After his conflict with American entrepreneur Elon Musk, the administration of Donald Trump has studied the government contracts concluded with his company SpaceX and has concluded that it is impossible to refuse most of them due to their exceptional importance to the Pentagon and NASA, writes The Wall Street Journal, citing its sources.
According to their information, the inspections began a few days after Trump and Musk, who left government service, organized a noisy public showdown on June 5 via social networks. The purpose of the review was to identify cases of inefficient spending of funds when concluding multi-billion dollar contracts with SpaceX. In addition, the US administration wanted to find out whether companies competing with SpaceX, could perform the same tasks more efficiently.
Based on the analysis, officials concluded that SpaceX is one of the main companies in the field of rocket launches and the provision of satellite Internet services. Agreements with the company were recognized as necessary for the activities of the Ministry of Defense and NASA. However, the authorities plan to study some of the government contracts in more detail in the future.
The Wall Street Journal notes that in April of this year alone, the Pentagon signed a contract with SpaceX "for launches in the interests of national security" worth $ 5.9 billion. NASA expects SpaceX to deliver a new crew to the ISS in late July.
In mid-June, Reuters reported that the White House had ordered a review of large government contracts with SpaceX. The US Department of Defense was considering whether to reduce the role that Musk's company could play in the creation of the planned American system for missile defense “Golden Dome“.
Relations between Musk and Trump deteriorated sharply in June, after the businessman left his post at the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and against the background of the consideration of the government spending bill in Congress.
The legislative initiative received Trump's support, but Musk sharply criticized its provisions, which theoretically could lead to an increase in the national debt - Musk was specifically working on reducing government spending in DOGE to balance the budget.
The bill was eventually passed, and Musk, who is financing Trump's presidential campaign in 2024, announced that he was creating a new political party as an alternative to the Republicans and Democrats.