Tech billionaire Elon Musk defended the legality of his super PAC’s $1 million daily giveaway to registered voters in swing states, days after the Justice Department sent a letter warning that the lottery-style contest could be illegal.

Musk claimed Friday during an online town hall event on his social media app X that the purpose of the contest was not to get people to register to vote. That’s a distinction legal experts say is important because it’s illegal under federal law to pay people to register to vote.

“To be clear, this is not a petition to vote on or register for anyone. “It’s basically a petition in support of the Constitution of the United States, specifically freedom of speech and the right to bear arms,” he said.

Musk’s America PAC has been giving away $1 million a day since Saturday to a registered voter in one of the seven battleground states who has signed an online petition pledging support for the First and Second Amendments. The PAC is also offering $100 to registered voters in Pennsylvania who sign the petition. When Musk debuted the giveaways, he led a series of town halls where he repeatedly emphasized the importance of voter registration and his support for former President Donald Trump.

Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is the richest person in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, and he is using his wealth and fame to support Trump’s bid to return to the White House. Musk has given nearly $75 million to the super PAC while personally campaigning for Trump in Pennsylvania and using his platform on X to do the same.

He said at one point Friday that he was trying to be the “anti-Soros,” a reference to financier George Soros’s support for progressive causes. Answering questions on a variety of topics, he called for cutting government programs and reducing immigration, and on the subject of crime, he claimed without evidence that “there is hardly an inner city in America where it is actually safe to walk into.” (Crime is declining across the country and is near all-time lows.)

Musk’s daily drawing for $1 million is open to registered voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Legal experts have told NBC News that Musk’s contest falls into a gray area of ​​election law, and on Wednesday NBC News confirmed that the Justice Department had sent a letter to Musk’s super PAC warning that the $1 million giveaway violates could be with federal law.

Musk made no mention of the DOJ letter during Friday’s event. The topic came up when someone named “Dennis” asked if the giveaway was real.

“It’s popped up in a few places where I don’t know if it’s really you or AI,” the person said. “Is there any truth in that?”

Musk said it was true and that it was a “no-brainer” to sign the petition.

Musk took a tougher tone with the Justice Department on two other topics during the online town hall. He attacked Trump’s criminal charges, saying they occurred for “political reasons,” and he criticized the Justice Department for intervening in a lawsuit in Virginia related to immigration and that state’s voter rolls.

“The DOJ priorities seem – they seem wrong,” he said.