Can Elon Musk run for President? What has the Tesla CEO and Donald Trump previously said about becoming next US leader
Elon Musk has been given a job in the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) - but can he run for President?
Mr Musk was born in South Africa, and the US Constitution explicitly states that only “natural-born” US citizens are eligible to hold the office of president. The billionaire would be instantly disqualified from the presidency because of this.
No one “other than a natural-born citizen, or a citizen of the US at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President”, according to Snopes, citing Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the US Constitution. However, the Republican Party has nominated a candidate who was not born in the US. Despite being born in Panama and not obtaining US citizenship until he was 11 months old, John McCain was able to compete against Barack Obama in 2008.
At the time, this sparked significant debate, with some detractors arguing that it disqualified Mr McCain from running. A legal analysis, however, concluded that the politician might be regarded as “natural-born” for two reasons.
His parents were both citizens of the United States and he was born on a military post in the Panama Canal Zone, which at the time was governed by the US. Mr Musk would probably have a harder time defending his eligibility to run because his mother is Canadian and his father is South African.
Musk acknowledged that although his grandfather was American his birthplace disqualifies him from running for president. “My grandfather was American, but I was born in Africa, so I cannot be president,” he said.
He added: "But I actually don’t want to be president. I want to build rockets and cars. I believe we want to be a spacefaring civilisation and that’s where my focus will remain."
In late December Donald Trump was also asked if Musk could become president. He answered with a resounding no, pointing to US rules about being born in the country.