By Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali and Nandita Bose
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Billionaire Elon Musk held a meeting for more than an hour at the Pentagon on Friday morning as the close ally of President Donald Trump called for the prosecutions of any Pentagon officials leaking false information about his visit.
Musk, who is making sweeping cuts to the U.S. federal government, had been expected to get an overview of a number of sensitive topics. The New York Times reported he would be briefed on secret war plans for China, something Musk, Trump and others denied.
Musk arrived in a motorcade and quickly moved upstairs to meet U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. It was unclear whether U.S. generals joined that meeting virtually.
Hegseth said on X the Musk meeting would focus on “innovation, efficiencies & smarter production.”
The visit, which began shortly before 9 a.m., lasted about 80 minutes. As he departed, Musk was seen joking with Hegseth, and said the meeting went well.
Earlier on Friday, before arriving at the Pentagon, Musk lashed out at the New York Times, calling it “pure propaganda.”
“I look forward to the prosecutions of those at the Pentagon who are leaking maliciously false information to NYT. They will be found,” he wrote on X.
Trump also denied the story.
“China will not even be mentioned or discussed,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Thursday about the meeting.
Access to a closely guarded military plan would mark a sharp expansion of Musk’s role as a Trump adviser who has spearheaded efforts to cut U.S. government spending.
It would also fuel questions about conflicts of interest for Musk, who as the head of Tesla and SpaceX has business interests in China and with the Pentagon.
The White House has previously said Musk will recuse himself if any conflicts of interest arise between his business dealings and his role in cutting federal government spending.
Last week, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said she had ordered an investigation into leaks from inside the intelligence community and is also probing internal chat rooms for any misconduct by employees.
During Trump’s first term, his administration referred more media leaks for criminal investigation each year than in any of the previous 15 years, according to records released in 2021 by the Justice Department to the independent watchdog group, Project on Government Oversight, in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali; Editing by Alistair Bell)
