Three-Star General Issues Red Alert About Musk’s Foreign Entanglements

A three-star U.S. Army general thinks that Elon Musk’s foreign business relationships could make him a significant threat to national security. 

Retired Lieutenant General Russel Honoré argued in a Sunday New York Times column that the SpaceX CEO’s willingness to capitulate to Chinese demands over the years should make his recent influence within Trump’s circle all the more questionable.  

Honoré referenced 2023 quotes from Musk’s DOGE buddy Vivek Ramaswamy to make his case. “I have no reason to think Elon won’t jump like a circus monkey when Xi Jinping calls in the hour of need,” Ramaswamy said in an interview. “It’s deeply concerning that @elonmusk met with China’s foreign minister yesterday to oppose decoupling and referred to the U.S. & Communist China as ‘conjoined twins,’” he wrote in another statement that year. “The U.S. needs leaders who aren’t in China’s pocket.”

Ramaswamy has since made amends with Musk, but his concerns still apply. Musk and SpaceX have already been flagged thrice by the Air Force, the Defense Department’s Office of Inspector General, and the undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security for failing to disclose his meetings with foreign leaders, something his current security clearance requires him to do. And his China business isn’t going anywhere either. 

Musk has borrowed at least $1.4 billion from Chinese government–controlled banks to pay for his massive Tesla “gigafactory” in Shanghai. He borrowed this money knowing full well that China’s laws allow the Chinese Communist Party to demand information from any company doing business in China in exchange for doing business there—a huge red flag for Honoré.

“Mr. Musk’s business dealings in China could require him to hand over sensitive classified information, learned either through his business interests or his proximity to President-elect Donald Trump. No federal agency has accused him of disclosing such material, but as Mr. Ramaswamy put it, China has recognized that U.S. companies are fickle,” Honoré wrote. “Mr. Musk’s relationship with China’s leaders could prove a problem for America’s national security given that SpaceX has a near monopoly on the United States’ rocket launches … the last thing the United States needs is for China to potentially have an easier way of obtaining classified intelligence and national security information.”

This has drawn the ire of Democrats and Republicans alike. In 2022, Senator Marco Rubio accused Tesla of obstructing justice for the CCP, and in 2023 he introduced a bill to stop NASA and other federal agencies from giving contracts to companies connected to the Chinese Communist Party. Two Democratic senators very recently called for a probe into Musk’s “reliability as a government contractor and a clearance holder” because of his reported phone call with Vladimir Putin. 

The line between civilian and elected official has become blurrier as Musk further cements himself as part of Trump’s inner circle. As Honoré wrote, the world’s richest man funding Trump’s return to the presidency “does not give the incoming White House the license to look the other way at the national security risks he may pose.”

President Joe Biden is funneling funds to Ukraine before Donald Trump takes the reins on America’s response to the international conflict.

The departing leader announced $6 billion in additional military and budget assistance to Ukraine on Monday. Approximately $1.25 billion in military aid stems from U.S. stockpiles, with another $1.22 billion coming from the final Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative package from Biden’s term, reported Reuters. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also said that the U.S. has made available $3.4 billion in additional budget aid to Ukraine amid its ongoing conflict with Russia.

“The Department of Defense is in the process of delivering hundreds of thousands of artillery rounds, thousands of rockets, and hundreds of armored vehicles which will strengthen Ukraine’s hand as it heads into the winter,” Biden said in a statement. “At my direction, the United States will continue to work relentlessly to strengthen Ukraine’s position in this war over the remainder of my time in office.”

The funds will be used for critical resources and longer-term supplies of air defense, artillery, and other weapons systems, according to Biden.

More than 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since Russia invaded the Eastern European nation in February 2022. Cities have been leveled, and 370,000 injuries have been reported, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said earlier this month. But Biden’s exit from the White House could mark the end of the U.S. commitment to aiding the war-torn nation.

One of Trump’s biggest and boldest campaign promises was that he would immediately end the Russian invasion of Ukraine—though his philosophy on how to achieve that was suspiciously scant of details and, at times, veered toward solutions that would invariably aid Russia.

In June, details dished by some of Trump’s advisers suggested that Trump would be open to an increase in U.S. weapons aid to Ukraine so long as it shows up for peace talks with Russia. The advisers envisioned that the peace talks would also quietly include Ukraine ceding part of the country that is currently occupied by Russian forces.

And some of Trump’s domestic decisions are reportedly “thrilling” Russian mouthpieces. Margarita Simonyan, the editor in chief of the Russian state-controlled broadcaster RT, claimed earlier this month that some of Trump’s most unqualified choices for his Cabinet—such as DOGE co-chair nominee Vivek Ramaswamy and director of national intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard—are friendly faces that bring the Kremlin “lots of joy.”

Meanwhile, NATO (which Trump has long threatened to withdraw the U.S. from) is preparing for escalations on the Russian front. In early December, NATO chief Mark Rutte warned members that the international alliance must shift to a “wartime mindset,” predicting years of conflict with Russia as the superpower batters down Ukrainian forces.

“Russia is preparing for long-term confrontation, with Ukraine and with us,” Rutte said during a speech in Brussels in which he highlighted the short distance to where “Russian bombs are falling … Iranian drones are flying,” and “North Korean soldiers are fighting.”

“We are not ready for what is coming our way in four to five years,” the secretary-general continued. “It is time to shift to a wartime mindset, and turbocharge our defense production and defense spending.”

Donald Trump’s request for a new trial in E. Jean Carroll’s defamation and sexual abuse case against him was shut down by a federal appeals court Monday.

In a new 77-page filing, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the original verdict from the district court that Trump was liable for sexually abusing Carroll in 1996, then defaming her in 2022.

“On review for abuse of discretion, we conclude that Mr. Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings,” the filing stated. “Further, he has not carried his burden to show that any claimed error or combination of claimed errors affected his substantial rights as required to warrant a new trial.”

Trump’s attorneys had argued that the May 2023 verdict should be thrown out because U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan should not have allowed jurors to hear testimony from two other women, Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff, who also accused the president-elect of sexual misconduct.

The appeals court, however, ruled that the district court “did not abuse its discretion” in admitting their testimonies into evidence.

Trump’s lawyers also tried to argue that the judge should not have allowed the jury to view the 2005 Access Hollywood tape, in which Trump claimed that “when you’re a star” women will let you “grab them” by their genitals, a video that many people not on the jury have also seen.

The court ruled that the inclusion of the tape into evidence was “relevant to prove that the alleged sexual assault actually occurred.”

This story has been updated.

American flags will be flying at half-mast for Trump’s January 20 inauguration after the death of former President Jimmy Carter on Sunday at age 100.

Federal guidelines state that the flag must be “half-staff for 30 days at all federal buildings, grounds, and naval vessels throughout the United States and its territories and possessions after the death of the president or a former president.”

President-elect Trump has yet to mention the flags, and offered condolences to the Carter family.

“I just heard of the news about the passing of President Jimmy Carter. Those of us who have been fortunate to have served as President understand this is a very exclusive club, and only we can relate to the enormous responsibility of leading the Greatest Nation in History,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Sunday that angered some of the MAGA faithful. “The challenges Jimmy faced as President came at a pivotal time for our country and he did everything in his power to improve the lives of all Americans. For that, we all owe him a debt of gratitude.”

Given Trump’s general obsession with appearances, such as the crowd size at his first inauguration, he may well feel emasculated by a half-mast American flag at his second one.

Nearly half of Republicans support Donald Trump’s plan to use the U.S. military to forcibly round up undocumented immigrants into camps and deport them en masse.

A postelection survey by the Public Religion Research Institute, or PRRI, found that 46 percent of Republicans supported using the military to enact sweeping deportation raids and widespread internment.

Meanwhile, only 9 percent of Democrats and 19 percent of independents endorsed the idea. Twenty-six percent of all voters surveyed endorsed the plan.

PRRI surveyed 5,772 U.S. adults between November 8 and December 2.

Robert P. Jones, PRRI’s president and founder, told Axios on Monday that there was good news and bad news.

“I guess the good news is that three-quarters of the country rejects this idea that we should be putting immigrants in the country illegally into internment camps guarded by the military,” Jones said. The bad news is that support for Trump’s extreme plot is apparently supported by nearly half the members of a mainstream political party.

Trump has claimed he will use the military to carry out mass deportations and has promised to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1789 to expel suspected members of drug cartels from the country without due process. Trump’s extreme immigration views suggest that his administration would plan to target more than violent criminals, undermining protections for legal immigrants as well.

Trump’s new “border czar,” Tom Homan, previously said that he expected support from the U.S. military and special operations to carry out their immigration blitz.