(NewsNation) — A court case filed against billionaire Elon Musk over his $1 million daily giveaways to registered voters is on hold after a Pennsylvania judge heard arguments from the Tesla CEO’s legal team and the Philadelphia district attorney Thursday morning.
Lawyers for Musk’s super PAC on Wednesday night put in a last-minute request to have the whole case bumped up to federal court. District Attorney Larry Krasner argued the issue belongs in state court because this is affecting their border voters.
Judge Angelo Foglietta ultimately agreed to kick the matter up to federal court, but the lawyer representing Krasner, John Summers, said they are going to seek to have the matter remanded back to state court. Musk did not show up to Thursday’s hearing.
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This all began after Musk’s America PAC launched what they say is a “petition in favor of free speech and the right to bear arms.” The world’s richest man is giving $1 million a day to registered voters in battleground states. Some campaign finance experts and Democrats argue that this amounts to paying people to register to vote, which is illegal. Musk’s defenders say it is merely a contest that’s open to voters.
In the 2024 presidential election, Musk is backing Trump, who took to Truth Social on Wednesday to tell his 8 million followers that “Pennsylvania is cheating and getting caught at large-scale levels rarely seen before.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, responded on X to this claim by saying that Republican and Democratic clerks of elections are making sure only eligible voters are able to register and cast ballots.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, third from right, arrives for a hearing at a City Hall courtroom, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
“We will again have a free and fair, safe and secure election — and the will of the people will be respected,” Shapiro wrote.
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley said on NewsNation’s “The Hill” that the organization is going to “continue to be very aggressive in our monitoring and our engagement with the voters across Pennsylvania and every other battleground state.”
“If we need to go to the courts, then we will go to the court,” Whatley said.
Pennsylvania is a very important state for presidential candidates, with 19 electoral votes. Polls in the state show Trump and Harris are neck and neck. Joe Biden won the state by one percentage point in the last election.
