The State Department was in talks with Elon Musk's Tesla Company to buy an armored electric vehicle, but plans are pending by the Trump administration after reports emerged about the possibility of a $400 million purchase.
A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk is aiming to become President Donald Trump's billionaire adviser, demolishing government agencies and reducing federal workforce. .
It was in the planning stage, but it was projected that the Tesla deal would be the biggest deal of the year.
It shows how some of his wealth came and was expected to come from taxpayers before the plans were put on hold.
His companies earn hundreds of millions of dollars each year on contracts.
SpaceX has secured nearly $2 billion in federal funds since 2008 to ferry astronauts and satellites into space.
Tesla had already received $41.9 million from the US government, including payments for vehicles offered to several US embassies.
No government contracts were given to Tesla or other manufacturers to produce State Department armored electric vehicles, the agency said.
The Biden administration was left to the State Department to gather information from potential suppliers in September to purchase these vehicles.
Official bid requests were scheduled to be announced in May, according to State Department data in December.
However, the solicitation is currently pending and there are no plans to issue it, the State Department said.
After reports came out about plans to purchase from Tesla, the State Department changed data entries for its contract forecasts, which are projected for the second half of 2025.
The State Department said it should have been entered into the system as a general “electric vehicle maker”, but there is at least another entry for another purchase that will continue to list the companies, the German automaker BMW.
