Former White House official Steve Bannon has urged President Trump to investigate Elon Musk’s immigration status, deport him immediately, and seize the tech billionaire’s company SpaceX.
Amid the war of words between the world’s richest man and president Trump, Bannon urged the president to immediately invoke the Defense Production Act to take control of Musk’s company in response to the billionaire entrepreneur’s declaration that he would decommission the SpaceX craft used to shuttle astronauts back and forth from the International Space Station (ISS).
“The action that President Trump should be taking immediately, I think, is when [Musk] threatens to take one of the big programs out of Space X, President Trump tonight should sign an executive order calling for the Defense Production Act to be called in on SpaceX and seize SpaceX tonight, before midnight,” Bannon said on his “War Room” podcast.
The Defense Production Act, a Korean War-era provision, grants the president the authority to require private companies to accept and prioritize government contracts for the manufacturing of goods needed for national defense.
It was invoked by Trump in his first term in order to compel businesses to make ventilators and test swabs early in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Defense Production Act, however, does not explicitly give presidents the power to seize private companies.
Bannon, suspecting Musk is in the US illegally, also demanded a federal investigation into his immigration status.
“They should initiate a formal investigation of his immigration status, because I am of the strong belief that he is an illegal alien, and he should be deported from the country immediately,” Bannon said.
Bannon added that the Trump administration should also probe Musk’s alleged drug use and claims that the South African native attempted to get a classified Pentagon briefing on China.
He urged that Musk’s security clearance should be suspended while the investigation is conducted and contracts his various companies have with the federal government should also be canceled , Bannon advised.
Musk has also signaled support for impeaching Trump and replacing him with Vice President JD Vance.
Bannon who has long been critical of Musk and his involvement in Trump’s campaign and presidency had referred to Musk as “a parasitic illegal immigrant” in an interview with a British news site earlier this year.
“He wants to impose his freak experiments and play-act as God without any respect for the country’s history, values or traditions,” Bannon said in an interview with UnHerd in February.
On his “War Room” podcast Thursday, Bannon argued that Trump “empowered [Musk] more than anyone has ever been empowered in this government,” but that the billionaire has been “working for himself.”
“As soon as [Musk] didn’t think he ran the deal or got the adoration … he turned on President Trump. He turned on MAGA. But most importantly, he turned on the country and the American people,” Bannon said.
“If those progressives rub up on him and say, ‘Hey, they’re never going to buy the Teslas, we’re going to buy the Teslas’ … He’ll write a $500 million check for [House Minority Leader] Hakeem Jeffries. He’ll be looking to impeach President Trump, looking to help steal the 2018 election, looking to imprison President Trump. So here’s my point – let’s get ahead of it.”
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