Elon Musk has blunt response as he denies ‘hostile takeover’ of the US government
Topics: Elon Musk, Politics, US News, Donald Trump, Business, Technology
Poppy Bilderbeck
Featured Image Credit: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Topics: Elon Musk, Politics, US News, Donald Trump, Business, Technology
Elon Musk has addressed concerns he's 'orchestrating a hostile takeover of government' in a 'non-transparent' way and how he'll 'police' himself.
Before being sworn in as the 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump announced he would be appointing Elon Musk as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with Musk responding saying he would send 'shockwaves' through the system.
Trump announced Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would be heading up the department in November 2024.
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He said: "Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies - Essential to the 'Save America' Movement.
"I look forward to Elon and Vivek making changes to the Federal Bureaucracy with an eye on efficiency and, at the same time, making life better for all Americans."
Musk responded: "This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people!"
After Trump was sworn in, it took little time for Musk's new role to be officially clarified by the White House, with the Tesla CEO being granted access to sensitive government financial databases - which were later blocked by a federal judge.
And during a visit to the White House yesterday (February 11) for an executive signing in the Oval Office accompanied by his son X Æ A-Xii - X, for short - Musk addressed the question whether he's 'orchestrating a hostile takeover of government and doing it in a non-transparent way'.
Musk responded: "First of all, you couldn't ask for a stronger mandate from the public. [...] A majority of the public voting for President Trump, one house.
He continued: "The people voted for major government reform - there should be no doubt about that, that was on the government campaign, the president spoke about that at every rally, the people voted for major government reform and that's what the people are going to get, they're going to get what they voted for.
"And a lot of times, people don't get what they voted for, but in this presidency, they are going to get what they voted for and that's what democracy's all about."
Elsewhere in the press conference, Musk argued they're 'trying to be as transparent as possible' and 'post [their] actions to the DOGE handle, on X and to the DOGE website'.
Here's a compilation of all of Elon Musk's comments on DOGE's action earlier today at the White House:
— ELON CLIPS (@ElonClipsX) February 12, 2025
0:00 Restoring Democracy
1:58 Addressing the deficit
2:55 Suspicious personal wealth
3:46 Basic payment controls
6:18 Social security fraud
7:03 The Retirement Mine
8:48… pic.twitter.com/Ki2cPRczLD
He said: "So all of our actions are maximally transparent."
When asked about if a 'conflict of interest' comes up and whether Musk 'polices himself,' he resolved: "All of our actions are fully public so if you see anything which seems like there's a conflict there, I don't think people are going to be shy about saying that.
"[...] Transparency builds trust. [...] So then you can see if I'm doing something that benefits one of my companies or not."