Elon Musk made a controversial claim on X, formerly Twitter, over the weekend, stating that the Steele Dossier was “unquestionably election interference.” Musk suggested that former President Donald Trump was the victim of a double standard in comparison to Hillary Clinton, who he accused of being guilty of election interference. The Steele Dossier, compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, contained unverified intelligence reports about Trump’s relationship with Russia. Musk’s claims were fact-checked by X users who pointed out that the Dossier was not released until after the 2016 presidential election.
In response to Musk’s assertion, X users pointed out the timing of the Steele Dossier’s release and the lack of jurisdiction for New York to prosecute Clinton on a federal matter. The Dossier was not made public until January 2017, two months after the election took place. Additionally, Trump had previously sued over claims made in the Dossier and lost, resulting in legal fees payable to Steele. Trump has maintained his innocence in all legal matters surrounding the Dossier and other allegations of collusion with Russia.
In a separate legal battle, Trump’s lawsuit against Steele’s company Orbis in a British court was thrown out, and he was ordered to pay legal fees. Similarly, a U.S. court dismissed Trump’s lawsuit against Steele, Clinton, and federal law enforcement officials, rejecting his claim that the Dossier made him a target in the Mueller investigation into Russian election interference. The Mueller report, released in 2019, found no evidence of collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia.
Following the guilty verdict in Trump’s New York criminal case, Musk described the conviction as a “trivial matter” and suggested that anyone could be at risk of facing a similar fate. Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing and has characterized the legal challenges against him as a witch hunt orchestrated by Democrats. As he campaigns for a return to the White House as the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee, Trump continues to assert his innocence and denounce allegations of election interference against him. Musk’s claims and the surrounding legal battles have sparked debate and fact-checking on social media platforms.
