According to The Guardian, on July 10th in Texas, Nathan Johnson, the candidate for the Democratic Attorney General, said that if elected, he would investigate SpaceX thoroughly. He stated that a policy subsidy of $110 million given to Musk “clearly involves corruption.”
On that day, Johnson called on the state legislature to strengthen regulations regarding the special subsidies given to SpaceX. These funds were intended to support the U.S. internet satellite constellation project, ‘Starlink’. He pointed out that the Republican leadership in Texas had allocated 99% of the total rural broadband subsidies to Musk’s company, resulting in an extremely unfair distribution. Moreover, Musk is an important ally of Trump.
"I did not directly conclude that this transaction involves corruption, I merely said it appears so," Johnson criticized. "The public has lost trust in this procurement process."
It is reported that this Starlink subsidy was approved by Greg Abbott, the Republican governor of Texas. The governor’s office changed the bidding rules, giving preference to low-earth orbit satellite providers in rural internet procurement projects, which has sparked significant controversy.
File records show that Musk has previously provided political donations to several politicians including Albert, but there is currently no evidence to prove a connection between the donations and this subsidy.
During a hearing of the Business and Commerce Committee of the Texas Senate in June this year, Johnson questioned several officials from the Texas Broadband Development Agency (BDO). The officials admitted in court that the adjustment to the subsidy application rules was carried out at the request of the governor.
