Former MAGA influencer and Elon Musk Assistant Ashley St Clair has made a series of explosive claims against the American political right, saying she was offered large sums of money to keep silent and claiming parts of the MAGA movement operate through coordinated private group chats involving senior political figures.In an interview with reporters Mehdi HassanSt. Clair said she was offered money to promote former U.S. Ambassador Rick Grenell to serve as secretary of state. She claimed there were “multiple chat rooms that they participated in,” which she said sometimes included Trump administration officials and members of the Trump family. Grenell has previously denied involvement in any such efforts.St. Clair also said she faced pressure from people within the movement after stepping away from MAGA politics, saying she was offered significant amounts of money to keep quiet about her experiences.Asked if she had ever turned down a financial offer, she said: “I said no.”“I’m not free to discuss it, but I’ve turned down enough money, that’s the GDP of a small country,” she said.She also discussed her changing political views, her experience with MAGA, and critics’ claims that she changed her stance out of personal anger or revenge against Musk.In response to the claims, she rejected the idea that her views were motivated by revenge or financial gain. “First of all, I’m not going to make any money from this. I’m back in school. I just finished my semester with 22 credits and I plan on going to law school. That’s what I want to do. I want to start fighting and making amends within a system that I think has done a lot of harm.”She also said she expected backlash from former MAGA allies. “I knew how MAGA would react. I was in this cult for almost ten years. I knew exactly how they would respond to me, and I was prepared to be ostracized. I’m ready to get this over with. “In the interview, St. Clair said she later reconsidered her views after being exposed to different perspectives and personal experiences. She said interactions with trans friends and reading historical accounts, including slave narratives, influenced her thinking.“There’s a lot going on. Things happen slowly and then all of a sudden,” she said.She also claimed there is a strong culture of distrust in mainstream media and academic institutions within conservative circles, including encouragement to report professors through activist lists.The interview also touched on her relationship with tech billionaire Elon Musk and her legal action against his artificial intelligence company xAI after she claimed the company generated explicit deepfake images of her.
