Bloomberg News/Landov Elon Musk
Elon Musk made a little-noticed visit to the White House on Thursday, though it’s unclear who the Tesla Inc. chief executive met with or what his purpose was.
A White House spokeswoman told MarketWatch Musk was at the White House but didn’t meet with either President Donald Trump or Vice President Mike Pence. A Tesla TSLA, +1.08% spokeswoman said she had no comment.
Musk’s visit came the same day as Trump’s latest criticism of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and his meeting with rapper and entrepreneur Kanye West dominated headlines from Washington.
Late last month, the Securities and Exchange Commission reached a settlement of fraud charges with Tesla and Musk, which forced his removal as chairman from the company’s board as well as the payment of $40 million in penalties. Musk and Tesla will pay $20 million each. The case involved statements Musk made on Twitter that regulators said were misleading.
See: Elon Musk settles with SEC, will remain Tesla CEO but resign as chairman.
On Thursday, lawyers for Tesla, Musk and the SEC responded to a federal judge’s request to justify the settlement before she approves it.
Read: Elon Musk’s settlement still on track despite tweet mocking the SEC.
Musk, also the chief executive of privately held SpaceX, isn’t a stranger to the White House. He served on Trump’s presidential councils but quit in June 2017 after Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord.
Last month, the U.S. Air Force was reportedly looking into how to respond to Musk’s apparent smoking of marijuana during a podcast.
