Billionaire Mark Cuban revealed that Vice President Kamala Harris opted out of meeting with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, later clarifying remarks over whether he meant a live interview or not.
The investor and “Shark Tank” star told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” in an interview Monday that he wanted to arrange a meeting between the Democrat presidential nominee and Musk, who held a live interview with former President Donald Trump in August on “Live on X,” formerly Twitter Spaces.”
But the Harris campaign evidently rejected the idea according to Cuban who told host Andrew Ross Sorkin, “Not Kamala specifically but her team … didn’t trust the fact that he [Musk] wouldn’t go on X and just say something to distort the purpose of the meeting,”
In response to a clip of the interview posted on X, Musk wrote that there would be no “distortion” in a live interview with Harris.
“Please can we do this. Pretty please,” Musk wrote, saying he’d be “happy to have a live discussion, so there can’t be any ‘distortion.’”
Cuban later clarified his “distortion” comment, saying it was the “wrong choice of words on my part” and that he should have used the word “disclosure.”
Wrong choice of words on my part.. Happens during a live interview.. Better choice would have been “disclosure”
Would you like to do a private meeting if she wins ? https://t.co/tHh4ZVHwTO— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) October 21, 2024
The minority owner of the Dallas Mavericks told Sorkin “100 percent yes” when he was asked if there could be any relationship between Musk and the vice president if she pulls off a win on Election Day.
“I’ve had that conversation,” Cuban said.
Later Monday, Cuban posted on X in response to a report by The Hill, saying that he had not asked the Harris campaign about an interview with Musk but for a private discussion between them.
“That is not what I said. I said that I asked them if they would be interested in talking to Elon. They said they would, but they didn’t trust him not to disclose on X, what was said,” he wrote.
No. That is not what I said. I said that I asked them if they would be interested in talking to elon. They said they would, but they didn’t trust him not to disclose what was said
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) October 21, 2024
He clarified comments when he added, “I asked if they wanted to have a discussion. Not an interview.”
I asked if they wanted to have a discussion. Not an interview
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) October 21, 2024
