The Pentagon’s chief spokesman ripped a “garbage” New York Times report claiming that billionaire Elon Musk would be briefed Friday about the US military’s top-secret plans for a possible war with China.
“That is completely fake,” Sean Parnell said about the article on “Fox and Friends” Friday morning.
“This is egregious. This is fake. The New York Times should retract this story,” he continued.
“This type of garbage from The New York Times … undermines our mission,” he said, adding that Musk is “just coming over here for a visit again.”
The Times, citing anonymous US officials, reported that top military brass from the Pentagon would be briefing for Musk on a number of top-secret defense topics, including China.
The briefing would include a slideshow that revealed how the US plans to fight a war with China, the Times reported.
Parnell noted Musk’s importance to the DoD, but called the Times piece “ridiculous.”
“We want a guy like Elon Musk in the Defense Department to help us come up with creative solutions to the problems that we face today. But this article — this article is ridiculous. It’s fake. And I say it on the record.”
He also blasted the article on X, calling it “100% fake news” and “just brazenly & maliciously wrong.”
“Elon Musk is a patriot,” Parnell wrote. “We are proud to have him at the Pentagon.”
President Trump responded to the article on Thursday, posting on his Truth Social platform that “China will not even be mentioned or discussed” at the meeting.
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said in a post on X that the meeting would be “about innovation, efficiencies & smarter production.”
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