With US midterm elections approaching, President Donald Trump said he would be willing to grant pre-emptive pardons to Elon Musk and close associates if Democrats take control of Congress. He made the remarks on the podcast “Pod Force One,” responding to a question about whether such pardons could be issued in advance.

Trump said he would protect Musk and his employees if congressional investigators targeted them. He specifically mentioned Edward Coristine, who was involved in Musk’s DOGE project, which sought to reduce government programs. Trump also rejected the idea that Democrats could nationalize Musk’s space company, SpaceX.

The president compared the proposal with pardons granted by his predecessor, Joe Biden, to his son Hunter and several government officials who could have feared retaliation under a second Trump administration. Musk has supported Republican candidates during the campaign with hundreds of millions of dollars and recently argued that a Republican Senate majority was necessary to prevent what he called a permanent one-party state under the Democrats.

The elections will determine all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 Senate seats. Republicans currently hold narrow majorities in both chambers and could either retain or lose control after Tuesday’s vote.

The campaign has also exposed divisions among Michigan Democrats. Representative Haley Stevens, who narrowly lost the Democratic primary to Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in August, appeared at a church event in Detroit alongside Republican candidate Mike Rogers and endorsed him. Stevens has criticized El-Sayed’s comments on Israel and demanded that he distance himself from an advertisement linking high food prices to US support for Israel. El-Sayed said the advertisement was not produced by his campaign and that he disagreed with its content.

Separately, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation called for a permanent ban on Chinese vehicles in the United States. Its president, John Bozzella, said the US market needed protection from Chinese imports that could pose surveillance risks and disadvantage established manufacturers. The group represents nearly all major automakers in the country, including General Motors, Toyota and Volkswagen. Supporters of a bipartisan Senate measure agreed in September to delay consideration until November.

Trump has also faced several legal setbacks and disputes before the vote. A federal judge in Miami dismissed his lawsuit seeking $10 billion from The Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch over reporting about his links to Jeffrey Epstein, finding that Trump had not shown maliciously defamatory conduct. Washington, D.C., and Virginia, meanwhile, filed suit over Trump’s proposed triumphal arch in the capital, arguing that the plan had not been approved by Congress.

In Alaska, the Justice Department asked a court to require separate storage of certain ballots from the closely contested Senate election. The request concerns votes for political newcomer Dan J. Sullivan, whom Republicans regard as a Democratic front candidate, and is intended to preserve the possibility of examining whether voters were confused by the identical names of two candidates.

Trump also canceled planned personal campaign appearances in Iowa and Kansas, replacing them with telephone rallies aimed at voters in almost 20 states. The Republican National Committee said the format would allow him to reach supporters nationwide. Trump dismissed suggestions that health concerns were behind the change, saying he felt great.

Sources: Handelsblatt.