Trump denies Musk received classified information on China during Pentagon meeting

Elon Musk visited the Pentagon Friday to hold a meeting with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth after U.S. media published reports that the tech oligarch would receive a briefing on one of the best-kept and most sensitive secrets inside the U.S. Department of Defense: combat plans in case of war with China. Both President Donald Trump and the Pentagon have categorically denied those reports, maintaining that the meeting was strictly about cost-cutting and budget efficiency.

Musk arrived at the Pentagon early in the morning, where he immediately proceeded to meet with Hegseth, in a visit lasting about an hour and a half. The meeting took place in the Defense Secretary’s office, rather than in the area known as “The Vault,” where the Pentagon’s top-secret information is kept. The New York Times, which first reported that the conversation would be about China, had said the briefing would take place there.

Following the meeting, the newspaper reported that the planned session on the hypothetical plans regarding a war with China was canceled after the intention to hold it had come to light.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump flatly rejected the reports. “I don’t want to show it to anybody. You know, you’re talking about a potential war with China. But certainly, you wouldn’t show it to a businessman who is helping us so much. He’s a great patriot. He’s paying a big price for helping us cut costs, and he’s doing a great job. Elon has businesses in China, and he would be susceptible, perhaps, to that, but it was such a fake story,” the president added.

Trump spoke at a joint appearance with Hegseth to announce that Boeing will build the next generation of U.S. fighter jets, the F-47. The Defense Secretary said, “We welcomed him today to the Pentagon to talk about DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), to talk about efficiencies, to talk about innovations. It was a great informal conversation. The rest of that reporting was fake. There was no war plans. There was no Chinese war plans. There was no secret plans. That’s not what we were doing the Pentagon.”

The U.S. president had already lashed out Friday against The New York Times on his social media platform, Truth. “Their fake concept for this story is that because Elon does some business in China, that he is very conflicted and would immediately go to top Chinese officials and ‘spill the beans,’” Trump wrote. The story is “absolutely ridiculous and false, and probably libelous,” he continued. “Elon is not being briefed on anything China by the Department of War (sic)!!!”

In a previous post, the Republican magnate had asserted that “China will not even be mentioned or discussed. How disgraceful it is that the discredited media can make up such lies. Anyway, the story is completely untrue!!!” The Pentagon has also denied the information.

In a message on X, his social network, Musk threatened those responsible for the leak. “I look forward to the prosecutions of those at the Pentagon who are leaking maliciously false information to NYT. They will be found.”

The Times quoted four Pentagon sources to indicate that, during his visit, Musk was to obtain information on the plans envisaged in the event of the outbreak of a war with China, the great geopolitical and military rival of the United States.

One of the possible reasons the paper put forward for why Musk would want to know about potential war plans against China is his role as head of DOGE, the entity charged with cutting bureaucracy and spending in the federal government. In that position, knowing what priorities and needs the Pentagon has in the event of a conflict would help him not to order cuts in sensitive areas.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition