Home Oversight Democrats are launching a probe into Elon Musk’s standing as a authorities worker, citing conflicting statements about his position within the Trump administration and energy over the Division of Authorities Ethics (DOGE).
The administration has provided complicated statements about Musk’s position within the authorities as DOGE staff transfer from company to company wanting via information units and finishing up cuts.
In a court docket submitting Monday, White Home official Joshua Fisher stated Musk was not the formal head of DOGE however relatively a senior advisor, with “no greater authority than other senior White House advisors.”
However in talking to reporters Wednesday, President Trump stated the other.
“In direct contradiction to Mr. Fisher’s sworn statement, at a press conference on the evening of February 19, 2025, you stated, ‘I signed an order creating the Department of Government Efficiency and put a man named Elon Musk in charge,’” Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) wrote in a letter to Trump.
“As the American people can plainly see, Mr. Musk wields immense authority over the U.S. DOGE Service…and the federal government generally, with the purported power to feed Congressionally authorized and funded federal agencies “through the wood chipper[,]” but components of the White Home seem intent on obscuring the information of his position. To make sure transparency on the authority you will have granted Mr. Musk and the authorized authority he has to direct DOGE, I request that you simply present substantive documentation concerning his formal position,” Connolly wrote.
How the White Home has described Musk’s standing has developed over the course of the few months since DOGE was conceived.
Musk was named as a co-leader of DOGE alongside Vivek Ramaswamy in November, although Ramaswamy left the hassle earlier than Trump was even sworn in.
Shortly after taking workplace, the White Home additionally described Musk as a particular authorities worker, a standing which topics him to fewer ethics guidelines and monetary disclosures but in addition limits his unpaid position to 130 days.
Fisher’s sworn assertion nonetheless refers to Musk as such however provides that he “has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself. Mr. Musk can only advise the President and communicate the President’s directives.”
The letter from Connolly asks who the administrator of DOGE is in addition to what Musk’s position is in relation to DOGE and for a company chart for the entity.
It additionally asks whether or not Musk has ever decided concerning the operations of DOGE or one other authorities company or “issued a directive to a member of the U.S. DOGE Service.”
Any response from the White Home might have implications in additional than a dozen fits which were filed difficult DOGE’s authority or entry to databases at varied authorities businesses.
Some might search to sue Musk in his official capability, and whereas Fisher’s assertion might restrict the authorized publicity of Musk for now, his assertion is prone to increase additional questions in regards to the authority of DOGE to take varied actions.
