Conservative Reporter Blocked by Elon Musk Over Fact Check of ‘Absolutely False’ Claim
Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO of Tesla and owner of X chided, unfollowed, and blocked a conservative reporter from his DMs over her fact check of a false claim he made.
According to Anna Giaritelli, a Homeland Security reporter for the right-leaning Washington Examiner, she and Musk had enjoyed a previously friendly relationship until she asked him for a comment on an “absolutely false” accusation he had made of the Biden administration.
Giaritelli explained what happened on X:
Elon Musk followed me on X a couple years ago and has shared my work and been willing to respond to DMs about stories from time to time, including a back and forth we had for a story on the Secret Service last week.
Earlier this week, when I respectfully approached him via DM about his Sunday claim that Biden-Harris was ‘fast-tracking’ illegal immigrants to vote and provided information showing that confirmed it was not the case, Mr. Musk unfollowed me and blocked me from DMing him and said asking him for comment for a story via DM was inappropriate — despite him being willing to engage in the past. We did reach out to one of his companies, but did not receive a response.
Below is a link to our fact check on Mr. Musk’s claims that Biden-Harris are flying migrants into the US and expeditiously granting them citizenship. Buried lede: It’s absolutely false though we were unable to reach Mr. Musk for comment.
In his original post on the matter, Musk argued that, “Very few Americans realize that, if Trump is NOT elected, this will be the last election. Far from being a threat to democracy, he is the only way to save it! Let me explain: if even 1 in 20 illegals become citizens per year, something that the Democrats are expediting as fast as humanly possible, that would be about 2 million new legal voters in 4 years.”
“The voting margin in the swing states is often less than 20 thousand votes. That means if the ‘Democratic’ Party succeeds, there will be no more swing states!!” he continued. “Moreover, the Biden/Harris administration has been flying ‘asylum seekers’, who are fast-tracked to citizenship, directly into swing states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin and Arizona. It is a surefire way to win every election. America then becomes a one-party state and Democracy is over.”
In her article, Giaritelli systematically takes Musk’s claims apart, writing that “The Washington Examiner analyzed Musk’s claims and determined that claims did not align with the reality of how illegal immigrants from the border are processed.”
“When asked to respond in a statement, Musk declined to comment when asked for proof to support his claim and blocked a Washington Examiner reporter from further contact,” she added.
