The White House has spurned an offer by President Donald Trump’s former “first buddy” to pay the wages of TSA staff working for free during the partial government shutdown.
Billionaire Elon Musk made the generous offer in a post on his social media platform X on Saturday, noting that delays due to reduced TSA staffing were “negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans at airports throughout the country.” The post has been viewed over 90 million times.
Trump, 79, was all for the gesture, telling reporters on Monday, “I’d love it. I think it’s great. Let him do that.”
However, the White House turned down Musk’s offer, a spokesperson confirmed to the Daily Beast.
“We greatly appreciate Elon’s generous offer,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told the Daily Beast in a statement, “This would pose great legal challenges due to his involvement with federal government contracts.”
She added, “The fastest way to ensure TSA employees — and all DHS employees — get paid is for Democrats to fund the Department of Homeland Security.”
Several sources had earlier confirmed the move in a report by CBS, which cites several sources who said the White House made the move in part because they believe the partial government shutdown may be ending soon.
One option reportedly discussed from within the Trump administration was Musk transferring the money to the government‘s general fund, then paying TSA workers through that forum. The U.S. Office of Government Ethics legally prohibits an outside individual from paying government employees directly.
Sources claimed the cost of covering the outstanding TSA wages would be about $250 million.
Forbes calculated Musk’s current wealth at $827 billion, making him the richest person on the planet. However his previous links to the government could lead to possible legal red flags.
The Daily Beast has contacted Musk’s reps for comment.
On Friday, TSA staff will miss their second full paycheck since the shutdown began. The only paycheck they received was for half of their usual pay at the beginning of the shutdown.
As they are considered essential workers, TSA screeners have continued to work without pay, prompting staff to quit or call in sick.
Acting TSA administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill said on Wednesday that the shutdown was having a major financial impact on staff at her agency. “This Friday, we will have reached nearly $1 billion in missed paychecks,” she told members of Congress.
Trump insisted ICE agents be deployed to airports this week to assist TSA workers.
The snub to Musk follows the Tesla CEO being overlooked for Trump’s new tech advisory council.
The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology gathers “the nation’s foremost luminaries” to help the White House shape policy on science, technology, and innovation.
It features technical luminaries including Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Sergey Brin, NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang, AMD’s Lisa Su, and Oracle’s Larry Ellison.
Missing from the initial list of 13 appointees is Musk.
Musk previously worked in Washington as part of the DOGE team tasked with cutting government spending. He appeared to bemoan his work at the department in an interview with Katie Miller last year.
