Elon Musk Meets With White House Officials, Congressional Republicans

White House press secretary

Karine Jean-Pierre

confirmed that the meeting occurred but didn’t provide further details. She said participants didn’t discuss Mr. Musk’s leadership of Twitter.

Mr. Musk has criticized some moves by the Biden administration, including support for rival car makers, and he once tweeted that Mr. Biden was a sock puppet of the United Auto Workers union. He has offered support at other times, such as tweeting a thumbs-up when Mr. Biden said he would pardon all prior federal offenses of simple possession of marijuana and would call on federal regulators to review how the drug is classified under U.S. drug law. 

Tesla recently cut prices for some of its vehicles sold in the U.S. by nearly 20%, a move that was expected to allow some buyers to qualify for a $7,500 federal tax credit. The electric-vehicle plan, part of the Inflation Reduction Act that was pushed by Democrats and passed last year, included new requirements for U.S. battery sourcing that auto makers have warned will make it difficult for models available today to be eligible for the tax credit. 

Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) recently introduced legislation to delay implementation of new tax credits for electric vehicles.

Mr. Musk was also at the Capitol on Thursday and Friday, meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.), as well as Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) and Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R., Ky.), according to people familiar with the meetings. 

A person familiar with the discussion said Mr. Jordan and Mr. Musk talked about the so-called Twitter files—a set of internal documents released by the company related to its content moderation—and also discussed matters such as the origins of Covid-19. 

Former Twitter executives have been asked to testify before Mr. Comer’s committee in February about the platform’s decision to temporarily curb sharing of New York Post articles about Mr. Biden’s son,

Hunter Biden,

shortly before the 2020 election. Republicans and Mr. Musk have alleged Twitter’s previous management aided Democrats by temporarily suppressing the articles. 

Jack Dorsey,

Twitter’s CEO at the time, later said the company made a mistake regarding the Post articles, but also said Twitter didn’t base its policies on any political leanings. 

Republicans have said they would make scrutiny of social-media companies a top focus now that they control a majority in the House. Mr. Comer and Mr. Jordan along with House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R., Wash.) earlier this month introduced the Protecting Speech from Government Interference Act. It would prohibit administration officials and federal bureaucrats from using their authority or influence to promote censorship of speech or pressure social-media companies to censor speech.

Mr. McCarthy told reporters on Thursday that Mr. Musk had come to wish him a happy birthday, as the two have been friends for years. He spoke at the speaker’s fundraiser last year in Jackson Hole. 

Mr. Musk endorsed Mr. McCarthy for speaker and has donated more money to Mr. McCarthy’s campaign and political committees in the past two decades than to any other member of Congress. Mr. Musk has donated over the years to Democrats and Republicans, though not as much as some other billionaires. 

Mr. Musk tweeted Thursday that he had met with Mr. McCarthy and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) “to discuss ensuring that this platform is fair to both parties,” referring to Twitter. A spokeswoman for Mr. Jeffries said that he was in Mr. McCarthy’s office to discuss a separate topic and Mr. McCarthy introduced Mr. Musk to Mr. Jeffries at the end of that meeting. 

Mr. McCarthy said that he and Mr. Musk talked about making sure Twitter is evenhanded. He said that Mr. Musk is “really defending the First Amendment, and we had a really good discussion.”

Mr. Musk also attended a McCarthy fundraiser Thursday night at the Library of Congress, according to two people familiar with the matter. 

Mr. Musk previously has described himself as politically independent, though he recently has expressed support for Republicans and has heaped criticism on Democrats, accusing them of changing from being a party focused on kindness to “the party of division & hate.” He tweeted last year that he had voted for Mr. Biden, but intended to vote Republican in the 2022 November midterms. 

—Andrew Restuccia contributed to this article.

Write to Natalie Andrews at [email protected] and Alexa Corse at [email protected]