Back in February, our colleague Thomas Grove got an interesting tip.

Very early this year, I basically had a conversation with a source who told me that

Elon Musk was having conversations with Vladimir Putin. And what did you think when you heard that?

When my source told me that Elon Musk was having conversations with Vladimir Putin directly

and through intermediaries, I kind of is taken it back and shocked for a few

seconds and I didn't really know what to make of it and it only took me a minute or

two to kind of get my head back together and start asking some more questions about what this was all about.

And I thought at the time that if this turned out to be true, this would be a pretty huge deal.

Over the next eight months, Tom and a team of reporters spoke with several current and

former US, European, and Russian officials who confirmed the contact

between Musk and Putin.

And why was this such a big deal?

It raises all kinds of important questions because this is the richest man in the world and the United States is most powerful, important and influential businessman. And on the other end of the line, you have Vladimir Putin,

who, you know, has obviously emerged in the last decade or so

as the United States States chief adversary.

Welcome to the journal, our show about money, business, and power.

I'm Ryan Knutzen. It's Monday, October 28th.

Coming up on the show, Elon Musk's secret conversations with Vladimir Putin. Courage. I learned it from my adoptive mom.

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