Billionaire Elon Musk gave $193 million to his pro-Trump super PAC through Election Day, federal filings released Thursday show—and pumped an additional $20 million into a separate Trump-aligned PAC—solidifying his place as one of President-elect Donald Trump’s biggest billionaire supporters.

KEY FACTS

America PAC’s activities are expected to continue even now that the election is over, with Musk saying on Nov. 12 the PAC will “keep grinding” to register voters in “key districts” ahead of the midterm elections, promising it will also “play a significant role in primaries.” Musk’s vocal support for Trump in the leadup to the election also led the president-elect to give the CEO reins over the “Department of Government Efficiency,” a new group that will operate outside of the government with hopes of reducing government spending. Musk will be spearheading the effort with fellow billionaire and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

FORBES VALUATION

Forbes estimates Musk’s net worth at $343.8 billion as of Thursday evening, making him the richest person in the world.

WHO ELSE HAS MUSK DONATED TO?

While America PAC was the main focus of Musk’s political giving this election cycle, FEC filings show he also made a number of other major donations, including to the National Republican Congressional Committee and state Republican parties in Utah, Alabama and California. He also gave money to GOP Rep. Ken Calvert’s reelection campaign and Colby Jenkins’ unsuccessful House race in Utah, and gave $1 million in August to Early Vote Action PAC, which is dedicated to boosting GOP voter registrations. While Musk’s reported political giving only began in July, the Wall Street Journal reported Musk previously gave money in a more roundabout way, giving more than $50 million before the 2022 midterms to a group called “Citizens for Sanity” that ran attack ads against Democrats and spending $10 million helping Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign in the GOP primaries. The former donation was reportedly funneled through a group called Building America’s Future, according to the Journal, which funded a pro-Trump PAC this election cycle that was criticized for its ads targeting Muslim voters.

TANGENT

America PAC ultimately completed its string of $1 million giveaways despite concerns that the program ran afoul of federal and state law. The Justice Department reportedly warned Musk the program could violate a federal law that prohibits paying people to vote or register to vote, given that people could only win the $1 million if they were registered voters. The DOJ ultimately never brought any actual legal complaint or charges against Musk and the PAC, however, and Trump’s impending inauguration means the agency is now unlikely to impose any consequences. Musk was also sued in Philadelphia as the city’s district attorney alleged the giveaways violated state consumer protection laws and lottery guidance, but the case was ultimately dismissed. Musk’s lawyers told the judge in the case the giveaway was not a random lottery and winners were chosen based on their suitability to be spokespeople for America PAC, and thus didn’t go against the state’s lottery rules. That sparked separate litigation, however, as signatories of the PAC’s petition sued Musk and America PAC for alleged fraud because they signed the petition believing winners were randomly selected. Those lawsuits remain pending.

KEY BACKGROUND

America PAC was formed over the summer, with early reports suggesting Musk planned to give as much as $45 million per month to the committee, which he later denied. The PAC’s creation came as Musk became a vocal Trump supporter following the assassination attempt on the ex-president, endorsing Trump in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. The move marked somewhat of an about-face for Musk, who previously was more aligned with Democrats and had publicly criticized Trump in the past. Musk became one of Trump’s loudest cheerleaders in the run up to the election, however, joining Trump on the campaign trail and singing Trump’s praises on Musk-owned social media network X in addition to his donations. The Tesla CEO—whose businesses stand to heavily benefit from Trump’s presidency—has remained by the president-elect’s side since the election as well, becoming a mainstay at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and reportedly sitting in on Trump’s meetings with lawmakers and world leaders.

Playing in front of their home fans, the Detroit Lions clinched a playoff spot after defeating the Green Bay Packers 34-31 in a back-and-forth Thursday night affair.

Detroit has swept the season series versus Green Bay and has a game-and-a-half lead over the Minnesota Vikings in the division.

The Packers, Lions and Vikings all entered Week 14 with at least nine wins. The 2024 NFC North is the first division in 39 years to have three teams with nine or more wins coming into Week 14.

Here are the winners and losers from Thursday night’s Packers vs. Lions battle:

NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.

Winners

Lions earn playoff berth

Thursday’s victory earned the Lions a playoff spot for the second straight season. The last time Detroit earned a playoff berth in back-to-back years was when they went three straight seasons from 1993-1995.

Lions continue win streak

The Lions have now won 11 straight games, the longest active win streak in the NFL. It’s also the longest win streak in franchise history.

Jared Goff

Goff threw a bad interception in the third quarter, but overall he was efficient.

The Lions QB completed 32-of-41 passes for 283 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. He finished with a 109.7 passer rating.

Goff completed 13 straight passes to finish the contest.

Tim Patrick

Patrick had two touchdown catches in the win. It was the first time the wideout entered the end zone since 2021.

Patrick missed the 2022 and 2023 seasons due to injuries. Thursday night was a good bounce-back story for the wide receiver.

Patrick’s six catches were tied for the game-high.

Losers

Defense

The Packers and Lions combined for 38 points in Week 9.

There was 41 points scored in the second half alone Thursday.

Both defenses provided little resistance, especially in the second half.

The Lions had a better excuse for their defensive shortcomings because they have 13 defensive players on injured reserve.

Yellow laundry

Thursday games are often sloppy with both teams playing on a short week. This game only had one turnover, but there were 14 total penalties.

Dan Campbell’s fourth down decisions

The Lions’ head coach is known for being aggressive, but sometimes he’s too belligerent on fourth down. With under two minutes to go in the third quarter, Campbell’s Lions got burned on a fourth-and-1 on their own 31-yard line. Running back Jahmyr Gibbs got stuffed for a negative 1-yard run.

The Packers scored a go-ahead touchdown four plays later.

Campbell’s most controversial fourth-down call came with under a minute left in the fourth quarter with the team already in field goal range. The Lions successfully converted the fourth down to win the game, but it was a reckless decision that could’ve backfired.

Campbell deserves credit, however, for staying true to his aggressive identity. The Lions converted four of five fourth-down attempts overall.

The NBA handed down several fines to the Houston Rockets after head coach Ime Udoka went on an expletive rant toward officials and one player attempted to confront a fan in the crowd.

All of the monetary penalties were in relation to Houston’s game against the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday, which the Rockets lost 120-111. Udoka and two of his players were fined for their actions.

Late in the fourth quarter of the game with the Rockets down by 12-points, Udoka was ejected after he confronted an official following a play that involved center Alperen Sengun. Udoka then followed the referee to continue arguing but was held back by other members of the coaching staff. Sengun was also tossed from the game.

When speaking to reporters after the game, Udoka said he was upset with “blatant missed calls” during the game while “ticky tack, moving screens and (expletive) like that” were called. He also criticized one of the officials of the game.

(Sengun) got fouled a few times on that drive, and on the layup, and they don’t want to call it. I told him ‘Get some (expletive) glasses. Open your eyes,'” Udoka said. “Take your sensitivity and emotions out of it and call the game the right way. It’s obvious right in front of you, and John Goble − or whoever it was − sees it, doesn’t call it, and I let him know about it.”

In addition to Udoka’s actions, after the game, forward Tari Eason had a near altercation with a fan. According to The Athletic, Eason heard a heckler as he made his way back to the locker room. He reportedly threw a towel and yelled obscenities at the heckler, and then attempted to enter the stand to confront the person before security was able to hold him back. No altercation took place.

Fines given to Rockets by NBA

For their actions on the night, the following fines were handed out to members of the Houston Rockets by the NBA:

• Ime Udoka: $50,000
• Alperen Sengun: $15,000
• Tari Eason: $35,000

Udoka was fined for “confronting and directing profane language toward a game official, failing to leave the court in a timely manner after being ejected” as well as his criticism of the officiating in the press conference.

The league said Eason’s fine was for “throwing a towel and directing inappropriate language in the direction of a fans in the spectator stands.” Sengun was fined for directing inappropriate language toward an official.

The Kansas City Chiefs are set to be without kicker Harrison Butker for their Week 14 game against the Los Angeles Chargers.

That said, it seems like the eight-year veteran will soon be back in action as the Chiefs chase an unprecedented Super Bowl three-peat.

Butker was placed on IR ahead of the Chiefs’ Week 11 matchup with the Buffalo Bills because of a calf injury. He is eligible to return from the injury list after four games, but will he play in Week 15 against the Cleveland Browns?

Here’s the latest on Butker’s injury and what to know about his status moving forward.

Harrison Butker injury update

Andy Reid provided an update about Butker during a news conference on Wednesday. He said that Butker is “potentially” on target to return in Week 15, but wouldn’t commit to the veteran kicker doing so just yet.

“We’ll see how he does in the next week or two,” Reid said, per A to Z Sports’ Charles Goldman.

When will Harrison Butker return?

The Chiefs haven’t yet provided a clear timetable on Butker’s potential return to action. Reid said Butker could “potentially” return in Week 15, but the Chiefs want to see how healthy he is before making a decision.

Kansas City may also be happy to wait and see where it is in the AFC standings before choosing to activate Butker. The Chiefs enter Week 14 with an 11-1 record and are playing the Chargers, their main competition in the AFC West.

If the Chiefs beat the Chargers, they will have a stranglehold on the division. That will give them the leeway needed to ease Butker back into action and prepare him for another postseason run.

Kansas City will have 21 days to return Butker to the 53-man roster once it does designate him to return from IR. So, while he could kick as early as Week 15, the Chiefs may be willing to let him sit until he is as close to 100% as possible.

Who is the Chiefs kicker after Harrison Butker’s injury?

The Chiefs are relying on journeyman Matthew Wright as their kicker at present. The 28-year-old has made 47-of-55 career field goals and has gone 4-of-5 for the Chiefs this season.

Kansas City initially signed Spencer Shrader to replace Butker, but Shrader suffered a right hamstring injury that landed him on IR ahead of Week 12.

The Chiefs will likely entrust Wright, who also served as an injury fill-in for Butker last season, as their kicker while both Butker and Shrader are unavailable.

Rob Gronkowski has four Super Bowl rings to his name, but one of his biggest wins came off the field.

In an interview with Fortune this week, Gronkowski revealed that he benefitted from a piece of investing advice that helped him make hundreds of thousands of dollars.

As a 25-year-old in 2014, the Patriots tight end had very little experience investing. But when the contractor who was building his house in Foxborough, Mass. urged him to invest in Apple, Gronkowski decided to give it a shot.

“I’d never been involved in stocks. I really didn’t know how stocks worked,” he said. “So I was like, ‘Alright, let me do this. I’m going to go big.’”

Gronkowski, who through the 2014 season had earned a little over $16 million from the NFL, called up his financial adviser and directed them to purchase $69,000 worth of shares of the iPhone maker.

The five-time Pro Bowler said that he promptly forgot about his purchase until two and a half years later, when he realized that his investment had grown to be worth around $250,000. At that point, Gronkowski cashed out his initial $69,000 investment and left the rest to grow.

“To this date, I have over $600,000 of Apple stock, all because of the investment I made in 2014, having no idea what I was doing but just listening to the man who built my house here in New England,” he said.

While his Apple investment paid off handsomely — the company’s stock is up more than 1,000% since 2014 — Gronkowski didn’t need the financial assist. The Super Bowl champion famously refused to spend his NFL paychecks, choosing instead to live off of his endorsement money.

In a 2020 interview with CNBC Make It, he said he always wanted to be prepared financially for the day the football paychecks stopped coming in.

“The whole point of saving throughout my NFL career was to be set for after football because you don’t know how long football will last,” he said at the time.

The financial discipline has allowed him to enjoy his sporting retirement without having to worry about continuing to make money.

“It feels good to be in [this] position,” he said. “It feels good just to go out there and try to find things that I would just love to do.“

Great Britain equestrian athlete Charlotte Dujardin has been handed a one-year ban following an International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) investigation into a video of the three-time Olympic gold medalist in dressage that led to her suspension the week before the 2024 Paris Olympics started in July.

The video showed Dujardin whipping a horse excessively during a training session at a private stable. At the time, Dujardin said the actions were “completely out of character.”

British Equestrian also supports the suspension, which prevents Dujardin from competing in national events.

In a statement posted on Instagram, Dujardin said “this has undoubtedly been one of the darkest and most difficult periods of my life, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported me during this time.” She said she accepted the FEI’s decision, and the FEI said the suspension includes the time she’s served since the body’s initial July 23 ruling.

“As the federation has recognised, my actions in the video do not reflect who I am and I can only apologise again. I understand the responsibility that comes with my position in the sport, and I will forever aim to do better,” Dujardin wrote.

In addition to her three golds, Dujardin has won an Olympic silver and two bronze medals. Her six total are tied for the most of any British female Olympian, alongside former track cyclist Dame Laura Kenny’s five golds and a silver.

Dujardin, 39, also announced Thursday that she is pregnant and that her child is due in February.

 Biotech billionaire, former Republican presidential candidate and Cincinnati-area native Vivek Ramaswamy didn’t always have nice things to say about his new cost-cutting co-worker, Elon Musk.

In fact, Ramaswamy in May 2023 compared Musk, his co-director for the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, to a “circus monkey” for China, CNN reported Wednesday.

Jinping rules China as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. Ramaswamy was discussing how he sees American business leaders, including Musk, the wealthiest man in the world, as beholden to China.

Evidently, Ramaswamy has warmed to Musk. In a statement sent to The Cincinnati Enquirer, part of the USA TODAY Network, and CNN, he said the past comments are “water under the bridge.”

The pair were meeting with Congressional Repblicans on Capitol Hill on Thursday afternoon.

More:Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy may be exempt from ethics rules as Trump’s advisors

What is the DOGE?

President-elect Donald Trump tapped both to head his new advisory commission called the Department of Government Efficiency, known by the acronym “DOGE.” While it’s still not clear how the DOGE will operate, Trump’s description indicated Ramaswamy and Musk will work together to propose where the incoming administration can cut government spending, regulations, and departments.

Why are the comments coming to light?

CNN’s KFile investigative team looked at Ramaswamy’s past comments on Musk to gauge how the two might work together. In addition to the aforementioned podcast, Ramaswamy told a Fox News podcast in 2022 that Musk changes his politics “based on the favors that he gets to be able to do business in China.”

Ramaswamy said his caustic comments came before he’d met Musk. They now know each other well, Ramaswamy said.

“I love him and respect the hell out of him, and I’m proud to call him a friend,” Ramaswamy said in the statement. “The only country he puts first is the same one I do: the United States of America.”

Ramaswamy grew up in Evendale, a suburban village just outside Cincinnati, and graduated from St. Xavier High School as valedictorian in 2003 before making millions founding a pharmaceutical company and asset management firm. He later sought the Republican nomination for president in 2024 before dropping out and endorsing Trump.

Officials in Virginia issued an Amber Alert on Thursday for what authorities describe as an abduction of three children who were waiting for a school bus.

The Virginia August County Sheriff’s Office reported the abduction occurred around 7:45 a.m. EST on Thursday. The children were waiting for a school bus outside an apartment complex in Fishersville when they were seized, according to the Virginia State Police. Fishersville is about a two-hour drive northwest of Richmond. The Amber Alert was issued by the Virginia State Police and Virginia Missing Children Clearinghouse on behalf of the sheriff’s office.

The children are thought to be in “extreme danger” and authorities believe their biological mother, Shanice Chante Davison, is responsible for their disappearance, according to the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office. The children were possibly picked up in a black Nissan Sentra with an unknown tag. Authorities believe Davison is traveling with the children to Alabama, where she lives, and that they are no longer in Virginia.

“The safety and well-being of the children remain our highest priority, and we are working diligently with law enforcement agencies across state lines to locate them,” the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release shared with USA TODAY.

Who are the missing children?

The abducted children are Ja’Liyah Lewis, Black female age 6, Ja’Miya Lewis, Black female age 8, and Jai’Marcus Lewis, Black male age 10, according to the Amber Alert. The two girls were last seen wearing pink jackets and the boy was wearing a dark blue jacket with neon zippers, the Virginia State Police reported.

According to the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office, Davison is a 55-year-old Black woman who resides in Evergreen, Alabama. She is five-feet, six-inches tall, weighs about 185 pounds and has black hair and brown eyes.

Anyone who has information about the missing children should call the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office at 540-245-5333 or make an anonymous tip through Crime Stoppers at 800-322-2017. If someone sees Davison or the children, authorities advise people to not approach them. Instead, contact local law enforcement.

 Tech billionaire Elon Musk and conservative activist Vivek Ramaswamy on Thursday began in-person discussions with congressional Republicans about ways they could slash federal spending and regulations once President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

Trump has tasked Musk and Ramaswamy with issuing recommendations to overhaul the federal budget and bureaucracy — a goal that many Republicans say they agree with, but also one that presidents and Congresses under both parties, as well as divided governments, have repeatedly failed to deliver on.

Musk and Ramaswamy traveled to Capitol Hill for a series of meetings with House and Senate members. It was their first such trip since their appointment by Trump as outside advisers, heading up a commission called the Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE is also the name of an internet meme and a cryptocurrency.

“This is a brainstorming session,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters between meetings. He said the talks are “laying the groundwork” for what lawmakers will do next year.

They have their work cut out for them.

Trump oversaw an increase in deficits during his first term, even before the Covid-19 pandemic. In his 2024 campaign, he promised to preserve two of the most expensive parts of the budget — Social Security and Medicare — beyond “cutting waste and fraud.” He also called for trillions of dollars in additional tax breaks on tips and overtime, in addition to extending his 2017 tax cuts, which would all add to the debt. And most congressional Republicans are determined to continue increasing military spending, another large slice of the pie.Musk, one of the world’s wealthiest people, has potential leverage over congressional Republicans because of his willingness to spend some of his vast fortune on politics, and his recent proximity to Trump. As recently as Sunday, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has repeatedly warned Republicans to get in line behind Trump’s priorities or else face a primary challenge in 2026.

Officially, though, the roles for Musk and Ramaswamy are only advisory. They won’t be in the government and instead will be sending recommendations to the Trump White House, with a deadline of July 4, 2026.Musk’s newfound political influence follows his campaigning for Trump over the summer and fall. His super PAC, America PAC, spent more than $152 million to boost Trump and other Republicans, with much of the money coming from Musk and his friends, according to disclosure reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. Musk also held events for Trump in swing state Pennsylvania and turned X, which he owns, into a megaphone for pro-Trump views.

Ramaswamy, a former biotech executive, ran in the Republican primary for president and lost to Trump before later endorsing him.

Musk has repeatedly faced questions about potential conflicts of interest in advising on the federal budget. SpaceX is a major federal contractor, including with the Defense Department and NASA. And, according to Ramaswamy, one of their potential targets is a $6.6 billion loan to electric vehicle maker Rivian Automotive, a competitor to Tesla. Musk has not said how or if he plans to resolve those conflicts.

One lawmaker, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said Thursday it was too early to anticipate the priorities for cuts but that loosening regulation by administrative action and through Congress would be a good place to start.

“There are tens of billions of dollars in regulatory relief that are on the table now,” Tillis said.

The U.S. budget was $6.1 trillion in fiscal year 2023, according to the Peterson Foundation.

Still, Tillis called the Thursday conversation an “organizational meeting” — akin to “an engagement meeting I’d have with a client.”

Speaking to reporters in between meetings, Musk reiterated his support for ending tax credits to encourage electric vehicle sales, aligning with Republicans who are eying cuts to clean energy funding.

“I think we should get rid of all credits,” he said in response to a reporter’s question about tax credits for electric vehicles. (Musk has previously said that EV credits help Tesla’s competitors.)

Musk said little else as he walked through the Capitol’s corridors with one of his children. The billionaire was followed so closely by Capitol Hill reporters, he said, “It’s like there’s ambient press.”

Once DOGE is established, Musk and Ramaswamy will have a small office of 10 to 12 staffers under the executive office of the president who will work closely with the Office of Management and Budget, a source involved in the effort told NBC News.

They will also have individuals within each federal department and agency who operate as DOGE liaisons, the source said. Musk and Ramaswamy are seeking individuals with business backgrounds with an interest in “gutting bureaucracy” to fill those roles. “A lot of these folks will be lawyers or have previous experience at that agency,” the source said.

Musk has shown a willingness to consider cuts to some of the federal government’s most popular programs including Social Security. On Monday, he shared a post on X from Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, advocating an overhaul of Social Security into something like individual retirement accounts. “Interesting thread,” Musk wrote.

Thursday morning, Musk met with incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., while Ramaswamy met separately behind closed doors with a group of 15 Senate Republicans for a little over an hour. In the afternoon, they met with a larger group of House and Senate members.

Leaving the meeting with Ramaswamy, senators told NBC News that it was a positive conversation and consisted of an “exchanging of ideas,” as Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., put it. But they would not divulge specific policies discussed inside.

A source familiar with the private meeting in the afternoon told NBC News that the gathering turned into an “open mic session” featuring “an airing of grievances from House members who want Elon and Vivek to solve all their problems.”

Some Democrats have expressed interest in working with Musk and Ramaswamy to reduce spending and regulations. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., posted on X on Thursday that Congress should model its efforts on a World War II-era committee led by then-Sen. Harry Truman.

“Let’s look to the Truman Committee and ensure Americans get their money’s worth with DOD spending,” he wrote.

While GOP efforts to reduce the size of the federal government and end wasteful spending are not new, senators did not offer much in terms of how this effort would be different or possibly more successful.

“You’re way too ahead,” Tillis said when asked about budget deficits.

Leaving the meeting, Ramaswamy also declined to answer reporters’ questions.

In the 2024 election, Republicans won a 53-vote Senate majority and a paper-thin House majority of 220-215. Those slim margins could give Democrats some influence over the outcome, and some of them mock the new Musk-led effort as a punchline.

“DOGE is not real. Just because someone says there is now a department of so and so does not mean the actual department now exists,” said Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., the ranking member of the Budget Committee.

“Republicans are total hypocrites when it comes to deficit and debt. … Trump added more to the national debt than any president in American history,” Boyle continued. “So I have seen this movie before. I have absolutely no doubt that if Trump is able to ram through a second round of his tax cuts, then it will explode the national debt.”

Veterans of past failed debt-reform efforts, including the Obama-era bipartisan “super committee” of 2011, doubt the DOGE will be more successful unless it’s willing to take on sacred cows.

“If past is prologue, the DOGE faces an uphill climb. It’s not yet clear what authority or reach the DOGE has, but managing the federal budget cannot be done through talking points,” said Zach Mallove, a lobbyist who worked as a policy aide to Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., when she co-chaired the super committee.

Mallove said lawmakers will have to accept some “political pain” for it to be meaningful. “In the end, the math just doesn’t add up: with a $1.7 trillion annual discretionary budget, you cannot cut $2 trillion without tapping into the country’s social safety net.”