Tesla CEO Elon Musk held a more than an hour-long meeting at the Pentagon on Friday morning, calling for the arrest of any Pentagon officials who leaked false information about his visit.

Musk, who is making major budget cuts in the U.S. federal government, was expected to receive updates on various sensitive issues. The New York Times claimed he would be briefed on secret war plans for China, but Musk, Trump, and others denied this report. Musk arrived in a motorcade and quickly went upstairs to meet U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. It was not clear if U.S. generals participated in the meeting online. Hegseth stated on X that the Musk meeting would focus on "innovation, efficiencies, and smarter production." The visit, which began just before 9 a.m., lasted approximately 80 minutes. As he left, Musk was spotted joking with Hegseth and stating that the meeting went well. 

Before arriving at the Pentagon on Friday, Musk slammed the New York Times, calling it "pure propaganda." "I look forward to the prosecutions of those at the Pentagon who are leaking maliciously false information to NYT. They will be found," he wrote on X. Trump also said the story wasn't true. "China will not even be mentioned or discussed," Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Thursday about the meeting. Gaining access to a top-secret military plan would significantly increase Musk's role as a Trump adviser who is leading efforts to reduce U.S. government spending. It would also raise concerns about possible conflicts of interest for Musk, as he heads Tesla and SpaceX and has business ties with China and the Pentagon. The White House has stated that Musk will step aside if any conflicts arise between his business interests and his work on reducing federal spending.

Last week, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced that she had ordered an investigation into leaks within the intelligence community. She is also looking into internal chat rooms to check for any misconduct by employees. During Trump’s first term, his administration referred more media leaks for criminal investigation each year than in any of the previous 15 years. This information comes from records released in 2021 by the Justice Department to the independent watchdog group, Project on Government Oversight, in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.