Trump Refutes NYT Report Claiming Musk Will Receive Pentagon Briefing On China

 President Donald Trump blasted The New York Times on Thursday, refuting a story published by the newspaper that claimed Trump’s adviser Elon Musk will receive a Pentagon briefing on U.S. military plans should a war break out with China.

In a report published on Thursday, the Times — citing “two U.S. officials” — wrote that Musk would be briefed on the U.S. military’s top-secret strategy in preparation for a potential war with China. The paper cited two additional anonymous sources who said the briefing would be “China focused” and held at the Pentagon on Friday, but the sources did not provide any more details.

In a Truth Social post on Thursday night, Trump said the report is “completely untrue,” adding that “China will not even be mentioned or discussed.” On Friday morning, Trump again addressed the Times’ report, saying that Musk “is NOT BEING BRIEFED ON ANYTHING CHINA BY THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR!!!”

“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 added. “RATINGS CHALLENGED FAKE NEWS CNN immediately picked up on this absolutely ridiculous and false story, which is probably libelous, and went heavy with it. Fortunately, nobody was watching!”

Musk, who has been Trump’s right-hand-man throughout the first two months of his second term, also slammed The New York Times on his social media platform, X, and said that those at the Pentagon “leaking maliciously false information to NYT … will be found.”

“The New York Times is pure propaganda. Also, I look forward to the prosecutions of those at the Pentagon who are leaking maliciously false information to NYT,” Musk wrote.

In its report, the Times raised concerns that Musk, through his company Tesla, “has extensive financial interests in China.” Over the years, the CEO has developed business relationships with Chinese government officials as China manufactures hundreds of thousands of Teslas each year. China has also become a growing market for Tesla as the electric vehicle company’s sales in China hit an all-time high in 2024, according to Reuters.

The Wall Street Journal also published a report on Thursday night citing U.S. government sources who said, “Musk is expected to be briefed on how U.S. forces would fight in a potential China war, including maritime tactics and targeting plans.”

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth confirmed that Musk would be at the Pentagon on Friday but said the meeting “is NOT a meeting about ‘top secret China war plans.'” Rather, Musk will be meeting with Defense officials to discuss “innovation, efficiencies & smarter production,” according to Hegseth — areas Musk has focused on improving in numerous government departments. Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell added that the Times’ report is “brazenly & maliciously wrong.”

“Elon Musk is a patriot,” Parnell said. “We are proud to have him at the Pentagon.”