Elon Musk’s super PAC didn’t announce a winner for its “daily” $1 million giveaway to registered swing state voters on Wednesday, the same day news broke that the Justice Department warned Musk’s group that its sweepstakes might be illegal.
The pro-Trump group, America PAC, had publicly named a winner every day since Saturday, when Musk announced that he would award $1 million every day to people who sign his petition. The petition is in support of the 1st and 2nd Amendments to the Constitution, but importantly, only registered voters in the battleground states can sign the petition and are therefore eligible for the money.
CNN reported Wednesday afternoon that the Justice Department had sent a warning letter to the super PAC, notifying it that the lottery might violate federal law against offering incentives such as cash or prizes to induce voter registration, people briefed on the matter told CNN.
The super PAC has announced its winners each day to fanfare, with flashy videos posted to social media and celebratory tweets from Musk. It’s unclear if the Justice Department letter is why the super PAC didn’t publicly name a winner on Wednesday.
CNN has reached out to the super PAC seeking comment.
The X owner and Tesla CEO has defended the giveaway multiple times on social media. In response to a post claiming Musk was “paying to register Republicans,” Musk said on X that winners “can be from any or no political party and you don’t even have to vote.” He did not address the potential legal problem of only opening the lottery to registered voters.