A watchdog nonprofit said Wednesday that it was asking 16 federal agencies to detail any interactions they have had with Elon Musk’s new budget-cutting effort, the Department of Government Efficiency.
The nonprofit, State Democracy Defenders Fund, says it wants to protect the democratic process and the rule of law. It was founded last year by Norman Eisen, who was an ethics official during the Obama administration and served as counsel to the Democrat-led House Judiciary Committee during the first Trump administration.
Mr. Eisen’s new group says its initial focus during President-elect Donald J. Trump’s second term will be the Department of Government Efficiency — which, despite its official-sounding name, is not a government department but a loosely organized effort run by Mr. Musk and another wealthy entrepreneur, the former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
Mr. Trump has charged them with cutting government sharply by July 2026. Mr. Musk has said he wants to slash $2 trillion out of the federal budget, which would mean reducing federal spending by almost a third. He and Mr. Ramaswamy have also discussed cutting thousands of regulations, reducing the number of federal workers, and even ending daylight saving time.
Mr. Eisen said that his group was sending public-records requests to agencies, asking for copies of any emails or other correspondence with the department’s representatives. They also asked for any communications between federal officials and Mr. Trump’s transition team that reference Mr. Musk’s budget-cutting effort.
The watchdog group is also asking agencies for internal communications, which show federal workers talking about the department, often called DOGE, among themselves.
Mr. Eisen’s group said the requests are going to high-profile agencies, like the Defense and Justice Departments, as well as smaller agencies that either regulate Mr. Musk’s companies — including SpaceX and Tesla — or buy from them.
Mr. Musk’s companies got about $3 billion worth of contracts with federal agencies last year alone. His biggest government customers include the Defense Department and NASA, which employs SpaceX to launch rockets and satellites into space. His companies are also embroiled in regulatory battles with federal agencies, including over the safety of Tesla self-driving cars and SpaceX’s efforts to keep its rocket launches from harming wildlife.
Because Mr. Musk’s new position could allow him to recommend cuts to funding or staff in any part of government, it could give him leverage over his regulators and his customers in Washington.
“Musk’s mandate is immense — as are his potential conflicts of interest, which is why we’ve begun our inquiry, ” Mr. Eisen said in a statement announcing the records requests.
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