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Tag: Elon

DOGE chair Joni Ernst keeping close contact with Elon Musk as Trump admin slashes spending

Senate Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Caucus Chairwoman Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said she talks to Trump-aligned billionaire Elon Musk every couple of days as he spearheads the administration’s effort to slash wasteful spending.

“We communicate back and forth every few days or so,” she told Fox News Digital in an interview. “I’ll send additional ideas that we come up with.”

According to Ernst, during a meeting at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in November, she gave Musk “an eight-page memorandum blueprint with a number of cost-saving ideas.”

SCOOP: TRUMP BUDGET CHIEF VOUGHT TELLS GOP SENATORS $175B NEEDED ‘IMMEDIATELY’ FOR BORDER SECURITY

Elon Musk and Joni Ernst have been staying connected on DOGE. (Reuters/ Getty Images)

“He literally is taking that and running with it,” the Iowa Republican remarked.

She said she simply sends new ideas directly to Musk, and “pretty soon you’ll see a tweet out on X.”

When asked whether she thought she would ever be working to audit the government with the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, as well as the owner of X, Ernst laughed, “Never in a million years.”

TRUMP ON VERGE OF NEXT CABINET VICTORY WITH LATE-NIGHT TULSI GABBARD SENATE VOTE

The Congressional DOGE Caucus now has over 100 members, Fox News Digital was told. (House of Representatives/Getty)

Since Trump took office last month, DOGE has taken swift action to audit agencies and departments within the executive branch, rooting out contracts, programs and spending that Trump and Musk consider unnecessary or wasteful.

The effort has been met by Democrats with protests, as lawmakers have shown up outside the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Department of Treasury and the Department of Education to demonstrate. Some Democrats have even attempted to enter the buildings, but were prevented.

NOEM, HEGSETH, BONDI PLEAD WITH CONGRESS FOR MORE BORDER FUNDING AMID LARGE-SCALE DEPORTATIONS

Protesters descended on the building that once housed USAID. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

On the other hand, Republicans have cheered the initiative. For example, Ernst told Fox News Digital that DOGE’s actions so far have been “tremendous.”

As for criticisms of how DOGE’s staffers are conducting their audit and what information they are gaining access to, the Iowa Republican maintained that it is completely legal in her opinion. “This is the executive branch and they are scrutinizing the executive branch. So, of course, it’s legal,” she said.

LORI CHAVEZ-DEREMER: THE LITTLE-KNOWN TRUMP NOMINEE WHO MAY NEED TO RELY ON DEMS

Joni Ernst is chairwoman of the DOGE caucus. (Reuters)

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“There is nothing in the Constitution that says the president cannot scrutinize the expenditures, especially when those dollars are going to programs that members here in Congress did not anticipate,” she noted, referencing jaw-dropping programs being uncovered by DOGE, showing significant money going towards Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), among other initiatives.

Fox News Digital reached out to Musk’s DOGE for comment.

Julia Johnson is a politics writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business, leading coverage of the U.S. Senate. She was previously a politics reporter at the Washington Examiner.

Follow Julia’s reporting on X at @JuliaaJohnson_ and send tips to [email protected].

February 12, 2025
GOP bill targets NPR, PBS funding amid Elon Musk’s DOGE audits

FIRST ON FOX: Republicans lawmakers are renewing efforts to gut federal funding to NPR and PBS amid the Trump administration’s upheaval of the federal bureaucracy.

Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., is leading a bill in the House of Representatives that would halt taxpayer dollars from going to either media broadcaster and reroute existing federal funds to reducing the national debt, according to legislative text previewed by Fox News Digital.

“As a former newspaper owner and publisher, I understand the vital role of balanced, non-partisan media. Unfortunately, these taxpayer-funded outlets have chosen advocacy over accuracy, using public dollars to promote a political agenda rather than report the facts,” Tenney told Fox News Digital.

SCOOP: KEY CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS DRAWS RED LINE ON HOUSE BUDGET PLAN

House Republicans are targeting PBS and NPR with new legislation. (Getty)

The legislation’s Senate counterpart is being led by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who told Fox News Digital, “Americans have hundreds of sources of news and commentary, and they don’t need politically biased, taxpayer-funded media choosing what they should see and hear. PBS and NPR are free to compete in the marketplace of ideas using donations, but their public subsidy should end.”

Republicans have long targeted NPR and PBS, accusing both outlets of sharing a liberal bias while receiving government funding.

Less than 1% of NPR’s funding comes directly from the federal government, though other funding comes indirectly from grants and dollars allocated to local member stations who then pay fees back to NPR. More than a third of its funding comes from corporate sponsorships.

Rep. Claudia Tenney introduced the bill on the House side. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

PBS also gets a mix of federal funds through other avenues.

However, the GOP’s demands to end federal allocations to both outlets now come at a time when the executive branch is fervently searching for places to block government spending that does not align with the Trump administration’s agenda.

Elon Musk, who is leading Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative, has been critical of NPR in the past.

“Defund NPR. It should survive on its own,” Musk wrote on his X platform earlier this month.

‘WE’RE THE GOLD STANDARD’: GOP LAWMAKER CALLS FOR CONGRESSIONAL HEARING OVER DC PLANE CRASH

Sen. Mike Lee is leading the bill in the upper chamber. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

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Soon after he acquired X, Musk briefly hit NPR with a “State-Affiliated” media label, which is normally reserved for the media arm of authoritarian governments.

Tenney’s bill is one of multiple efforts targeting NPR and PBS during this Congress. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who chairs the DOGE subcommittee under the House Oversight Committee, said she wants the heads of each organization to come testify before her new panel.

Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.

Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to [email protected]

February 11, 2025
Trump, Elon Musk share love of plastic straws

‘Kudlow’ panelists Art Laffer and Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., discuss tariff policy and efforts to end waste.

It looks like President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are bonding over their distaste for paper straws.

Musk, the billionaire CEO of automaker Tesla and Trump’s head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has opined about paper straws and strawless lids in the past.

In 2022, for instance, he wrote on X, “Stop the war on straws!” Musk also called paper straws “the worst” in a more-recent August 2024 post on the social media platform.

Paper straws and other alternatives to plastic straws have gained steam over the past 10 years or so because of concerns about the environment and plastic pollution.

TRUMP TREASURY HEAD DEFENDS ELON MUSK’S DOGE DESPITE ‘SQUAWKING’ FROM CRITICS

Now, Trump has issued an executive order to “end the procurement and forced use of paper straws.”

“

President-elect Donald Trump arrives to speak during an election night event on Nov. 6, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

“We’re going back to plastic straws. These things don’t work. I’ve had a many times and on occasion they break, they explode. If something’s hot, they don’t last very long. Like a matter of minutes. Sometimes a matter of seconds. It’s a ridiculous situation. So we’re going back to plastic straws,” Trump said Monday as he signed the executive order.

Trump’s executive order came after he signaled late last week on Truth Social that he would issue one “ending the ridiculous Biden push for Paper Straws, which don’t work.”

“BACK TO PLASTIC!” he wrote.

Trump’s announcement prompted Musk to praise Trump as the “Greatest President ever.”

President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk attend a launch of the SpaceX Starship rocket in Brownsville, Texas, Nov. 19, 2024. (Brandon Bell/Pool via / Reuters)

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During July of last year, the Biden administration pushed to sunset “federal procurement of single-use plastics from food service operations, events, and packaging by 2027, and from all federal operations by 2035.” It cited an ongoing “plastic pollution crisis” as the reason behind that move and other efforts.

Straws, cups, forks, knives and spoons are some common single-use plastics used for food.

‘BACK TO PLASTIC!’: TRUMP VOWS EXECUTIVE ORDER ENDING ‘RIDICULOUS’ PUSH FOR PAPER STRAWS

Prior to the Biden administration’s July 2024 efforts to phase single-use plastics out of the government’s operations, the Department of Interior had issued a 2022 order seeking to move away from single-use plastics on lands it managed by 2032 by working to “reduce the procurement, sale and distribution” of such products.

Even as some studies found 90% of paper straws tested contained forever chemicals compared to 75% of plastic straws.

Some studies found 90% of paper straws tested contained forever chemicals compared to 75% of plastic straws. ( / iStock)

The Interior Department’s actions were part of an executive order signed by Biden in December 2021.

Fox News Digital’s Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.

February 11, 2025
Canadian lawmaker wants to target Elon Musk in retaliation to Trump’s tariffs

Potential Canadian prime minister, Jagmeet Singh, warned President Donald Trump and Tesla-founder Elon Musk that Canada will respond to American tariffs with tariffs of its own.

Canadian lawmaker Jagmeet Singh proposed that Canada should “fight back” towards President Donald Trump and Tesla founder Elon Musk with new tariffs targeted at the Tesla founder.

Trump told reporters on Monday that he would soon announce 25% tariffs on all aluminum and steel imports into the U.S. and also plans to announce “reciprocal tariffs” – or tariffs directed at countries that impose duties on U.S. exports.

“Very simply, if they charge us, we charge them,” Trump said to reporters. “If they are charging us 130%, and we’re charging them nothing, it’s not going to stay that way.”

“Every country will be reciprocal,” he added.

Canada’s NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh warned President Donald Trump and Tesla-founder Elon Musk that Canada will respond to tariffs with tariffs of their own. (CNN)

MEXICO AGREES TO DEPLOY 10,000 TROOPS TO US BORDER IN EXCHANGE FOR TARIFF PAUSE

Trump’s announcement ruffled feathers in Canada, causing the New Democratic Party leader to single out Musk.

“Elon Musk has been very loud. Very vocal attacking our country. We’re not going to let that stand. So if you are going to take a shot at us, we’re going to fight back,” Singh told reporters. “So Elon Musk thinks he can tweet off whatever he wants. Yeah, we’re going to put a tariff on him. I want that to be something that impacts him.”

CNN host Boris Sanchez spoke to Singh on Monday, asking about how Canadians feel about Trump’s talk of bringing Canada in as the 51st state. Singh noted that Canadians are known for being polite, but warned, “don‘t take our kindness for weakness” and said “hell no” to the proposal.

When asked about how he might approach Trump differently than current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Singh argued that he would “fight back” against economic “bully” tactics.

“I believe in being good neighbors and having good relationships, but I believe very firmly Donald Trump only understands force. He‘s acted as a bully in many circumstances, and now he‘s acting as an economic bully. The only language that bullies understand is the language of strength. So we have to show that we‘re ready to fight back,” Singh replied. “We might be smaller. We might be up against a larger opponent, but it‘s going to hurt both of us. It‘s a bad thing to do. It‘s going to hurt Americans. It‘s going to hurt Canadians. We need to show that it‘s the wrong thing to do, and also show that we‘re ready to fight back and defend what we have.”

U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attend the NATO summit at the Grove Hotel on December 4, 2019, in Watford, England. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) / Getty Images)

PALANTIR CEO TOUTS ELON MUSK’S DOGE, ABILITY TO HOLD ‘SACRED COW OF THE DEEP STATE’ ACCOUNTABLE

He added how he would do “dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs” and that Trump had started this fight. Included in his plan to hit back, would be to target Musk specifically, because of his comments about Canada becoming the 51st state.

O’Leary Ventures Chairman Kevin O’Leary shares whether he’s concerned about President Donald Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum, the fate of the U.S. penny and the handling of the TikTok sale.

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“We just announced today what I would do is put in place a 100% tariff on Tesla, directly targeting Elon Musk. Elon Musk is proudly touting this idea of the 51st state, so let‘s hit back at Elon Musk,” Singh argued. “I‘ve also said we should shut down the supply of critical minerals. Another move that directly targets Elon Musk and his Tesla company, the batteries that he needs require these critical minerals. We‘ve got tools, and we should be ready to use them.”

He added, “It’s not something that we wanted to do, but if Donald Trump wants to bring this fight, know that we are ready. I’m putting Donald Trump on notice.”

February 10, 2025
LARRY KUDLOW: Elon Musk is here to stay — Democrats just have to deal with it

Donald Trump likes Elon Musk, and trusts Elon Musk.

President Trump totally supports the Elon Musk efficiency audit that has already uncovered fraud in numerous areas inside agencies where there’s been spending on items that Congress never mandated.

In fact, Mr. Trump is going to expand Musk’s remit to include auditing the Education Department and the Pentagon. And there may well be more.

Here’s how I put it this morning on Fox News Channel’s Outnumbered.

“The Elon Musk exercise is about systems, and efficiency, and delivery. It is not changing policies on the fly. Hence, there is nothing wrong with an audit… They’re finding judges, okay, who are all slightly to the left of Whoopi Goldberg… There’s nothing constitutional, there’s nothing policy about this.”

– Larry Kudlow, “Outnumbered” on Fox News Channel, February 10

Attorney General Pam Bondi will be moving rapidly to vacate various restraining orders put on many Trump actions, including the Elon Musk payments systems reviews.

Interestingly, none of the left-wing judges opposing Trump have used any case law so far. Department of Justice appeals may have to go all the way up to the Supreme Court. If they do, hopefully the Supremes will act expeditiously.

But the whole point of the Musk operation is transparency and efficiency in spending taxpayer dollars.

Additionally, Elon Musk and DOGE staff are federal government employees. They have been on-boarded, received ethics training and records training, have gotten interim clearances, and, according to Fox News Legal Editor Kerri Urbahn, the idea that career employees can have access to sensitive information — but political appointees should not — is preposterous on its face.

There is nothing unconstitutional about any of this.

Then comes a bunch of former Democratic Treasury Secretaries writing in the New York Times that efficiency audits in the Treasury Department might somehow impede U.S. financial commitments, even reaching into the credit worthiness of Treasury bonds. This is absolute Democratic hogwash.

As current Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has found, “controls for spending of the previous [Biden] administration were unacceptable. They were sending money out without knowing where the money was going.”

Last week, Scott Bessent told me on this show in Washington, D.C., “they are moving a lot of people’s cheese here in the Capitol and, when you hear this squawking, then some status quo interest is not happy.”

February 10, 2025
Elon Musk warns Federal Reserve may face DOGE audit

Varney & Co. host Stuart Varney reacts to Democrats attacks on Elon Musk over his federal budget cost-cutting efforts.

Billionaire Elon Musk on Sunday signaled that the Federal Reserve could face scrutiny as Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) continues to audit federal agencies and spending.

Musk wrote on X in response to a user’s post about the billionaire’s support for an audit of the Fed that the central bank isn’t above scrutiny from DOGE.

“All aspects of the government must be fully transparent and accountable to the people. No exceptions, including, if not especially, the Federal Reserve,” Musk wrote.

Musk is a longtime critic of the central bank and has called out its decisions on monetary policy as well as claiming the Fed’s workforce is bloated.

POWELL PUSHES BACK ON MUSK’S CLAIM FED IS ‘ABSURDLY OVERSTAFFED’

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) leader Elon Musk warned the Federal Reserve could face an audit. (om Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images / Getty Images)

In May 2024, Musk posted that the “Fed has a crazy high number of employees.”

The billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX also said last summer the Fed was too slow in cutting interest rates, writing on X in August that the Fed “needs to drop rates” and has been “foolish not to have done so already.”

The Fed would go on to cut rates in September in line with the market’s expectations, which it followed with further cuts in November and December.

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS ELON MUSK’S DOGE FROM ACCESSING TREASURY RECORDS AFTER DEMOCRATIC AGS FILE LAWSUIT

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell pushed back on Musk’s claim that the central bank is “absurdly overstaffed.” (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Fed Chair Jerome Powell was asked about Musk’s recent claim that the central bank’s workforce is “absurdly overstaffed” at a press conference last month following the central bank’s decision to leave rates steady at the current range of 4.25% to 4.5%.

“We run a very careful budget process where we’re fully aware. We owe that to the public, and we believe we do that. I’ve got no further comment on that, thanks,” Powell responded to FOX Business’ Edward Lawrence.

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February 10, 2025
Elon Musk is ushering a chronically online generation into Trump’s second term.

President Donald Trump’s first term revolutionized the online relationship between the president and the public, but self-proclaimed “White House Tech Support” Elon Musk is ushering a chronically online generation into Trump’s second term.

Trump has been using Truth Social in his second term like he used Twitter during his first, blasting off posts at all hours of the day to roll out policy announcements and comment on his favorite – or least favorite – news shows. Truth Social reads like Trump’s own stream of consciousness, and most Truth users are loyal Trump supporters who use the social media platform to rally around his policies.

Musk’s X account reads more like a political debate. Buried in the steady stream of memes and AI edits, “special government employee” Musk uses X as a way to meet Americans where they are – confirming and denying information about his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in real time.

It is easy to get lost in Musk’s 69,000 posts, but the richest man in the world does not miss a beat. This week, as an unrelenting news cycle focused on DOGE’s United States Agency for International Development (USAID) investigation, Musk used X to confirm reporting as misinformation circulated.

HOUSE DEMOCRAT LEAVES CONGRESSIONAL DOGE CAUCUS, SAYING MUSK IS ‘BLOWING THINGS UP’

Self-proclaimed “White House Tech Support” and X owner Elon Musk has 216 million followers on X. (Getty)

“All @DOGE did was check to see which federal organizations were violating the @POTUS executive orders the most. Turned out to be USAID, so that became our focus,” Musk explained in a post on Monday.

On Wednesday, Musk confirmed reporting by the Wall Street Journal that DOGE is investigating the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, posting: “Yeah, this is where the big money fraud is happening.”

DEMOCRATS TRY TO ENTER DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AMID OUTRAGE OVER POSSIBLE DOGE CUTS

Musk invites his followers to engage in the Democratic process right through the app, asking,”Bring back @DOGE staffer who made inappropriate statements via a now deleted pseudonym?” Musk asked his X followers in an X poll on Friday morning.

Musk polled his followers on Tuesday as well, asking if DOGE should audit the IRS.

Between the polls and DOGE confirmations, Musk floods his account with political commentary and quick reactions to trending posts. Musk simply responded with a bullseye emoji when an X user posted, “If you’re more angry that a handful of 22 year old software engineers are writing code to uncover fraudulent government spending than at the people who are fraudulently spending your hard earned taxes, it’s time to do some soul searching.”

Musk also embraces his platform as a vehicle to spark political debate with Democratic leaders.

In recent days, Democrats in Congress have unleashed attacks on Musk, including Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., who said, “Elon Musk is a Nazi nepo baby, a godless lawless billionaire, who no one elected” at a rally outside the Treasury Department, where protesters were speaking out against DOGE.

“Elon, this is the American people. This is not your trashy Cybertruck that you can just dismantle, pick apart, and sell the pieces of,” she continued.

“We are gonna be in your face, we are gonna be on your a–es, and we are going to make sure you understand what democracy looks like, and this ain’t it,” Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, said at the same rally.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was also in attendance and told the crowd that Musk’s DOGE efforts are “taking away everything we have.”

The official DOGE account has a more formal tone and often doubles down on Musk’s posts to verify new information. DOGE has over 3 million followers on X.

As the owner of X, Musk is the most followed person on the app with a staggering 216.4 million followers. Musk has more followers on X than Trump has on Truth Social (8.83 million) and X (100.4 million) combined.

These days, Trump follows a Truth Social first media strategy. During his presidential transition, Trump announced his cabinet nominations on Truth Social before the transition team hit send on the press release. The press release that arrived several minutes later simply directed reporters back to the Truth Social post.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, right, accompanied by President Donald Trump, speaks during a news conference in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Jan. 21, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Musk’s constant posts landed him at odds with Trump last week when Musk said OpenAI does not have the money for The Stargate Project’s $500 billion investment in AI over the next four years. Musk said he had it on “good authority” that “SoftBank has well under $10B secured” for the investment, soon after Trump finished a press conference announcing the project.

Trump shrugged off Musk’s comments later that week, telling the press Musk “hates one of the people in the deal.” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Musk have a long-standing legal feud.

While Trump is using X again, he is more likely to post a screenshot of his Truth Social post than break any news on Musk’s platform. Trump was banned from Twitter after Jan. 6 and launched Truth Social in 2022. His account was reinstated after Musk bought Twitter and renamed it X.

President-elect Donald Trump, right, greets Elon Musk as he arrives to attend a viewing of the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket on Nov. 19, 2024 in Brownsville, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

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Musk said he bought Twitter to “help humanity” and committed to protecting free speech. While liberal ideology dominated Twitter, X is more likely to lean conservative. A Pew Research Center survey in 2023 found Republicans are more likely to view the site positively since Musk arrived on the scene, while Democrats are more likely to say X has a ne gativeimpact on American democracy.

Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report

Deirdre Heavey is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.

February 10, 2025
Elon Musk outlines ‘super obvious’ changes DOGE and Treasury have agreed to make

Billionaire Elon Musk outlined a list of “super obvious” changes that his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) plans to make at the U.S. Treasury Department this weekend.

Musk says officials at the treasury are working to make the government’s books more simple to audit, as well as more accountability for where funds are going. The changes also require treasury employees to more frequently update the congressional “do not pay” list, which highlights fraudsters and illegal fronts.

“Nobody in Treasury management cared enough before. I do want to credit the working level people in Treasury who have wanted to do this for many years, but have been stopped by prior management,” Musk said.

“Everything at Treasury was geared towards complain[t] minimization. People [who] receive money don’t complain, but people who don’t receive money (especially fraudsters) complain very loudly, so the fraud was allowed to continue,” he added.

USAID HAS ‘DEMONSTRATED PATTERN OF OBSTRUCTIONISM,’ CLAIMS TOP DOGE REPUBLICAN IN LETTER TO RUBIO

“The above super obvious and necessary changes are being implemented by existing, long-time career government employees, not anyone from DOGE,” Musk added.

“It is ridiculous that these changes didn’t exist already! Yesterday, I was told that there are currently over $100B/year of entitlements payments to individuals with no SSN or even a temporary ID number,” he continued. “If accurate, this is extremely suspicious. When I asked if anyone at Treasury had a rough guess for what percentage of that number is unequivocal and obvious fraud, the consensus in the room was about half, so $50B/year or $1B/week!! This is utterly insane and must be addressed immediately.”

ELON MUSK’S DOGE MAKES ANOTHER HIRING PUSH

Billionaire Elon Musk’s DOGE is targeting the Treasury Department. (Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images)

Musk’s tirade toward the treasury department comes just after a federal judge blocked DOGE’s ability to access treasury department systems. The Tesla CEO condemned the ruling as “insane” this weekend.

‘VIPER’S NEST’: USAID ACCUSED OF CORRUPTION, MISMANAGEMENT LONG BEFORE TRUMP ADMIN TOOK AIM

The Friday lawsuit, which was filed by 19 Democratic attorneys general, claimed Musk’s team violated the law by being given “full access” to the Treasury’s payment systems. The systems include information about Americans’ Social Security, Medicare and veterans’ benefits, tax refund information and more.

The lawsuit was filed in New York by the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James, who wrote that President Donald Trump “does not have the power to give away Americans’ private information to anyone he chooses, and he cannot cut federal payments approved by Congress.”

A federal judge intervened to block DOGE from accessing treasury department systems. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has expressed support for Musk and DOGE in the past, recently saying that the U.S. “doesn’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem.”

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“At the Treasury, our payment system is not being touched,” Bessent said in a “Kudlow” interview on Wednesday. “We process 1.3 billion payments a year. There is a study being done — can we have more accountability, more accuracy, more traceability that the money is going where it is?”

Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox News Digital covering national politics and major breaking news events. Send tips to [email protected], or on Twitter: @Hagstrom_Anders.

February 9, 2025
Elon Musk alleges $50B in fraud at Treasury after judge blocks DOGE audit

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unpacks the power tariffs have in world negotiations on ‘Kudlow.’

Elon Musk responded to a federal judge’s order temporarily blocking the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) access to sensitive Treasury Department data with a blitz of X posts alleging shocking levels of potential fraud.

The preliminary injunction issued Saturday by U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer backed 19 Democratic state attorneys general who claimed that giving DOGE “full access” to the Treasury’s payment systems violates the law.

Engelmayer scheduled a Feb. 20 hearing, until which time DOGE will have diminished access to Treasury data that includes Americans’ Social Security, Medicare, veterans benefits and tax refund information.

PALANTIR CEO TOUTS ELON MUSK’S DOGE, ABILITY TO HOLD ‘SACRED COW OF THE DEEP STATE’ ACCOUNTABLE

But Musk said DOGE had already found major problems with the way the Treasury Department was paying America’s bills before Engelmayer’s injunction.

“[Friday], I was told that there are currently over $100B/year of entitlements payments to individuals with no SSN or even a temporary ID number. If accurate, this is extremely suspicious,” Musk wrote hours after the ruling.

“When I asked if anyone at Treasury had a rough guess for what percentage of that number is unequivocal and obvious fraud, the consensus in the room was about half, so $50B/year or $1B/week!! This is utterly insane and must be addressed immediately.”

SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk speaks during an America PAC town hall Oct. 26, 2024, in Lancaster, Pa. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images / Getty Images)

The X, Tesla and SpaceX owner and Trump confidante also implied that previous Treasury officials blocked their employees from investigating waste.

“Nobody in Treasury management cared enough before,” Musk wrote. “I do want to credit the working level people in Treasury who have wanted to do this for many years, but have been stopped by prior management.”

One of the goals agreed upon by DOGE and the Treasury Department, Musk said, is to “require that all outgoing government payments have a payment categorization code, which is necessary in order to pass financial audits.”

“This is frequently left blank, making audits almost impossible,” he added.

Musk also stressed that all Treasury payments “must also include a rationale for the payment in the comment field, which is currently left blank.”

ELON MUSK’S DOGE MAKES ANOTHER HIRING PUSH

The U.S. Treasury Building in Washington, D.C. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images / Getty Images)

“Importantly, we are not yet applying ANY judgment to this rationale, but simply requiring that SOME attempt be made to explain the payment more than NOTHING!” Musk wrote. “The DO-NOT-PAY list of entities known to be fraudulent or people who are dead or are probable fronts for terrorist organizations or do not match Congressional appropriations must actually be implemented and not ignored.

“Also, it can currently take up to a year to get on this list, which is far too long. This list should be updated at least weekly, if not daily,” the entrepreneur added. “The above super obvious and necessary changes are being implemented by existing, long-time career government employees, not anyone from @DOGE.”

Elon Musk on Capitol Hill Dec. 5, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images / Getty Images)

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Musk added that it was “ridiculous that these changes didn’t exist already” and revealed he was recently told of massive waste in entitlement payments, to the tune of $1 billion per week.

“Everything at Treasury was geared towards complain[t] minimization,” he added. “People who receive money don’t complain, but people who don’t receive money (especially fraudsters) complain very loudly, so the fraud was allowed to continue.”

February 9, 2025
Elon Musk’s DOGE temporarily blocked from Treasury systems: judge

President Donald Trump on Friday said Elon Musk is doing a “very good job” with the Department of Government Efficiency.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s government efficiency team has been temporarily blocked from accessing certain government systems, according to a federal judge’s ruling on Saturday.

U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer issued the ruling after a group of attorneys general sued Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on Friday, arguing that the presidential commission does not have the right to access U.S. Department of Treasury systems.

The order was condemned by Musk, who called the decision “absolutely insane” in an X post.

“How on Earth are we supposed to stop fraud and waste of taxpayer money without looking at how money is spent?”

PALANTIR CEO TOUTS ELON MUSK’S DOGE, ABILITY TO HOLD ‘SACRED COW OF THE DEEP STATE’ ACCOUNTABLE

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of X. (Reuters/Gonzalo Fuentes / Reuters Photos)

This is a breaking news story. Check back with us for updates.

Reuters contributed to this report.

February 8, 2025