Elon Musk’s latest break from President Donald Trump became official over the weekend, as the billionaire announced the formation of a new political organization called the “America Party.”
The move, which Musk claimed was backed “by a factor of 2 to 1” by users on his X platform, came one day after Trump signed his long-promised tax and spending bill into law on July 4.
This legislation had reportedly been described as a “disgusting abomination” by Musk.
Despite the new party’s patriotic branding, federal filings reviewed by The Dallas Express reveal that Musk has staffed it with a foreign-born treasurer and custodian of records, and appears to be using a banking partner that has been embroiled in a bitter feud with the Trump administration and many of the President’s allies.
The party’s listed treasurer is Vaibhav Taneja, a longtime Musk associate and current Tesla executive, who was born in India and formerly worked as a Certified Public Accountant in the United States. Taneja’s official title at Tesla is Chief Financial Officer, a role he has held since August 2023, following earlier stints as the company’s Chief Accounting Officer and Corporate Controller, according to Tesla’s website.
The mailing address for Taneja, as custodian of records and treasurer, is a facility located at 865 FM 1209 in Bastrop, Texas, a location that appears online as a bodega for Musk’s tunneling firm, The Boring Company. Nicknamed the “Boring Bodega,” the site is operated by another Musk venture, which, like Tesla, has been scrutinized for relying on H-1 B visa workers from abroad.
Musk’s new party is also banking with Bank of America, according to the campaign finance documentation. That detail may raise eyebrows among many of Trump’s supporters, given the bank’s strained relationship with the President and key Republican officials.
Bank of America was slammed in 2024 by the Virginia attorney general for allegedly targeting political and religious organizations for financial exclusion. Trump himself has echoed these concerns and previously issued an executive order in his first term aimed at securing “fair and open access to banking services for all law-abiding individual citizens and private-sector entities alike.”
A spokesman for the bank has reportedly insisted that it welcomes business from all viewpoints. However, state officials and lawmakers have accused the institution of quietly blacklisting organizations aligned with the President’s political base.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and others sent a letter to Bank of America in 2024 accusing it of “conditioning access to its services on customers having the bank’s preferred religious or political views.” They cited several high-profile instances of alleged account closures targeting ministries and nonprofits that held traditional views on marriage and life.
The letter also referenced a congressional report alleging that Bank of America “voluntarily” shared customer data with federal law enforcement, including information that allegedly profiled individuals as domestic threats based on their religious donations, shopping habits, or COVID-era skepticism.
On Capitol Hill, U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota has reintroduced the Fair Access to Banking Act, which aims to prohibit major financial institutions from denying service to legitimate businesses or nonprofits based on ideological reasons. The bill, which was co-sponsored by U.S. Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, has not advanced out of committee.
It is unclear how these details may shape the policies of the new America Party.
While Musk has said he will invest heavily in unseating lawmakers who supported Trump’s tax bill, it remains unclear what the party’s platform will be beyond opposition to federal spending and budget deficits.
“Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom,” Musk declared Saturday, July 5. “This will bankrupt the country,” he added in response to a user asking why he turned on Trump. “Increasing the deficit from an already insane $2T under Biden to $2.5T.”
As a winning 2024 coalition fractures, it is unclear what a feud between the world’s richest man and the sitting President could mean for congressional Republicans in the 2026 midterms.
Tesla shares, which soared after Trump’s re-election in 2024, have since fallen sharply amid the ongoing rift. A planned Tesla-linked exchange-traded fund was postponed on July 5, with Azoria Partners CEO James Fishback citing concerns over Musk’s growing political ambitions, per NBC.