Elon Musk Privately Said That Spreading a Paul Pelosi Attack Conspiracy Was Among His ‘Dumbest Mistakes’: Book

Musk's brother called the tech mogul “an idiot” for his problematic claims, according to a new biography, and “stopped following Elon on Twitter because it was too nerve-wracking"

Elon Musk privately expressed regret for tweeting a bizarre and false conspiracy theory in the wake of last year's attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul Pelosi, according to excerpts from Walter Isaacson's new biography on the Tesla CEO, which were acquired by the Los Angeles Times.

Musk's tweet came in the wake of Paul undergoing surgery after an attacker beat him with a hammer in his San Francisco home. In the tweet, the billionaire shared a link to a site that suggested Paul's injuries had been caused by a male prostitute whom he'd met at a gay bar. Musk wrote: “There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye.”

San Francisco authorities have since released body camera footage of the moments after the October 2022 attack, in which the alleged home invader can be seen inside Pelosi's home, gripping a hammer and attacking Paul in front of law enforcement authorities.

According to the initial police report, the suspect allegedly broke into the Pelosis' Bay Area home in search of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was in Washington, D.C. at the time.

Related: Donald Trump Jr. Mocks Paul Pelosi Hammer Attack as Homophobic Conspiracy Theories Sweep Right-Wing Media

Musk later deleted his tweet about the attack, though he did not apologize publicly for posting it. According to Isaacson's book, aptly titled Elon Musk, the tech mogul “said privately that [the tweet] was one of his dumbest mistakes.”

Musk's brother, Kimbal, was allegedly not impressed by the incident and called Elon “an idiot,” according to Isaacson. The book further claims Kimbal then “stopped following Elon on Twitter because it was too nerve-wracking," according to the LA Times.

“Stop falling for weird s---," Kimbal allegedly told Elon, according to the book.

Related: Elon Musk, New Twitter Owner with 115M Followers, Urges 'Voting for a Republican Congress'

Musk has, in recent years, not shied away from discussing politics, particularly after he purchased Twitter, which he later renamed X.

In November 2022, shortly after his takeover of the social media site was complete, Musk urged followers to vote Republican in the midterm elections.

Musk's tweet — which was pinned at the top of his Twitter profile after being published — effectively endorsed an entire swath of candidates and came months after the Tesla founder said he wanted to make the social media platform "balanced," saying at a tech conference in May, "I think there's a need for a public town square where people can debate issues of all kinds ... where it feels balanced from a political standpoint [and] it's not biased one way or the other."

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Also after buying the platform, Musk reversed the platform's permanent suspension of former President Donald Trump, which came in the wake of the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots.

Musk closed a $44 billion deal to purchase Twitter in October 2022 and has since seen droves of advertisers leave the platform, a trend he has blamed on "activist groups pressuring advertisers."

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