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Former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney has attacked the world’s richest man Elon Musk and drawn consideration to the truth that he has not all the time been a US citizen as a part of a social media spat between the pair.
Musk – whose Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is at work scrutinizing the working of the federal authorities with a view to implementing cost-cutting measures on the behest of recent president Donald Trump – started the argument by circulating a publish on his X platform drawing consideration to Cheney’s early profession working for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Musk urged Cheney was “spawned” by USAID, which is tasked with handing out international assist and which he’s focusing on for abolition, earlier this week referring to it as a “criminal organization” with out explaining himself.
Dozens of company officers have since been positioned on depart and billions of {dollars} have been frozen because the Trump administration makes an attempt to merge it with the State Department.
Cheney did certainly work for USAID earlier than she enrolled on the University of Chicago Law School in 1996 and once more in the course of the George W Bush administration, serving on initiatives in Hungary and Poland.
Now a pariah to the MAGA motion for engaged on the House committee that investigated January 6 and for campaigning with Kamala Harris in final yr’s election, Cheney responded to the billionaire’s publish about her USAID background by saying: “Damn right, Elon. I’m proud of what America did to win the Cold War, defeat Soviet communism, and defend democracy.
“Our nation stood for freedom. You may be unfamiliar with that part of our history since you weren’t yet an American citizen.”
In gentle of her feedback, right here’s a have a look at Musk’s citizenship standing and what it would imply for his future political ambitions.
Elon Musk carries his son “X” on his shoulders throughout a go to to the US Capitol in Washington D.C. on December 5 2024 (Andrew Harnik/Getty)
Does Elon Musk have American citizenship?
Yes. Although Musk was born and raised in Pretoria, South Africa, he emigrated to the United States as a pupil in 1992 and obtained American citizenship in 2002, based on Walter Isaacson’s 2023 biography of the tech entrepreneur.
Musk himself mentioned in an X publish final yr that he initially arrived within the nation on a J-1 visa, which allows international college students to review within the U.S., earlier than transitioning to a H-1B non permanent work visa.
Can he run for the White House?
No he can not. The US Constitution says that solely people who find themselves natural-born residents are eligible to turn into American presidents.
However, naturalized residents could maintain different excessive federal places of work, together with inside an America-born president’s cupboard.
Where else does he have citizenship?
In addition to his American citizenship, Musk additionally retains South Africa citizenship and can be a Canadian citizen by way of his mom Maye Musk, who was born and raised in Canada however lived most of her grownup life in South Africa.
Her connection to the nation enabled Elon to acquire a Canadian passport in 1989 and research for 2 years at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, earlier than arriving within the U.S.
What citizenship do his youngsters have?
Elon Musk has fathered 12 youngsters in complete, the primary six of which had been born to his first spouse, Canadian creator Justine Wilson, between 2002 and 2006, with the couple’s first born Nevada tragically passing away from sudden toddler loss of life syndrome on the age of 10 weeks.
He has extra just lately had two extra youngsters with the Canadian pop star Grimes and an extra three with Canadian tech govt and enterprise capitalist Shivon Zilis.
Musk’s youngsters all have Canadian citizenship due to the shared nationality of their three moms whereas any born within the United States will even have automated American citizenship, assuming Trump doesn’t achieve ending the precept of birthright citizenship, which he has tried to do as a part of his crackdown on unlawful immigration however which has already confronted a collection of authorized challenges.
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