Musk Accompanies Trump to China, Reportedly Revealed to Have Left OpenAI Jurisdiction Without Judge Approval

According to Sentinel Beating monitoring, Elon Musk traveled to China this week with U.S. President Trump. Two sources familiar with the matter revealed that Musk's departure this time did not receive prior approval from a federal judge overseeing the OpenAI case, leaving him still under a court's "ready to subpoena" status.

Last month, Musk testified in court in California for three days, accusing OpenAI of establishing a for-profit arm against its original mission. When he left the witness stand on April 30, the judge, at the request of OpenAI's lawyers, explicitly instructed Musk to be prepared to testify again at any time. Although the judge did not issue a clear travel ban at the time, legal experts pointed out that it was extremely unusual for a witness to leave the U.S. while being potentially subject to subpoena at any time.

Wednesday of this week was the originally scheduled final day of evidence presentation in the case, with closing arguments set for Thursday. If OpenAI, Microsoft, or the judge decide to recall Musk at the last minute, he would have to rush back to the courtroom in a very short period of time.