Musk pronounces DODE transparency but neglects its own potential conflicts of interest

Cnn
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Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, who is now leading a sweeping effort to reshape the federal government, offered the most sustained defense of his far-reaching features during a question-and-response session in the Oval Office late Tuesday.

As President Donald Trump saw from his seat at the Resolute Desk, Musk-AS stood a few feet away, wearing a long black coat and accompanied by his four-year-old son, x- to conflicts of interest in his role leading the Department of Government Efficiency .

And he brushed questions about the authorities he uses to fool entire agencies, saying instead that Trump’s election last November was the license enough to execute voters’ will.

“The people voted for greater government reform, and that’s what the people will get,” he said. “That’s what democracy is all about.”

For a long time, Musk delivered a blowing assessment of the federal bureaucracy, which he described as a number of non -selected “scammers” that accepted setbacks, some of which claimed he had become millionaires through deception.

“I think the reality is that they get richer in taxpayers,” Musk said, talking without presenting evidence to USAID employees, one of the public agencies he has moved to shutter. “It’s the honest truth about it.”

He and the president talk almost every day about what actions they should take and where within the huge federal government to focus his attention, Musk said. His actions have stirred a fire with five alarms among the Democrats in Congress, with Republicans far more muted in their answers.

With aware of this control and awareness of Musk – from Congress, to the courts, to the citizens – Trump called him to answer questions and shine a little light on what DODE has been up to during the first three weeks of the administration. Tuesday’s performance was also an effort to remove some of the mysticism, said that, as well as having the White House to show that Musk is working in the president’s direction, not as a junk operator inside the government. The report with Musk and Trump was on full view.

Still, the appearance of big musk’s own, with Trump was left to sit and listen. At various moments, Trump interacted in asking Musk to elaborate on some of the waste he claimed to find within the government.

“He’s a successful guy, that’s why we want him to do this,” Trump said. “We don’t want a failed guy who does this.”

Musk, who acknowledged that he voted for Joe Biden four years ago, became one of Trump’s greatest benefactors last year. He spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars in the last months of the 2024 race to increase Trump’s candidacy.

Both men proclaimed their aggressive efforts to cut down and reinstate the federal government and said US voters sent Trump to the White House to reform Washington’s work. Trump has dismissed government watchdogs or inspectors in general with agencies across the city and raised countless supervision issues.

Midway through the oval office session, Musk’s son was climbing on his father’s shoulders and began to play with his hair, causing Musk to remove his black “Make America Great Again” hat.

Musk offered some proof of its various claims, including blankets of fraud and waste. And he honestly admitted that he would sometimes make claims that there are winning to be untrue.

“Some of the things that I say will be wrong and should be corrected. So no one will beat a thousand, ”Musk said. “I mean, anyone you know we want to make mistakes, but we are acting quickly to correct any mistakes.”

Musk tried to emphasize its belief that “transparency is what builds trust” and insisted that all his teams’ efforts were published in Dog’s social media accounts and website.

But he also seemed to chaf over some of the control he received, and compared it to a “daily procedural exam.”

Earlier in the day, an official in the White House said Musk does not have to submit a public financial disclosure, giving the world’s richest man the opportunity to skirt public review of his potential conflicts. Musk’s various companies have billions of dollars in government contracts.

“As an unpaid specialist who is not a commission officer, he will submit a confidential financial information report by email. The norm, ”an official in the White House told CNN.

And on Tuesday, a watchdog group brought a lawsuit to get items from DOGE and claimed it was structured to keep his communication secret.

Trump, sitting behind the desk, suggested in the oval office that it would be his call to intervene if his administration thought there was a lack of transparency or a conflict of interest.

“We didn’t want to let him,” Trump said.

When snow fell outside the oval office, it was an extraordinary scene. Trump looked silently for several minutes when Musk commanded the room, less than a week after the magazine cover depicted musk, which was behind the Resolute desk, as if to suggest that he, not Trump, was responsible.

Musk, a South African -born entrepreneur, cannot be president himself. But he has assumed one of the highest non -selected positions in the government, even when he has billions of dollars in government contracts.

“All our actions are fully public,” Musk told a reporter who asked about conflicts of interest. “So if you see something similar,” Elon, there may be a conflict there, “it’s not like people will be shy about it. They will say that right away. ”