FBI Agent Wanted To Investigate Elon Musk For Asking Federal Employees What They Did That Week
An FBI special agent sought a criminal investigation into Elon Musk for asking government officials what they do all day, a newly declassified email reveals.
Emily Kopp · Sep 15, 2026 · 4 min read

An FBI special agent sought a criminal investigation into Elon Musk for asking government officials what they do all day, a newly declassified email reveals.
Former Special Agent Kevin Gounaud emailed a colleague in February 2025 casting Musk’s use of his social media platform X to advertise the work of DOGE, his government efficiency initiative, as a criminal act. He likened it to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server to exchange classified intelligence, according to the email declassified by Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley.
Gounaud floated the legal theory that weekly emails that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sent to federal employees asking them to list five accomplishments amounted to a petty crime.
“Happy to write the case opening and find a prosecutor (or at least try),” he said.
“And no, I’m not kidding,” the agent added.
Gounaud did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent via LinkedIn.
“I would like to recommend the opening of a criminal 58 matter on the person(s) at OPM who approved the transmission of the earlier email,” the agent wrote. “That person in conspiracy with Elon Musk (who is reportedly an [Special Government Employee]), in addition to wasting a colossal amount of official time, encouraged, abetted, aided, etc. thousands if not tens of thousands of government employees outside of a strict need to know.”
Gounaud said that Musk had violated federal statutes outlawing personal enrichment, because his account on X — a company he owns, may have been monetized — and blackmail for saying in his post that “failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
Grassley declassified the email during a Tuesday hearing with FBI Director Kash Patel.




