Newly appointed Attorney General Pam Bondi received a letter from the House Judiciary Democrats on Friday, expressing concerns over Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s involvement with the Trump administration.
According to ABC News, the Democrats said Musk’s role in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) creates “conflicts of interest” because of Musk’s “sprawling financial interests” in federal subsidies and contracts.
In the letter, Democrats state that companies owned by Musk, regularly engages with various federal agencies on defense contracts, telecommunications regulations, and energy policy. This participation in government matters impacts those sectors, according to the Democrats, and risks violating the law because Musk’s financial interests are tied to those engagements.
They assert U.S. code “explicitly prohibits” federal employees and Special Government Employees like Musk from “participating personally and substantially in a particular Government matter that will affect his own financial interests, as well as the financial interests of certain individuals with whom he has ties outside the Government.”
“Mr. Musk’s position as an SGE demands heightened scrutiny,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter obtained by ABC News. “The law’s criminal and civil enforcement mechanisms, which fall solely under the DOJ’s authority, must be rigorously applied to prevent actual or perceived conflicts of interest.”
In a November report on Musk’s wealth and how it is tied to government grants and funding, CNN reported the billionaire has several contracts, including with SpaceX that have bumped up his overall net worth.
“The foundation for Musk’s financial success has been the U.S. government,” Daniel Ives, tech analyst for Wedbush Securities told CNN in November.
The report notes that the value of Tesla and SpaceX doesn’t come from their profits, but rather from investment in their future wealth – Tesla is a publicly traded company, while SpaceX received private funding.
CNN further reported that according to an estimate from Bloomberg, Musk’s personal wealth has increased by $64 billion or almost 25% since President Donald Trump was elected.
