Elon Musk has already faced one legal battle over sending loose tweets in the midst of negotiating a deal. Early next year he will have to convince another California jury in a federal court that his social media antics over a separate big buyout were innocuous.

Elon Musk bounded into Washington as a special government employee earlier this year. Gaining unprecedented access to the corridors of power and data, the billionaire injected a sense of chaos across the US government.