Elon Musk holds a chainsaw that was gifted to him on the Conservative Political Motion Convention on the Gaylord Nationwide Resort Lodge And Conference Middle on Thursday in Oxon Hill, Md.
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President Trump was talking at a Saudi funding convention in Miami on Wednesday when he gave a shout-out to billionaire tech titan Elon Musk, seated with different enterprise leaders and dignitaries within the viewers.
“He is been making a bit of stories these days, very optimistic information,” Trump mentioned, urging Musk to face for applause.
It wasn’t clear whether or not Musk was there in his position because the chief of DOGE — a venture to slash the federal authorities — or as the person behind X, SpaceX, xAI and Starlink.
Musk is a “particular authorities worker,” a job created by Congress within the Sixties that enables components of the federal authorities to convey somebody on for a particular position, on a brief foundation. With this classification, Musk would not should divest from his companies, however he’s presupposed to comply with conflict-of-interest legal guidelines and recuse himself when obligatory.
Ethics consultants say that by persevering with to run his companies whereas additionally working for the federal government, Musk is blurring the traces between his roles in a manner that might harm the general public belief. Musk and the White Home say they’ll keep away from conflicts of curiosity.
World leaders meet with Musk
As members of Musk’s DOGE workforce are persevering with their march via authorities businesses searching for waste, Musk himself appears to be all over the place, usually at Trump’s aspect but in addition making solo appearances, as he did Thursday on the Conservative Political Motion Convention outdoors of Washington, D.C.
Musk was a shock visitor on the principle stage. And as a part of his introduction, the president of Argentina, Javier Milei, introduced him with a purple and chrome chainsaw.
“President Milei has a present for me,” Musk mentioned as music pumped within the room.
Then Musk waved the chainsaw round excitedly, shouting, “That is the chainsaw for paperwork!”
Elon Musk seems on the Conservative Political Motion Convention, or CPAC, outdoors of Washington, D.C., on Thursday.
YouTube
Taking a chainsaw to paperwork is what Musk claims to be doing together with his venture referred to as the Division of Authorities Effectivity.
Video posted on X reveals Musk and Milei sitting in entrance of U.S. and Argentinian flags to pose for a extra formal picture, suggesting they met earlier than Musk went out on stage.
Final week, when Musk met with Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India, there have been questions on whether or not he was there as a member of the Trump administration or because the CEO of Tesla, which is trying to increase into India. Musk introduced three of his kids to the assembly, which was attended by aides to the prime minister. The setup seemed very like a bilateral assembly between leaders; there have been U.S. and Indian flags arrange behind them as Musk introduced Modi with a present.
In India, information presenters excitedly speculated in regards to the causes for his or her assembly. Modi, requested about it later in a press convention on the White Home, mentioned he and Musk go manner again. A White Home official not licensed to discuss the matter publicly instructed NPR that Musk met with Modi in his private capability and never as a particular authorities worker. Later, although, Musk was within the Oval Workplace for Trump’s assembly with Modi. A press launch from the prime minister’s workplace highlighted Musk’s roles as “head of the U.S. Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) and CEO of Tesla.”
“Prime Minister and Mr. Musk mentioned strengthening collaboration between Indian and US entities in innovation, area exploration, synthetic intelligence, and sustainable growth. Their dialogue additionally touched on alternatives to deepen cooperation in rising applied sciences, entrepreneurship and good governance,” learn the press launch.
Had an excellent assembly with @elonmusk in Washington DC. We mentioned varied points, together with these he’s captivated with corresponding to area, mobility, expertise and innovation. I talked about India’s efforts in the direction of reform and furthering ‘Minimal Authorities, Most Governance.’ pic.twitter.com/7xNEqnxERZ
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 13, 2025
Altering hats ‘by the hour’
In frequent posts on his social media website X, Musk ping-pongs between speaking about his work slashing the federal government and selling his enterprise ventures, a lot of which have authorities contracts or are regulated by federal businesses. On Friday, Musk celebrated the Trump administration Division of Justice dropping a lawsuit in opposition to SpaceX.
“He is mainly a strolling battle of curiosity,” mentioned Richard Briffault, who focuses on authorities ethics at Columbia Legislation Faculty.
Briffault will not be alone in elevating alarms about Musk’s giant enterprise holdings making a battle together with his work within the authorities.
“Musk appears to be able with the White Home’s consent that he can simply change hats by the hour because it fits him,” mentioned Don Fox, who was the highest lawyer on the Workplace of Authorities Ethics throughout the George W. Bush and Obama administrations.
Fox mentioned there’s little indication the traditional course of to keep away from conflicts is being adopted. For top-level authorities workers, together with these like Musk, that typically includes submitting a monetary disclosure report and coming to an ethics settlement with the Workplace of Authorities Ethics to establish potential conflicts and decide to a plan for avoiding them.
The White Home says Musk will file a confidential disclosure of his monetary pursuits by the top of subsequent month and has been briefed on ethics necessities. Sometimes these disclosures are required inside 30 days of beginning work.
“The factor the general public ought to be involved about is, we do not know,” mentioned Fox. “Is he taking care of our pursuits as taxpayers and residents, or is he taking care of his personal enterprise pursuits?”
President Trump is joined by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and his son, X Musk, throughout an govt order signing within the Oval Workplace on the White Home on Feb. 11.
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In an interview with Sean Hannity that aired Tuesday on Fox Information, Trump and Musk downplayed the danger. Musk mentioned he had by no means requested Trump for something “ever.”
Musk mentioned if a battle arose, he would recuse himself. Trump chimed in, “If there is a battle, you will not be concerned. I imply, I would not need that. And he will not need it.”
The White Home did not present any examples of Musk recusing himself up to now.
All these questions on Musk come as Trump simply fired the Biden-appointed and Senate-confirmed director of the workplace of Authorities Ethics, who was solely a few months right into a five-year time period. Different watchdogs have additionally been fired throughout the federal government.
“Regardless of the guardrails are there by way of stopping public officers from participating in self-dealing, enforcement appears to be gone,” mentioned Briffault.
The character of his management
With Musk’s position, it is virtually inconceivable for anybody on the surface to see what he is truly doing. As a result of Musk is figuring out of the Govt Workplace of the President, there are not any necessities for public disclosure. Musk, nevertheless, insists his work is clear, as he posts on social media recurrently about contracts DOGE claims to have canceled.
In a latest court docket submitting difficult the venture’s work, the Justice Division claimed that Musk will not be an worker of the U.S. DOGE Service and isn’t the U.S. DOGE Service administrator. As an alternative, it asserted that Musk is an worker within the White Home workplace and features as a senior adviser to the president. That description is at odds with the way in which each Trump and Musk have described his job and the work of DOGE.
John Yoo, a legislation professor on the College of California, Berkeley, mentioned the thought of bringing in an outdoor knowledgeable or, say, a member of the family to advise the president has occurred many occasions earlier than. It was even litigated, again when then-first woman Hillary Clinton was main well being care reform efforts for her husband’s administration. Conservatives sued to dam that effort and in the end failed, with the district court docket in D.C. figuring out that Clinton may proceed.
“The actual rule is to guarantee that Hillary Clinton in 1993 or Elon Musk in 2025, all they’re doing is giving recommendation,” mentioned Yoo of the ruling from the early Nineteen Nineties. He was a clerk within the D.C. circuit court docket on the time and mentioned he remembers it properly. “So long as they haven’t any energy to order anybody to do something, it stays on the authorized aspect of the road.”
Yoo, who was a prime Justice Division lawyer within the George W. Bush administration, mentioned that is the authorized line the White Home is making an attempt to stroll with Musk, who to any outdoors observer presents as a robust determine in Trump’s administration.
“And this is the reason the White Home produced that humorous declaration the place they form of mentioned Elon Musk has no energy,” Yoo mentioned.
This lack of readability about Musk’s authority makes the moral waters notably murky, in accordance with Stephen Gillers, an emeritus professor of authorized ethics at New York College.
“The outlet we’re in is the product of two details: We’ll by no means know, in all probability by no means know … precisely what he is as much as,” mentioned Gillers. “[And] even when we knew every little thing he was as much as, there’s nothing we are able to do about it.”
The White Home official dismissed the criticisms as partisan, saying there is no such thing as a concern within the White Home about whether or not Musk will comply with strict ethics guidelines.
