Tesla's Elon Musk will not pull out of presidential advisory forum

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk will remain on President Donald Trump's presidential advisory forum, the Silicon Valley bigwig said in a statement on Twitter Thursday night. 

In December, Musk was named to the forum, which Trump's transition team put together to serve an economic advisory role to the new president. 

Musk's announcement comes the same day Uber CEO Travis Kalanick announced he would leave the team in the wake of Trump's widely criticized travel ban, which restricts entry to the U.S. for citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries. 

In an email published by Forbes, Kalanick explained his reasoning:

Earlier today I spoke briefly with the president about the immigration executive order and its issues for our community. I also let him know that I would not be able to participate on his economic council. Joining the group was not meant to be an endorsement of the president or his agenda, but unfortunately, it has been misinterpreted to be exactly that.

In his own statement, Musk said that while he will maintain his place on the board, he would not stay quiet on the matter of the immigration ban (advice for which he crowdsourced via Twitter late last week). 

"In [Friday's] meeting, I and others will express our objections to the recent executive order on immigration and offer suggestions for changes to the policy," he said in Thursday evening's statement, emphasizing that his participation does not amount to an endorsement of the administration's policies. "I believe at this time that engaging on critical issues will on balance serve the greater good."

Musk, a vocal proponent of climate-change-related reform, has been outwardly critical of Trump in the past. In the days leading up to the election, he told CNBC that the then-candidate "doesn't seem to have the sort of character that reflects well on the United States."