‘Over the line’: Ex-prosecutor says Elon Musk’s offer to pay voters borders on criminal
Calling it a “thorny issue” for Department of Justice prosecutors to untangle, CNN’s Elie Honig floated the idea that billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk could be violating federal election law with his offer to pay voters to sign his pro-Donald Trump petition, but added that legal charges aren’t expected before Election Day.
“This is yet another one of these wild hypotheticals that has come to life – we’ve never seen a situation exactly like this,” Honig, a CNN senior legal analyst and former federal prosecutor, told anchor Wolf Blitzer on Monday on his show, “The Situation Room.”
“It’s probably over the line,” he said, adding that while it is a federal crime to pay somebody to vote or register, “there’s a wrinkle here.”
“There’s a contingency built in. What Musk is saying is essentially, ‘If you are registered, then you might win this prize.’ However, if we look at the Justice Manual which is DOJ’s internal guidance to prosecutors, it says that where there’s a lottery where there’s some contingency involved, that probably still qualifies under the law.”
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Honig noted that Justice Department officials will have “a very difficult decision to make” on whether or not to bring charges against the outspoken CEO of Telsa, X, and SpaceX who has enthusiastically endorsed Trump.
“But I do want to stress this: nobody should expect to see an indictment to drop or any specific action out of DOJ in the next 15 days between now and the election because DOJ has a policy saying, ‘We try to avoid bringing charges on bringing investigative steps too close to an election that could influence voters.’”
Honig added that it wasn’t clear whether Musk’s actions might motivate voters of Trump, or Vice President Kamala Harris. He also said that aside from any criminal prosecution of Musk, an individual, campaign or PAC – with proof of a legal injury – could seek an injunction in a lawsuit to stop him.
“It could be that we see somebody sue here in the next few days, but again we’re in uncharted territory,” Honig said.
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