Musk Beijing Air Force One: Flew to China During His Own $150B OpenAI Trial Closing Arguments

# Musk Beijing Air Force One: Flew to China During His Own $150B OpenAI Trial Closing Arguments

> **Quick answer:** Elon Musk boarded Air Force One on the night of May 13, 2026, and flew to Beijing with President Trump — skipping closing arguments in his own $150 billion civil lawsuit against OpenAI, scheduled for May 14 in a San Francisco federal court. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers had warned Musk he remained subject to recall. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and more than 30 top U.S. CEOs joined the trip to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Elon Musk is suing OpenAI for $150 billion — the biggest AI lawsuit in history. Closing arguments in that trial were scheduled for Thursday, May 14, 2026. Musk spent that day in Beijing. This is what happened, why it matters, and what a federal judge can actually do about it.

## The Timeline: From Courtroom to Air Force One

The sequence of events is almost cinematic in its audacity.

On April 29, 2026, Musk finished his testimony in the OpenAI civil trial at the U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Before he left the stand, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers delivered a pointed reminder: Musk was "not excused," meaning he remained subject to recall at the request of OpenAI's attorneys. He was not permitted to simply walk away from the case.