While concerns about Elon Musk’s involvement in the Trump administration have been circulating, the first conflict of interest has emerged.
Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (Directed by Vivek Ramaswamy) call out Thursday for “high-coefficient small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80-plus hours a week without the glamor of cost-cutting.” As attractive as that job might be (oh, it’s apparently even unpaid), the potential conflict lay in the instructions on how to apply.
Potential applicants are instructed to send their resume to the DOGE account X by direct message. According to Musk’s changes to that platform, however, only premium subscribers can send DMs on the DOGE account. Those run between $8 and $16 a month.
Put another way: To even be considered for a role at the department (and the site said Musk and Ramaswamy will only review the top 1% of resumes), applicants must make a financial contribution to one of Musk’s businesses.
That’s just the potential tip of the iceberg, of course. For example, Musk also runs SpaceXwhich has contracts with the federal government.
Musk said, “All actions of the Department of Government Efficiency will be published online maximum transparency,” it is unclear whether its two leaders will have to file financial statements. And the prospect of one or both removing government regulations that affect their businesses worries ethicists.
“If Musk and Ramaswamy are in a position where they can influence government decisions and some of those decisions can affect their businesses, then there could be a risk of illegal conflicts of interest,” Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Responsible Ethics. said ABC News. “Today, other laws and regulations may also be challenged 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.
