this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2026
260 points (100.0% liked)

politics

31375 readers
2080 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles. Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to US politics and contain quality and original content. Social Media adjacent hosts like Substack are allowed, but ONLY if they tie back to a company/subsidiary. No personal or friend group blogs and no self-promotion. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and re-hosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing other users of being bots or paid actors.
  3. No memes, trolling, misinformation, or low-effort posts/comments (including reposts). If you see posts like this that anger you, do not engage. Report, block, and live a happier life than they do. Any slap-fight is subject to comment removals. Fights full of rule violations will result in temporary bans to cool off.
  4. No manipulating votes via bots or alt accounts; this will result in permanent bans. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in an account ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be permanently banned.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules and use critical thinking when reading, posting, and commenting. Users that repeatedly have comments or posts removed, weaponize reports, or violate the code of conduct, will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users. The reason(s) behind moderator action(s) are publicly available through the Modlog.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

• Register To Vote

• Citizenship Resource Center

• Congressional Awards Program

• Federal Government Agencies

• Library of Congress Legislative Resources

• The White House

• U.S. House of Representatives

• U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

• News

• World News

• Business News

• Political Discussion

• Ask Politics

• Military News

• Global Politics

• Moderate Politics

• Progressive Politics

• UK Politics

• Canadian Politics

• Australian Politics

• New Zealand Politics

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Elon Musk will not face charges for promising to give $1 million to voters in a 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court election because no jury would find that constituted election bribery, a state prosecutor said Tuesday.

Musk, the founder of SpaceX and CEO of Tesla, was deeply involved in the effort to flip majority control of the highest court in battleground Wisconsin last year. But the candidate he and Republicans backed lost to Democratic-supported Susan Crawford, whose victory preserved liberals' majority on the court.

The bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission in July referred two complaints to the Brown County district attorney’s office for possible charges, saying Musk likely broke the law. La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke was later appointed as a special prosecutor because of a conflict of interest.

all 30 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] nymnympseudonym@piefed.social 104 points 1 month ago (3 children)

no jury would find that constituted election bribery, a state prosecutor said

Even though the Wisconsin Elections Commission found probable cause that Elon Musk broke the law ?

[–] ImgurRefugee114@reddthat.com 67 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Somebody should investigate the prosecutor for accepting a bribe, me thinks.

[–] orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 1 month ago

Turtles all the way down...

[–] undefined@lemmy.hogru.ch 31 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Why don’t they actually ask a jury that, you know, with a trial maybe?

[–] halcyoncmdr@piefed.social 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Or at least a Grand one maybe. I hear those will indict a ham sandwich.

[–] nforminvasion@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

Yeah because a ham sandwhich has no assets. If you're rich, a grand jury is not indicting you as vigorously.

[–] mHtt@lemmy.ca 15 points 1 month ago

you assume they act in good faith.

[–] BillyClark@piefed.social 89 points 1 month ago (1 children)

no jury would find that constituted election bribery

Why not? Are they planning to let Elon Musk bribe the jury, as well?

[–] undefined@lemmy.hogru.ch 38 points 1 month ago

Why don’t they actually ask a jury that, you know, with a trial maybe?

[–] Bebopalouie@lemmy.ca 46 points 1 month ago

Guess the prosecutor got paid off as well.

[–] artyom@piefed.social 38 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

La Crosse County District Attorney Tim Gruenke, a Democrat, announced on Tuesday that he didn’t think he could convince a jury that Musk had made a bribe with the posts.

Gonna write this guy a nice letter...

[–] SupraMario@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

This is why even if Dems take the house and Senate, and the POTUS, nothing will be done to prosecute any of these criminals. They'll do the same shit that Biden did and drag their feet.

Still would rather they be running the show, but fucking hell...someone giving up because they don't think they could convince a jury....has he been paying attention in MN?

[–] Octavio@piefed.social 35 points 1 month ago

If you want to get away with crime in America, just be rich.

[–] weps@lemmy.world 35 points 1 month ago

state prosecutors can decide what the jury will say and that's enough to close the case

USA weird

[–] W3dd1e@lemmy.zip 18 points 1 month ago

By this logic, we should stop arresting people for attempted murder because it didn’t work anyway.

I live in Wisconsin and would have 100% called it election bribery if on the jury, because it was.

[–] lemmylump@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago
[–] Yuccagnocchiyaki@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago

Lol. This shows everyone that even the bluest of the blue states won't stand up to this stuff. CA won't even punish the a-hole sherrif that stole and tainted votes.

It doesn't matter how hard you "vote blue" ,MAGA IS NOT LEAVING WITHOUT PHYSICALLY BEING REMOVED

[–] Major_Tsiom@fedia.io 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] ScrambledEggs@lazysoci.al 3 points 1 month ago

I don't think "tough" when I think of Wisconsin. I think cheese and pudgy people.

[–] ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago

Jury muskification.

[–] DevDave@piefed.social 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

La Crosse's demographics and voting history is just marginally more for Democrats so I wonder what the justification is besides "nah"

[–] runner_g@piefed.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 month ago

💵💵💵

[–] BigTurkey@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Pretty sure if Elon goes before a jury, he is getting convicted regardless of what he is charged with cause of how much people don't like him but he'll probably find a way to bribe or blackmail a jury member or two.

[–] blastosist@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 month ago

I used to like Elon until he started talking.

[–] dan1101@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Put me on the jury

[–] itsgroundhogdayagain@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 month ago

I'm shocked

[–] bigbangdangler@reddthat.com 3 points 1 month ago

Because of course he does.

[–] santa@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago

Maybe he bribed the jury…