The Twitter owner spoke with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and committee chairs Jim Jordan and James Comer — and discussed electric vehicles with White House advisers

On Friday, Musk spoke with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the leader of the House Oversight Committee, two of the people familiar with the matter said. It marked his second day at the Capitol, after Musk on Thursday spoke with McCarthy — a longtime friend and political ally to whom he has donated considerably.

Jordan and Comer’s offices each declined to comment on the nature of their discussions. McCarthy, who turned 58 on Thursday, declined to comment but had quipped then that Musk “came to wish me happy birthday,” adding “we’ve been friends for years.”

Musk, who is also the chief executive of Tesla, connected separately Friday with top aides to President Biden to discuss his economic agenda, including new federal investments in electric vehicle charging stations and broader efforts at electrification, according to a White House spokesperson.

Musk did not respond to a request for comment.

The meetings illustrated Musk’s complicated and conflicting relationship with the nation’s capital, where the mercurial billionaire’s ambitions — private spaceflight, self-driving cars, electric power and, now, social media — place him at the center of some of the country’s fiercest political debates. At times, though, Musk has tried to align himself with conservatives who are newly in power and increasingly eager to put the force of government behind their fierce criticism of the tech industry.

Jordan, for example, long has needled Twitter and its peers for what he says is anti-conservative bias. Comer, meanwhile, has said in interviews that he plans to investigate whether the government played a role in Twitter’s decision to suppress a 2020 New York Post story about President Biden’s son, Hunter.

Musk has promoted a series of leaked company communications related to the story, known as the “Twitter Files.” The documents showed the company independently decided to limit the spread of the article, without Democratic politicians, the Biden campaign or the FBI exerting control.

The billionaire has said his decision to buy the embattled social network was in part driven by his commitment to restoring “free speech,” which he has described as allowing people to speak freely “within the bounds of the law.” At times, he has accused previous Twitter leaders of harboring a “strong left wing bias,” and he previously told voters to vote for a Republican Congress. The statement marked a departure for social media executives who recently have attempted to steer clear of publicly endorsing political candidates.

On Thursday, Musk tweeted that he also met with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), describing his conversations at the Capitol as focused on “ensuring that this platform is fair to both parties.”

But an aide to Jeffries later told The Washington Post that the Democratic leader and Musk had only a coincidental encounter as the billionaire was leaving his meeting with McCarthy. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private exchange.

Musk’s efforts to overhaul Twitter have catapulted the company to the forefront of a heated, years-long debate over how social media giants moderate political speech.

Since taking over Twitter last fall, Musk has dismantled many of the key teams that focused on limiting the spread of violent content and misinformation on the platform. He also has overturned the suspensions on many conservative accounts that violated Twitter’s rules under previous company leadership, including former president Donald Trump’s account, which was permanently banned in the wake of the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Yet Twitter has already reversed course on some of its own, recent account reinstatements. Far-right activist Nick Fuentes, “Stop the Steal” organizer Ali Alexander and rapper Ye returned to Twitter after Musk bought the company, but have since been suspended again.

Many Democrats have reacted with alarm at Musk’s efforts, believing he has unwound the company’s previous investments in safety. They have also blasted his decision to suspend the accounts of prominent journalists, including The Post’s Drew Harwell, who remains locked out of Twitter.

But Republicans largely have cheered Musk’s takeover of Twitter, optimistic that he would reverse many of the previous leadership’s content-moderation decisions. When Musk’s plans to buy the company became public in April, for example, Jordan tweeted that “free speech is making a comeback.” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said she was “hopeful that Elon Musk will help rein in Big Tech’s history of censoring users that have a different viewpoint.”

In May 2022, Musk said he had previously voted for Democrats but could “no longer support them” and would switch to the Republican Party instead. But his ties to McCarthy stretch back well before he championed the California pol’s success as House speaker after 15 rounds of voting this month.

McCarthy, in turn, has publicly supported Musk in the past, telling reporters last year that the Biden administration should “stop picking on Elon Musk” after the president said that aspects of Musk’s business dealings deserved scrutiny.

Naomi Nix and Jeff Stein contributed to this report.