Former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney has attacked the world’s richest man Elon Musk and drawn attention to the fact that he has not always been a US citizen as part of a social media spat between the pair.
Musk – whose Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is at work scrutinizing the running of the federal government with a view to implementing cost-cutting measures at the behest of new president Donald Trump – began the argument by circulating a post on his X platform drawing attention to Cheney’s early career working for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Musk suggested Cheney was “spawned” by USAID, which is tasked with handing out foreign aid and which he is targeting for abolition, earlier this week referring to it as a “criminal organization” without explaining himself.
Dozens of agency officials have since been placed on leave and billions of dollars have been frozen as the Trump administration attempts to merge it with the State Department.
Cheney did indeed work for USAID before she enrolled at the University of Chicago Law School in 1996 and again during the George W Bush administration, serving on projects in Hungary and Poland.
Now a pariah to the MAGA movement for working on the House committee that investigated January 6 and for campaigning with Kamala Harris in last year’s election, Cheney responded to the billionaire’s post about her USAID background by saying: “Damn right, Elon. I’m proud of what America did to win the Cold War, defeat Soviet communism, and defend democracy.
“Our nation stood for freedom. You may be unfamiliar with that part of our history since you weren’t yet an American citizen.”
In light of her comments, here’s a look at Musk’s citizenship status and what it might mean for his future political ambitions.
Does Elon Musk have American citizenship?
Yes. Although Musk was born and raised in Pretoria, South Africa, he emigrated to the United States as a student in 1992 and obtained American citizenship in 2002, according to Walter Isaacson’s 2023 biography of the tech entrepreneur.
Musk himself said in an X post last year that he originally arrived in the country on a J-1 visa, which permits foreign students to study in the U.S., before transitioning to a H-1B temporary work visa.
Can he run for the White House?
No he cannot. The US Constitution says that only people who are natural-born citizens are eligible to become American presidents.
However, naturalized citizens may hold other high federal offices, including within an America-born president’s cabinet.
Where else does he have citizenship?
In addition to his American citizenship, Musk also retains South Africa citizenship and is also a Canadian citizen through his mother Maye Musk, who was born and raised in Canada but lived most of her adult life in South Africa.
Her connection to the country enabled Elon to obtain a Canadian passport in 1989 and study for two years at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, before arriving in the U.S.
What citizenship do his children have?
Elon Musk has fathered 12 children in total, the first six of which were born to his first wife, Canadian author Justine Wilson, between 2002 and 2006, with the couple’s first born Nevada tragically passing away from sudden infant death syndrome at the age of 10 weeks.
He has more recently had two more children with the Canadian pop star Grimes and a further three with Canadian tech executive and venture capitalist Shivon Zilis.
Musk’s children all have Canadian citizenship thanks to the shared nationality of their three mothers while any born in the United States will also have automatic American citizenship, assuming Trump does not succeed in ending the principle of birthright citizenship, which he has attempted to do as part of his crackdown on illegal immigration but which has already faced a series of legal challenges.
