Elon and Trump debunk NYT story about DOGE strategizing on war with China, promise prosecutions

Donald Trump and Elon Musk both went off on Thursday night after The New York Times published a story claiming Elon was heading to the Pentagon for a classified meeting about war with China.

The article said the meeting was set for Friday and that Elon would be briefed on military plans for how the U.S. would handle a conflict with China. Both Trump and Elon say the story is fake, the meeting isn’t about China, and whoever leaked this story to the press is getting prosecuted.

Trump posted:

“The Fake News is at it again, this time the Failing New York Times. They said, incorrectly, that Elon Musk is going to the Pentagon tomorrow to be briefed on any potential ‘war with China.’ How ridiculous? China will not even be mentioned or discussed.” He called the story a total lie and said, “How disgraceful it is that the discredited media can make up such lies.”

The report from The Times said the Pentagon scheduled the meeting with Elon for Friday. It claimed that two officials said the briefing would cover war strategy if China and the U.S. entered a conflict.

Another official said the focus would be China, and a fourth confirmed that the meeting was on the calendar but didn’t say what it was about. Just hours after that piece dropped, Trump denied everything and posted that the “story is completely untrue.”

Trump attacks Times, CNN, and Haberman over war claim

Trump didn’t stop there. He posted again hours after the first one and quoted the Times article directly: “‘Elon Musk will be briefed by the Pentagon about the USA’s top secret plans against China should there be a War,’ according to the Failing New York Times, one of the worst and most purposely inaccurate newspapers anywhere in the World.”

He said the entire article was based on the idea that Elon was too close to China and might leak U.S. secrets. Trump wrote, “Their FAKE concept for this story is that because Elon does some business in China, he is very conflicted and would immediately go to top Chinese officials and ‘spill the beans.”

He also attacked CNN for jumping on the story. “RATINGS CHALLENGED FAKE NEWS CNN immediately picked up on this absolutely ridiculous and false story, which is probably libelous, and went heavy with it. Fortunately, nobody was watching!”

Then he turned his attention to Times reporter Maggie Haberman. “Maggot Hagerman, the really dumb ‘scammer’ who constantly writes about me for the Times, using anonymous, made up (nonexistent!) sources, and who I haven’t spoken to in ages, is a big part of the Scam,” Trump said. He blamed her for past coverage of the Russia investigation, saying:

“She lead the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, only to realize that she was duped and got it wrong. She owes me a totally discredited Pulitzer Prize for her bad reporting.” Trump ended with, “The Fake News is the ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE… And Elon is NOT BEING BRIEFED ON ANYTHING CHINA BY THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR!!!”

Elon slams propaganda, calls for prosecutions

Elon posted on X right after Trump, sharing a screenshot of Trump’s first post. He added, “The New York Times is pure propaganda. Also, I look forward to the prosecutions of those at the Pentagon who are leaking maliciously false information to NYT. They will be found.”

The Times had said the Pentagon planned to show Elon some of the most sensitive military documents in the government. They said he’d get access to about 20 to 30 slides detailing what a war with China would look like, how long it would last, which targets would be hit, and in what order. They said this plan would then be shown to Trump for approval. The Times also said giving Elon this kind of access would be a big expansion of his role under Trump’s second term.

The article also raised conflict of interest concerns. It said Elon, as head of SpaceX and Tesla, works with the government as a major contractor but also has major operations in China. It said these business ties are why some people think he might be a risk when it comes to classified info.

According to The Times, this plan is what the Pentagon calls an O-plan, short for operational plan. These are the most protected documents in the military. If another country finds out about them, it could totally change the outcome of a war.

The Times claimed the plan shows how the U.S. would identify signs of a threat from China, and then which targets would be hit and when. The article didn’t say how the meeting got scheduled or how much of the plan Elon would be allowed to see.

Pentagon tries to clean up the story, then confirms meeting

The White House didn’t reply to questions about the meeting. There was no official answer about whether Trump approved the meeting or signed a conflict of interest waiver. Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesman, also didn’t reply right away. But after the story dropped, he gave a short statement: “The Defense Department is excited to welcome Elon Musk to the Pentagon on Friday. He was invited by Secretary Hegseth and is just visiting.”

Then Parnell posted on X: “This is 100% Fake News. Just brazenly & maliciously wrong. Elon Musk is a patriot. We are proud to have him at the Pentagon.”

Pete Hegseth, the Defense Secretary, also posted. He said, “This is NOT a meeting about ‘top secret China war plans.’ It’s an informal meeting about innovation, efficiencies & smarter production. Gonna be great!”

About 30 minutes later, The Wall Street Journal confirmed that Elon had actually been scheduled to be briefed on U.S. war plans involving China.

After that, Elon posted again, repeating his call for prosecutions: “I look forward to the prosecutions of those at the Pentagon who are leaking maliciously false information to NYT.”

According to the Times, the meeting was supposed to be held in the Tank. That’s a secure room at the Pentagon used for Joint Chiefs meetings and top-level national security briefings. Not the usual office for informal innovation talks.

The article said Elon would be briefed by Hegseth, Admiral Christopher Grady—the acting chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff—and Admiral Samuel Paparo, who leads Indo-Pacific Command. They said these three were set to present Elon with detailed plans for what the U.S. would do if war broke out with China.

Hegseth had already reviewed part of this same plan last week and again on Wednesday, according to the Times. So they implied this wasn’t a casual meeting thrown together last minute.

It’s also unclear how much of the plan Elon asked to see, or whether he was supposed to get the full technical version. The article said that even most presidents don’t see the full documents. They just get a simplified version because the actual plan is too complex. It’s made for military planners, not executives or politicians.

The article ended by saying it wasn’t clear what led the Pentagon to brief Elon in the first place. He’s not in the military. He’s not a government official. He’s not part of the national security team. And he doesn’t have a formal role advising Trump on China-related military strategy.

Still, the plan was there. The meeting was scheduled. The Pentagon confirmed the visit. Then, they denied the purpose. And now, both Trump and Elon want criminal charges filed against whoever gave that information to the press.

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