the co-head of an advisory commission called the “Department of Government Efficiency” to ostensibly provide recommendations on cutting waste from the federal budget. Two of Musk’s companies – Tesla and SpaceX – received $15.4 billion in federal contracts over the last decade. Additionally, Musk’s businesses “have been targeted in at least 20 recent investigations or reviews, including over the safety of his Tesla cars and the environmental damage caused by his rockets,” according to the Times.

Musk’s net worth is more than $330 billion.