WASHINGTON — Democrats led by Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) want the Trump administration to hand over information about billionaire Elon Musk’s conflicts of interest as a government employee who owns companies doing business with the government.
In letters to the White House and several federal agencies on Thursday, the Democrats demanded Musk complete a public financial disclosure detailing his various business interests.
“In an unprecedented arrangement, President Donald Trump has bestowed expansive and unlawful authority on Mr. Musk, an unelected billionaire,” Democrats said in a letter to White House Counsel David Warrington. “Mr. Musk is redirecting billions of taxpayer dollars to fund his own financial interests while slashing federal employees, programs, and services on which all Americans depend.”
Democrats have harped on Musk’s conflicts of interest all year. Thursday’s letters are an indication Democrats will continue to highlight Musk’s prominent role in the Trump administration even as his time in government nears its end. As a special government employee, Musk’s tenure is legally limited to 130 days, and both he and the president have signaled he’s either leaving or scaling back his government work ahead of that deadline.
Musk last week told investors in Tesla, his electric car company, that he will soon spend much less time with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency that Trump created for him. And on Wednesday Trump thanked Musk for his work while suggesting he won’t be there much longer.
“You’re invited to stay as long as you want, but at some point he wants to get back home to his cars,” Trump said during a televised meeting in the White House with Musk and members of his Cabinet.
Musk’s popularity has plummeted even faster than Trump’s as DOGE agents infiltrated federal agencies, accessed sensitive data and initiated layoffs, prompting a wave of lawsuits and interventions by federal courts.
Musk’s companies SpaceX and Tesla have been awarded billions in government contracts over the years. Earlier this year, Musk criticized the Federal Aviation Administration’s use of SpaceX competitor Verizon for air traffic control technology while the agency separately began using Starlink, a SpaceX subsidiary, for parts of the air traffic control system.
Federal law forbids government workers from using public office for private gain and discourages even the appearance of conflicts of interest, a standard the Trump administration has consistently flouted, both with Musk’s private companies and those belonging to the president.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has previously said Musk has “abided by all applicable laws” and the president has said Musk would recuse himself from government policy decisions that could affect his businesses.
“The Trump Administration has failed to make public Mr. Musk’s financial disclosure filings, hiding the true extent of his conflicts from the public,” the Democrats said in their letter, which requested his financial disclosures as well as any White House determinations that they didn’t represent a conflict of interest.
In a separate letter to federal agencies, Connolly highlighted Musk’s various contracts and asked “whether he has fully disclosed all connections, interactions, payments, and business with foreign governments and officials.”
Connolly is the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, which typically conducts investigations of the executive branch. Since Republicans control the House, they control the committee and its subpoena powers, something its chairman, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), has shown no interest in using to investigate the Trump administration.
Due to a cancer diagnosis, Connolly announced he’s stepping back from his position, for which he defeated Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) in an internal party election last December. Democrats will have to decide who should replace Connolly in the high-profile role.
Ocasio-Cortez declined to tell HuffPost on Thursday whether she’ll pursue the position.