The Epstein files aren’t the only newsworthy documents being withheld from public view despite a rising clamor for transparency when it comes to the undisclosed actions of the rich and powerful.
Texas Tribune investigative reporter and editor for The Texas Newsroom, Lauren McGaughy, reported today: “Remember that story we broke a few months ago with @propublica @TexasTribune? It said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott not wanting to release his office’s emails with Elon Musk. Well we have an update.”
Note: In July, The Texas Tribune published McGaughy’s article titled, “Gov. Greg Abbott says emails with Elon Musk are too ‘intimate and embarrassing’ to make public.”
McGaughy added to today’s thread: “Our request for emails between Abbott and Musk kicked off monthslong saga. First, Abbott’s office said it’d cost $244 to review the records. We paid up. Then, they didn’t want to release the records at all. Abbott’s office asked the AG to keep the emails secret.”
Note: Since 2020, in addition to leaving California and moving his personal residence to Texas, Musk also moved the corporate headquarters of his businesses — Tesla, X, and SpaceX — to Texas.
McGaughy added with video (below): “We got our decision in August. The AG said Abbott’s office must release some emails with Elon Musk. About a month later, we got nearly 1,400 pages from the governor’s office. I was stoked. Until I took a look at the records. They were almost completely redacted.” She reported, “all but about 200 of the pages are entirely blacked out.”
We got our decision in August.
The AG said Abbott’s office must release some emails with Elon Musk. About a month later, we got nearly 1,400 pages from the governor’s office.
I was stoked. Until I took a look at the records. They were almost completely redacted. #txlege #FOIA pic.twitter.com/1mJfH4mwe5
— Lauren McGaughy (@lmcgaughy) November 19, 2025
McGaughy wrote: “Many of the records appeared to be redacted under the Public Information Act’s exemption for information related to competition or bidding. Musk did not respond to requests for comment. Abbott’s spokesman said the governor followed the law.
“Experts said this case illustrates how hard it’s become to get info about government’s dealings with business. Corporate titans like Elon Musk don’t want to release records, politicians side with them and the public is left in the dark, they said.”
According to McGaughy’s recent article, Abbott’s public information coordinator, Matthew Taylor, said releasing the Musk emails would have a “chilling effect on the frank and open discussion necessary for the decision-making process.”
The protection of corporate information concerning public-private deals and taxpayer-funded incentives for private sector industry, which many believe should be subject to public scrutiny, has its basis in a Texas State Supreme Court decision from 2015.
The court allowed that companies could withhold certain “competitively sensitive” information to protect trade secrets and negotiation details, a move that the Texas Tribune said at the time “made it easier for private companies to keep secret details of their contracts with the state of Texas and local governments, a move that public information advocates warn is ripe for abuse.”