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Musk holds high-level meeting with Pentagon

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Tesla CEO urges prosecution for Pentagon leakers

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Trump and Musk deny press report on China war plans briefing

(Adds comment from Hegseth's chief of staff in paragraph 6)

By Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali and Nandita Bose

WASHINGTON, March 21 (Reuters) - Billionaire Elon Musk took his campaign to cut the U.S. federal government into uncharted waters on Friday, holding an unprecedented top-level meeting at the Pentagon and calling for the prosecution of any Defense Department officials leaking "maliciously false information" about his visit.

Musk, whose businesses have a number of Defense Department contracts, met U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for 80 minutes in his first such talks at the Pentagon, which is responsible for a large chunk of federal government spending. It was unclear whether U.S. generals joined that meeting virtually.

The New York Times reported that Musk would be briefed on secret war plans for China, something Musk, President Donald Trump and others denied. Musk called the report "pure propaganda" and urged legal action against leakers.

"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 before the Hegseth meeting.

A New York Times spokesperson said leak investigations are "meant to chill communications between journalists and their sources and undermine the ability of a free press to bring out vital information that may otherwise be hidden."

Hegseth's chief of staff, in a memo released late on Friday, called for an investigation into "unauthorized disclosures of national security information," to include the potential use of a polygraph tests.

At the White House after the meeting, Trump said he did not want to show the United States' plans for a potential war with China to anybody and hinted at Musk's potential conflict of interest.

"I don't want to show that to anybody. But certainly you wouldn't show it to a businessman, who is helping us so much," Trump said. "Elon has businesses in China, and he would be susceptible, perhaps, to that," Trump said.

Standing next to Trump, Hegseth said he had an informal conversation with Musk that focused on innovation and efficiencies.

"There was no war plans, no Chinese war plans. There was no secret plans," Hegseth said.

Following controversy over the New York Times story, a planned meeting between Musk and members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in a secure meeting room in the Pentagon, known as "The Tank," ultimately did not take place.

Access to a closely guarded military plan would mark a sharp expansion of Musk's role as the Trump adviser who is spearheading efforts to cut U.S. government spending.

It would also fuel questions about conflicts of interest for Musk, who as the head of Tesla and SpaceX also has business interests in China.

"There is no legitimate national security or other rationale for providing this information to Mr. Musk," two Democratic senators, Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Duckworth, wrote in a letter to Hegseth, demanding details on what information was shared with Musk and why.

The White House has previously said Musk will recuse himself if any conflicts of interest arise between his business dealings and his role in cutting federal government spending.

Musk's businesses Starlink and SpaceX already have a number of Pentagon contracts, raising questions about conflicts of interest as he advocates for innovation and re-prioritization of Pentagon spending to find efficiencies.

The opportunities for his companies, SpaceX in particular, under Trump could drive billions of dollars of revenue to his firms. Trump's planned Golden Dome missile defense shield, which would require hundreds of sensors and other satellites to keep watch for incoming ballistic missiles, would be a natural fit for SpaceX and its Starlink unit.

Musk arrived in a motorcade at the Pentagon on Friday morning and quickly moved upstairs to meet Hegseth. As he departed, Musk was seen joking with the defense secretary, and said the meeting went well.

"If there's anything I can do to be helpful, I would like us to have a good outcome here," Musk said as he departed.

Last week, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said she had ordered an investigation into leaks from inside the intelligence community and is also probing internal chat rooms 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, according to 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. (Reporting by Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali, Nandita Bose and Andrew Goudsward in Washington; Additional reporting by Kanishka Singh; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Daniel Wallis, Alistair Bell, Diane Craft and Tom Hogue)