NASA chief says WSJ report claiming Elon Musk was in regular contact with Putin should be investigated

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson released a report Friday that supports that The owner of SpaceX Elon Musk has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since 2022 “should be investigated”.

The former astronaut and US senator acknowledged that Musk does not handle day-to-day operations at the aerospace company, which works closely with NASA. But he said that while SpaceX has been “phenomenally successful” and plans to develop a spacecraft that will land on the moon, The Wall Street Journal’s report raises questions.

“I don’t know if this story is true, (but) I think it should be investigated,” Nelson said. “If the story is true, that there were multiple conversations between Elon Musk and the president of Russia, then I think that would be concerning, particularly for NASA, for the Department of Defense, for some intelligence agencies.”

NASA works with SpaceX, whose Dragon capsule brought back three astronauts and a cosmonaut from the International Space Station on Friday.

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Musk has spoken regularly with Putin since 2022 on topics related to international politics, personal issues and business. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing officials from the US, Europe and Russia.

The journal noted that SpaceX won a $1.8 billion contract with the US government in 2021, and Musk has a top-secret security clearance.

A U.S. official said government people who know about Musk’s relationship with Putin don’t “love it,” but no alerts have been issued about possible national security breaches, the Journal reported.

During one of their conversations, Putin asked Musk to delay the activation of Starlink in Taiwan as a favor to China, the Journal reported. Starlink has never received permission for Starlink in Taiwan, where there are restrictions on foreign satellite providers.

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Months after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, increased restrictions were placed on Ukraine’s military use of Starlink, the Journal reported. Musk said the restrictions were related to concerns about the nuclear war in Crimea.

SpaceX denied the Journal’s claims in a statement posted on social media, calling the story “misleading” and noting that the company has aided Ukraine since Russia invaded in 2022.

“Starlink has kept Ukrainians online and connected to the world throughout the conflict, and Starlink has defended itself against major efforts to disrupt this connection, at great cost to the company,” the statement read in part.

“As for Taiwan, as even the Taiwan government has confirmed, Starlink is not available there because Taiwan has not granted us an operating license and regulators have refused to remove the requirement that a foreign entity own 51 % of Starlink to operate there. SpaceX has not accepted such a condition for any market in which it operates. This has nothing to do with Russia or China.”

Regarding the report, Musk posted a comment on X that said, “Well, the swamp ‘Trump is Hitler’ didn’t work. Might as well give ‘Elon is a Russian agent’ a whirl’. Added two laughing emojis.

Musk supported the former President Trump for president and there has been speculation that he could have a position in a second Trump administration.

A Pentagon spokesman told the Journal: “We do not comment on any individual’s security clearance, review or status or on personnel security policy issues in the context of reports of any individual’s actions.”

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said at a news conference on Friday: “I am not in a position to corroborate the veracity of these reports, and we will refer you to Mr. Musk to talk about his private communications.” .

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FOX Business has reached out to SpaceX and NASA for comment.