The top Democrat on the House of Representatives committee tasked with overseeing President Donald Trump's efforts to slash federal agency budgets is sounding the alarm about centibillionaire tech CEO Elon Musk.
During a recent CNN interview, Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) argued that Musk's "Department of Government Efficiency," or DOGE (which is not a Congressionally authorized federal agency) is less about cost-cutting and more about the world's richest man making himself even wealthier at the expense of the commons. She additionally lamented that so far, her Republican colleagues have blocked all attempts to subpoena Musk and make DOGE comply with basic federal laws.
"There is no American that I have met that believes that a private billionaire who has significant conflicts of interest and millions and billions of dollars in federal contracts should have access to private Treasury payment systems, to your private IRS and business information, to your Social Security information," Stansbury said. "And we don't even know what he's using this data for. In fact, the folks who actually investigate waste, fraud, and abuse are the inspector generals, and Donald Trump fired them all on his first week in office."
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As Stansbury mentioned, Musk's employees recently clashed with Michelle King — the acting administrator of the Social Security Administration (SSA) — when she refused to hand over sensitive data to DOGE representatives. King was forced out of her role and replaced with Leland Dudek, who comes from the SSA's anti-fraud office and who has recently praised DOGE's efforts.
"They are very clearly breaking the law," Stansbury continued, pointing out that it is a "criminal act" for anyone to access Social Security data who is not authorized to do so. "Donald Trump is trying to reorder the Constitution to give himself unchecked executive authority, and it's very clear that Elon Musk is the sledgehammer that he's using to slash and burn the federal government."
The New Mexico Democrat asserted that Musk wasn't interested in making the government more efficient, but wanted to "further rig the system" in his favor. She said efforts to control the Securities and Exchange Commission are aimed at having greater influence over the stock market as it is "the place where money is made," and that efforts to control the Federal Communications Commission is part of a larger mission to "control how media operate."
"The takeover of these independent agencies is really about not only a power grab, but about further rigging the system, she said. "I think the warning to my colleagues is that we could lose everything. We could lose our country and our democracy and our Constitution if they don't stand up to Donald Trump and this illegal power grab that he's doing right now."
READ MORE: DOGE teen with access to sensitive data had been fired for 'leaking internal information'
Watch the full segment below, or by clicking this link.