While there were already concerns about Elon Musk’s involvement in the Trump administration, the first potential conflict of interest has emerged.
Musk’s Department for Government Efficiency (which he runs with Vivek Ramaswamy) put out a call Thursday for “super-high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week to cut costs.” ” As great as this job might seem (oh, it’s apparently unpaid, too), the potential conflict came in the instructions on how to apply.
Prospective applicants are directed to send their resumes via direct message to the DOGE account at X. Under Musk’s changes to the platform, however, only premium subscribers can send DMs to a DOGE account. They run from $8 to $16 per month.
Take another approach: Even to be considered for a role at the department (and the site said only 1% of resumes would be reviewed by Musk and Ramaswamy), applicants had to work at one of Musk’s businesses. One has to contribute financially.
This is only the potential tip of the iceberg, of course. For example, Musk also runs SpaceX, which has contracts with the federal government.
While Musk has said that “all department government performance measures will be posted online to maximize transparency,” it’s unclear whether the two leaders will have to file financial disclosures. And the ability of one or both of them to circumvent government regulations that affect their businesses worries ethicists.
“If Musk and Ramaswamy are in a position where they can influence government decisions and if some of those decisions can affect their businesses, there may be a risk of an illegal conflict of interest,” Noah Bookbinder said. , said the president of Citizens for Responsible Ethics. ABC News. “Other laws and regulations may still be problematic today depending on what they do and how this ‘department’ operates.”
Representatives for X and the Trump transition team did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
