Elon Musk walks back claim US intended to send $50m worth of condoms to Gaza

‘Some of the things that I say will be incorrect and should be corrected,’ billionaire head of Department of Government Efficiency says

Elon Musk on Tuesday walked back a claim by President Donald Trump's administration that the US had been intending to send $50 million worth of condoms to Gaza.

During Mr Musk's visit to the Oval Office to meet Mr Trump, a reporter asked him to publicly correct the claim, which has been debunked.

"Some of the things that I say will be incorrect and should be corrected," Mr Musk said. "I mean, you know, we will make mistakes, but we'll act quickly to correct any mistakes."

The $50 million in question does indeed appear to have been earmarked for purchasing condoms – but in Mozambique. As of 2020, about 2.1 million people in the impoverished African nation were living with HIV, and the aid would have been directed at preventing its further spread.

"I'm not sure we should be sending $50 million worth of condoms to anywhere, frankly," Mr Musk added. "I'm not sure that's something Americans would be really excited about."

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters in late January that Mr Trump's administration had prevented a "preposterous waste of taxpayer money”, using the freeze on foreign aid to stop "$50 million taxpayer dollars that went out the door to fund condoms in Gaza”.

Mr Musk retweeted a video containing Ms Leavitt's claim, writing simply: "Tip of iceberg."

He added in a thread: "My guess is that a lot of that money ended up in the pockets [of] Hamas, not actually condoms."

Mr Trump has asked Mr Musk to help cut government waste, forming the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) and making the tech billionaire its head.