Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk has accused President Joe Biden of ignoring his electric vehicle (EV) firm and giving more attention to legacy automakers instead.
Musk sent an exclusive email to CNBC after being approached about recent rumors that President Biden and other officials inside the White House had no immediate plans to invite Musk to prospective forthcoming meetings with business executives.
The Tesla CEO, who also runs space exploration company SpaceX, said there is no “feud” between him and the President but that “Biden has pointedly ignored Tesla at every turn.”
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“Biden has pointedly ignored Tesla at every turn and falsely stated to the public that GM leads the electric car industry, when in fact Tesla produced over 300,000 electric vehicles last quarter and GM produced 26,” Musk wrote.
He added:
“It got to the point, hilariously, where no one in the administration was even allowed to say the word ‘Tesla’!” The public outrage and media pressure about the statement forced him to admit that Tesla does in fact lead the EV industry.”
The White House has nothing to worry about
Since the beginning of the Biden administration, Musk and the White House have been at loggerheads over the President’s desire for infrastructure reform and encouragement of auto manufacturers to become green.
In February, President Joe Biden recognized Tesla’s position as the nation’s leading maker of electric automobiles for the first time during his administration.
Though sources suggest, Biden’s aides have privately urged him not to invite Musk to future business meetings because they are afraid that the outspoken entrepreneur may say something that will embarrass the President or the administration.
However, Musk also provided assurances to senior White House officials who were concerned that Musk might do or say something inappropriate if asked to speak at an event hosted by the White House; he said, “They have nothing to worry about, I would do the right thing.”
Notably, Tesla’s car deliveries increased by more than 80% in 2021 and the also company expects to deliver 1.5 million vehicles by the end of 2022, having already built and delivered more than 300,000 vehicles, according to its announcement of its fourth-quarter results.
Watch the video: Elon Musk accuses President Biden of pointedly ignoring ‘Tesla at every turn’