Elon Musk is expanding his pro-Trump efforts with money and combativeness

Billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk has aggressively stepped up his efforts to re-elect former President Donald Trump, causing a stir in the political world and raising questions about the legality of some of his tactics.

Musk set out last week and weekend to drum up support for the Republican nominee — a newsworthy endeavor in itself, but even more so because of the things he did along the way. Musk pushed a debunked conspiracy theory about voter fraud on Thursday and announced that he would give $100 to every registered voter in Pennsylvania who signed a petition supporting the First and Second Amendments.

Two days later, Musk alarmed some officials and legal experts when he gave away $1 million, lottery-style, to people in Pennsylvania who signed the petition.

Meanwhile, news reports have detailed some of the problems facing America PAC, a Musk-funded political action committee designed to bolster Trump in the home stretch of the campaign. Musk has donated nearly $75 million to the PAC, according to a Federal Election Commission filing — a sum that catapults the SpaceX and Tesla founder to the top of the GOP donor circles.

Reuters, citing unnamed sources involved in the committee's work, reported that the PAC was struggling to hit key targets in some swing states and that it was investigating allegations that some poll workers were disclosing the number of voters they contacted have lied.

According to leaked data and sources familiar with the matter, the Guardian reported that around a quarter of door knocks conducted by the PAC in the crucial swing states of Arizona and Nevada were flagged as potentially fraudulent by an advertising app used by the committee.

NBC News has not independently verified either report. The committee mentioned in the Guardian report and the app did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.

Musk has established himself as one of Trump's most prominent and vocal supporters. He said the race would decide “the fate of Western civilization” and constantly made the case for the former president on X, the social media platform he runs.

Trump has welcomed Musk's support. The two men gathered earlier this month in Butler, Pennsylvania, where the former president survived an assassination attempt over the summer. Musk, who jumped on stage wearing a black “Make America Great Again” hat, described himself to the crowd as “not just MAGA, I'm a dark MAGA.”

In appearances and online, Musk made inflammatory statements about immigration and made controversial claims about widespread voter fraud.

In a post on X on Saturday, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson accused him of “spreading dangerous disinformation.” Musk responded: “Shame on you for blatantly lying to the public!” (Research and academic studies have found no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the US)

Musk's campaign sprint began Thursday with a town hall meeting at a high school in Folsom, Pennsylvania, a state that both campaigns view as a must-win. The world's richest man, wearing a yellow hat and standing in front of an American flag, pushed the discredited theory that Dominion Voting Systems was part of a conspiracy to rig US elections.

“If you have mail-in ballots and no proof of citizenship, it's almost impossible to prove fraud,” Musk said in response to an audience member's question about alleged voter fraud.

“Statistically speaking, some very strange things happen that are statistically incredibly unlikely. There's always this question of, let's say, the Dominion voting machines. It's strange, in my opinion, that they were used in Philadelphia and Maricopa County (in Arizona), but not many other places. Doesn’t that seem like a damn coincidence?”

Dominion has repeatedly denied allegations that it was involved in attempts to rig the election. In a statement last week, a spokesperson for the company disputed Musk's comments.

“Fact: Dominion does not serve Philadelphia County. Fact: Dominion's voting systems already rely on voter-verified ballots. Fact: Hand counts and audits of such ballots have repeatedly proven that Dominion machines produce accurate results. These are not questions of opinion. These are verifiable facts,” the spokesperson said in an email.

Musk's turmoil continued on Saturday with a town hall event in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he announced that his PAC would give $1 million a day to a “random” registered voter who signs a petition supporting the First and Second Amendments.

He has already written two checks.

The giveaway plan was immediately rejected by some election law experts. Rick Hasen, a UCLA law professor and NBC News election law analyst, wrote in a post on his website Saturday that the payments were “clearly illegal.”

“Basically what you are doing is creating a lottery. “They're creating a lottery where the only people eligible to participate in the lottery are those who are registered to vote or are registered to vote, and that's illegal,” Hasen told NBC News on Sunday.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat and deputy to Vice President Kamala Harris, said on NBC's “Meet the Press” that Musk's plan was “deeply concerning” and “something that law enforcement could look into.”

It was not clear whether federal officials were auditing the payments. In an email, a spokeswoman for the Federal Election Commission declined to comment on “specific activities” and “potential enforcement matters that may be brought before the agency.”

Trump isn't the only presidential candidate backed by a famous mogul. Harris is supported by billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, who has spoken at Democratic campaign events and advocated for the Democratic candidate's political plans in interviews.

Musk spoke about Cuban on It's OK. I understand. If I supported a candidate so incompetent that I had to take over and fund their work, I would also look for distractions.”