What We're Watching

Trump, Musk sow election interference controversy in India - and Europe

Elon Musk speaks next to U.S. President Donald Trump (not pictured) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 11, 2025.
Elon Musk speaks next to U.S. President Donald Trump (not pictured) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 11, 2025.
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
India’s political class is in an uproar over claims by US President Donald Trump that USAIDgave $18 million to increase their country’s voter turnout. Trump made the statements at CPAC over the weekend, followingclaims on X by DOGE head Elon Musk that India had received $21 million for the same purpose. “They take advantage of us pretty good,” Trump said. “One of the highest tariffed nations in the world. We try and sell something. They have a 200% tariff. And then we’re giving them a lot of money to help them with their election.”

The fallout: India’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP,accused Congress Party Leader Rahul Gandhi last Thursday of having solicited foreign interference at a speaking engagement in England in 2024, before that year’s Indian elections. Congress denied the allegations and asked the government foran investigation of Trump’s claim.

The findings. On Monday, the Indian Finance Ministry reported that in 2024,USAID gave $750 million to seven projects related to agriculture, renewable energy, and health care, none of which was related to elections. Indian mediaalso reported that the funding was designated for Bangladesh, not India, to support youth civic engagement initiatives there before that country’s January 2024 elections – and that $13.4 million was utilized. Congress General Secretary in-Charge Jairam Rameshthen accused the BJP of spreading “fake news” about Gandhi and called the party “a procession of liars and illiterates.”

More than just India? While Russia has long been the focus of foreign interference allegations, the United States’ role in foreign elections is under the microscope as well. Musk stands accused ofelection interference in Romania and also was fiercely criticized for his interventions in the German election campaign by new Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who compared them to interference from Russia. “The interventions from Washington were no less dramatic and drastic and ultimately outrageous than the interventions we have seen from Moscow,” Merz said. “We are under so much pressure from two sides that my absolute priority now really is to create unity in Europe.”

More For You

Supporters of the youth-led satirical political movement Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) celebrate the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, in Mumbai, India, 26 July 2026
Deep Nair/ZUMA Press Wire

For weeks, tens of thousands of people in India – most of them young people – protested outside the Jantar Mantar, a historic observatory in New Delhi, to demand the resignation of the country’s education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan. Five days later, they got what they asked for.

A U.S. military aircraft takes off from an unknown location during what U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) says are strikes on Iran, in this screengrab from a handout video released on July 29, 2026.
U.S. Central Command/Handout via REUTERS

Egypt said two ships were hit with a drone in the port of Damietta on Wednesday, just 40 miles from the exit of the Suez Canal, the first attack in the country since the war began.