President Biden indicated Wednesday that Elon Musk’s Twitter deal, which included funding from Saudi Arabian investors, should be probed but stopped short of detailing in what way the deal should be investigated.
“I think that Elon Musk’s cooperation and/or technical relationships with other countries is worthy of being looked at, whether or not he is doing anything inappropriate. I’m not suggesting that. I’m suggesting that it’s worth being looked at,” Biden told reporters Wednesday.
When pressed on how to do so, the president said, “There’s lots of ways.”
Biden’s remarks about Musk’s deal came while he was answering questions following his remarks about Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Musk closed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter at the end of last month.
Around the time the deal closed, ending a six-month process that included a lawsuit aimed at holding Musk accountable for his deal, Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal al Saud released a statement on behalf of Riyadh-based Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) announcing the corporation’s massive investment in Twitter.
The statement announced the rollover of KHC and Alwaleed’s combined 34,948,975 shares, valued at $1.89 billion, to “the ‘New’ Twitter, led by Elon Musk.”
Days after Alwaleed’s statement, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) called for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to investigate the deal.