Elon Musk Staying On White House Advisory Council

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, announced that, despite mounting pressure, he will stay on President Donald Trump’s White House advisory council, according to a report by Fortune.

The president’s Strategic and Policy Forum, headed by Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman, was set to meet last Friday (Feb. 3), with members including Musk, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, IBM’s Ginni Rometty, JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon and General Motors’ Mary Barra.

Amid public outrage over President Donald Trump’s executive order to ban immigrants from seven Muslim countries from coming into the U.S., Uber CEO Travis Kalanick formally stepped down from the council, while there are rumors that Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger also plans to resign from it. The immigration order has received criticism from a variety of CEOs at some the nation’s top companies, including Ford Motor, Apple, Amazon, Google and Yahoo.

But a statement from Musk revealed that he has no plans to step down. Instead, he is choosing to stay on to “provide feedback on issues that I think are important for our country and the world.” He also pointed out that his decision to stay on the advisory council should not be interpreted that he agrees with the president’s recent policies.

“I and others will express our objections to the recent executive order on immigration and offer suggestions for changes to the policy,” he wrote. “Advisory councils simply provide advice, and attending does not mean that I agree with actions by the administration. My goals are to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy and to help make humanity a multi-planet civilization, a consequence of which will be the creation of hundreds of thousands of jobs and a more inspiring future for all. I understand the perspective of those who object to my attending this meeting, but I believe at this time that engaging on critical issues will on balance serve the greater good.”

Musk recently asked his nearly 7 million followers for their ideas on changes to the immigration ban but has still received his fair share of backlash for his decision not to resign. But the tech CEO is adamant that attacking the president “will achieve nothing” and wants to remain on the council to “make a positive contribution.”