Biden says foreign involvement in Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition ‘worth being looked at’ 

President Joe Biden was slammed as a hypocrite Wednesday night after he suggested Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition should be investigated — while denying any wrongdoing with his son’s foreign entanglements.

The president said at a news conference that the billionaire’s acquisition of Twitter ‘is worthy of being looked at’ after he was asked whether the deal, which was partially funded by Saudi Arabia, constituted a national security threat.

‘I think that Elon Musk’s cooperation and or technical relationships with other countries is worthy of being looked at,’ he said, after a long pause – choosing his words very deliberately.

‘Whether or not he’s doing anything inappropriate. I’m not suggesting that. I’m suggesting that it’s worth looking being looked at. That’s all I’ll say.’

When asked how the deal should be looked at Biden laughed, and replied: ‘There’s a lot of ways.’

But Biden himself has been embroiled in shady dealings with foreign governments, with a whistleblower exclusively telling DailyMail.com this week how the president acted as a ‘silent partner’ in his son, Hunter’s, plans to build an online gambling venture in Latin America.

‘What about your relationships with other countries, Joe?’ The Benny Report host Benny Johnson tweeted after Biden suggested getting the Department of Justice to investigate the 51-year-old billionaire.

Chuck Callesto, a Republican political strategist, also tweeted that instead of calling for a federal investigation of Elon Musk over ‘relationships with other countries, Biden should call ‘for federal investigation of HIS SON HUNTER over ‘relationships with other countries.’ 

Author and investigative reporter Matt Taibbi, meanwhile, asked: ‘Where’s the alleged wrongdoing justifying this?’

‘It’s bad enough that we investigate people without cause now, but having the President label people threats in public? And people are okay with this?’ he asked.

And Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton called Biden’s remarks an ‘abuse of power’ as he re-released a video he put up in June saying the president called on social media companies to ‘attack free speech.’

Meanwhile, Nick Arama, a writer at Red State, claimed Musk’s only crime is ‘not being a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat who would control Twitter to help their narrative.

‘Twitter already had the Saudis invested in it. No one seemed to give a darn about that,’ he continued. ‘Now suddenly, it’s something that should be investigated.

‘Biden is effectively dictating action against a person who recommends that people vote for Republicans for Congress,’ he surmises. ‘This should concern everyone about what’s being said here.

‘If he can do it to the richest man in the world, h can do it to anyone else.’

Arama concludes by writing: ‘How  ironic that answer is also because if there’s anyone whose foreign government connections need investigation and are a threat to national security its Joe, Jim and Hunter,’ referring to the president’s son and brother.

 Musk is yet to respond to Biden’s remarks.

Tesla’s share price fell on Wednesday, closing down 7.17 percent. 

Biden’s remarks come after Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut tweeted last month that Musk’s deal with the Saudis was worth investigating.

‘Today I am requesting the Committee on Foreign Investment — which reviews acquisitions of U.S. businesses by foreign buyers — to conduct an investigation into the national security implications of Saudi Arabia’s purchase of Twitter,’ he said. 

Most foreigners seeking to take even non-controlling stakes in U.S. companies must seek approval from CFIUS, a powerful Treasury-led committee that reviews transactions for national security concerns and has the power to block them. 

Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Holding Company and the private office of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said they will continue their ownership of Twitter shares – valued at $1.89 billion.

‘The deal is in line with the long-term investment strategy which Kingdom Holding Company is known for,’ the statement said.

Alwaleed’s Kingdom Holding is 16.9 percent owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, which is chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

‘We should be concerned that the Saudis, who have a clear interest in repressing political speech and impacting U.S. politics, are now the second-largest owner of a major social media platform,’ Murphy wrote on Twitter. 

‘There is a clear national security issue at stake and CFIUS should do a review.’

But Biden has also been entangled in some shady business dealings with foreign governments.

His son, Hunter, is now under federal investigation for alleged tax crimes, money laundering and illegal foreign lobbying concerning his overseas business dealings.

The president has repeatedly said he never spoke to his son about his foreign business. 

But DailyMail.com has previously published voluminous evidence showing President Biden was aware of, and may even have been involved in, his son’s foreign business.

In October 2020, Hunter’s former business partner, Tony Bobulinski, revealed tht he discussed their deal with Chinese oil giant CEFC directly with Joe.

Other partners in the Chinese deal also texted Bobulinski that Joe was involved, and emails on Hunter’s abandoned laptop refer to Hunter allegedly holding 10 percent of the equity in the deal on his father’s behalf.

Earlier this week, DailyMail.com also exclusively revealed that the president was directly involved in his son’s venture into online gambling in Latin America in 2012 — when Biden was serving as the vice president.

A whistleblower told how they were party to a 2012 conference call involving then-VP Joe, Hunter, his business partner Jeff Cooper, late Senate majority leader Harry Reid and his son Key Reid, who was also in business with Hunter.

The source — who identified himself to Senate investigators but asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution — said of the then-vice president: ‘He wasn’t passive, he was talking about it. 

‘If I had to describe him, he was like a member of the Board of Directors.’ 

On the alleged call, he said, Joe asked about revenue projections, when the company’s software would be ready, and congratulated Cooper on securing gambling licenses from the Peruvian government, the individual said.

‘With the direct observations I had, it’s obvious Joe was participating in the business,’ they said.

The alleged call was not recorded, but DailyMail.com has independently verified the whistleblower was closely involved in Cooper’s company for years, including at the time of the conference call, and was in a position to be involved in discussions on Ocho’s business development.

Aspects of the source’s story were verified using published government records and corporate filings. The whistleblower also provided documents, emails and photographs corroborating their account of their involvement with Cooper and Hunter’s company. 

But in a statement to DailyMail.com, Cooper denied ever having a call about any of his companies with the president or late senator saying it was a ‘complete fabrication’.

Key, Hunter and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.

Biden’s swipe at Musk on Wednesday is just the most recent development in their fraught relationship, which began early on in the president’s tenure when Musk was excluded from a White House gathering of the nation’s biggest makers of electric vehicles.

‘(They) didn’t mention Tesla once and praised GM and Ford for leading the EV revolution. Does that sound maybe a little biased?’ Musk said during a panel discussion in August 2021.

‘Not the friendliest administration, seems to be controlled by unions.’

Asked in August whether the White House did not invite Musk because workers at Tesla are not unionized, the then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki said: ‘I’ll let you draw your own conclusion.’

Then in January this year, Biden again overlooked Musk and instead met with GM’s CEO, Mary Barra. 

The White House has repeatedly praised the Detroit automaker’s electric vehicle efforts, even though it is selling far fewer EVs than Tesla. 

Biden tweeted a video of himself talking to Barra, to which Musk replied ‘Starts with a T/Ends with an A/ESL in the middle.’

He then compared Biden to a ‘damp sock puppet’. 

Finally in February, Biden acknowledged Musk’s work in the field.

‘From iconic companies like GM and Ford building out new electric vehicle production to Tesla, our nation’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer, to innovative younger companies,’ Biden said, adding other start-ups and saying manufacturing is coming ‘back to America after decades.’ 

More recently, Musk urged his 114 million Twitter followers to vote against Biden’s party in the midterms, telling ‘independent-minded’ voters to pick Republicans.

He said that ‘shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties’ so independent voters should vote ‘for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic’. 

In a follow-up post, he added that ‘independent voters are the ones who actually decide who’s in charge’ because hardcore voters on both sides never vote for the other side. 

Musk previously said he used to be a Democrat, but would vote Republican in the future. 

In May, he declared he would vote Republican because the once-kind Democrat party had become ‘the party of division and hate’. 

A month earlier, he had posted a cartoon-like image attacking the Democrats for becoming more left-wing – leaving him, views unchanged, on the right of the political spectrum.

The prolific tweeter posted in May: ‘In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party. 

‘But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican. 

‘Now, watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold.’

To make matters worse, the Justice Department last month announced it was launching a criminal investigation into Tesla after the company’s self-driving feature led to more than a dozen crashes – some of which were fatal.

Musk said in 2016 that the vehicle’s ‘autopilot’ system was ‘probably better’ than a human driver, despite recent tests indicating cars failed to detect mannequin children multiple times.

A probe into more than 830,000 of the company’s vehicles and its complementary advertising leads investigators wondering whether Tesla misled consumers, investors and regulators over unsupported claims regarding the feature.

Should the department find any evidence to support its claims, criminal charges against the company or individual executives could be filed.

Former US attorney Barbara McQuade, who has prosecuted automotive companies in the past, told Reuters that investigators would need to find internal communications within the company indicating misleading statements.

The investigation follows a 2021 fatal crash in which a Tesla Model S, operating on ‘Autopilot,’ led its driver into a parked vehicle killing a 22-year-old college student.

Meanwhile, Musk acknowledged on Wednesday that his fraught takeover of Twitter two weeks ago — which has already seen him fire many of the executives including the CEO, chief financial officer and senior lawyers, plus 3,700 others — was a work in progress. 

‘Complaint hotline operator online! Please mention your complaints below,’ he tweeted Wednesday morning.

He added that afternoon: ‘Please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months. We will keep what works & change what doesn’t.’ 

Those tweets come just one day after he tweeted: ‘Twitter is the worst! But also the best.’