FINE PRINT

Trump’s White House ‘Gift’ Story Takes Embarrassing Twist

The president has some explaining to do over his office’s use of a key donor’s services.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has raked in $1.2 million installing and maintaining Starlink internet at the White House, despite officials previously saying it would be donated for free.

The Trump administration announced last year that the tech broligarch’s space exploration firm would install its satellite internet service at the White House free of charge.

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But four separate federal contracts now reveal that the Pentagon has since set aside almost $1.2 million for SpaceX to carry out similar-sounding work at the presidential complex, the Washington Post reports.

It is unclear whether the deals relate to the internet services Trump officials previously said were a gift, or whether Musk’s company was expected to provide more than the initial package.

The Pentagon earmarked the money to support work at the White House Communications Agency, which manages comms systems for senior administration officials.

Nonprofit watchdog Democracy Defenders Fund identified the first three of the deals, worth a combined total of around $502,000, from public contracting data, while the Post later uncovered a fourth worth a further $686,000.

Musk’s company installing its equipment at the White House has already sparked security concerns among government comms specialists.

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Members of his controversial DOGE cost-cutting drive reportedly turned up at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building last February to install the kit without having told the officials responsible for existing systems in advance.

Staffers said they’d seen a network called “Starlink Guest” pop up on their mobile devices around that time, though it was later removed.

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At the time, administration officials told the New York Times that government lawyers had approved the donation.

“I’m very concerned,” Democracy Defenders Fund’s chief counsel Virginia Canter told the Post. “We worry about pay-to-play access and these kinds of transactional arrangements.”

“When someone is given this access and subsequently given these government contracts, you have to wonder if these government contracts are in the best interest of the taxpayer,” she added.

The Daily Beast has contacted Musk’s representatives and the White House for comment on this story.

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