Elon Musk takes stand for 3rd day in Tesla investors lawsuit

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Elon Musk returned to the stand for a third day Tuesday in federal court in San Francisco to testify in a trial stemming from a class action lawsuit

brought by Tesla investors who allege he misled them with a tweet. The 51-year-old billionaire resumed his staunch defense centering on two 2018 tweets indicating testified

the day before that he lined up the money to take Tesla private under the friendly questioning of his own lawyer, Alex Spiro. While being grilled Monday by an attorney

representing Tesla shareholders, Musk at times was combative, indignant and exasperated. Through it all, Musk has insisted he had locked up financial backing for what would have

been a $72 billion buyout of Tesla during 2018 meetings with representatives from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, although no specific funding amount or price was

discussed. When presented with texts and email indicating that a representative for the Saudi fund had never pledged the money for a full buyout of Tesla, Musk colorfully

contended it was nothing more than the words of someone trying to backpedal from a previous pledge made in private conversations. He also testified that he could have

easily sold some of his holdings in SpaceX, a rocket ship maker that Musk also owns, to pay for a Tesla buyout — a tactic that he hadn't publicly floated at the time he proposed

the deal.