By Michael Elkins
An exclusive story by Reuters reports that Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO, Elon Musk met with two top Biden administration officials on Friday in Washington. John Podesta, a senior advisor to the president for clean energy innovation, and Mitch Landrieu, who oversees infrastructure spending.
According to a White House spokesperson, "John Podesta and Mitch Landrieu met with Elon Musk to discuss shared goals around electrification and how the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act can advance electric vehicle production and charging as well as the broader cause of electrification".
Witnesses from Reuters spotted Podesta, Landrieu and Musk on Friday entering a downtown building that houses both Tesla's Washington lobbying operation and the Center for American Progress, the think tank Podesta founded.
Landrieu and Podesta spent about a half hour at the location before leaving without answering questions from the press. Musk left about 45 minutes after, also refusing to answer questions.
The multi-billionaire CEO has had what could be described as a strained relationship with President Biden. Musk had repeatedly complained that Biden had ignored his progress with Tesla and the role it has played in the adoption of electric vehicles in the world. Biden only publicly acknowledged the role of Tesla in U.S. electric vehicle manufacturing over a year after taking office.
Shares of TSLA are up 10.41% near end of day trading on Friday.