Reuters: Exclusive: Senators ask Trump's Air Force nominee to respond to allegations of favoring Musk's SpaceX

Two members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday asked President Donald Trump's Air Force secretary nominee whether he unfairly favored Elon Musk in a classified, multibillion-dollar spy satellite contract.

In a letter sent Thursday, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Duckworth, both Democrats, asked nominee Troy Meink how his role in the contract solicitation may have favored SpaceX, Musk's rocket and satellite company.

The Massachusetts and Illinois lawmakers cited a recent Reuters report that Meink, a top official at the National Reconnaissance Office, changed the contract requirements in a way that made SpaceX the company best suited to fulfill it.

Complaints about Meink's role, Reuters reported, prompted the inspector general of the agency, which controls the country's spy satellite programs, to investigate whether Meink had improperly directed the transaction toward SpaceX. Musk's space venture ultimately won the classified contract in 2021.

It isn't clear whether the inspector general concluded a report or if any investigation remains underway.

Reuters was unable to reach Meink for comment on the letter.

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Read the full article here.

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