BREAKING NEWS: Top Senate Democrats Take Aim At DOGE, Accuse Musk Of Running Shadow Government
29:14 Share

Hey everybody, welcome back to the Elon Musk podcast. This is a show where we discuss the critical crossroads that shape SpaceX, Tesla, X, The Boring Company, and Neuralink. I'm your host, Will Walden.

This episode is brought to you by MeUndies. While MeUndies can't totally help your love life this Valentine's Day, they can offer you insanely comfy undies and loungewear to buy or gift. MeUndies has so many awesome Valentine's Day prints and styles. Plus, you can match with your partner, friends, or even your pets.

This Valentine's Day, give the gift that'll keep them thinking of you and score huge site-wide savings at MeUndies.com/Spotify. That's MeUndies.com/Spotify. MeUndies. Comfort from the outside in. Good afternoon, everybody. I'm proud to be joined by Senators Murray, Warren, Schatz, and Wyden. Now, before our very eyes,

An elect, sorry, before our very eyes, an unelected shadow government is conducting a hostile takeover of the federal government. Last Friday, Doge forcefully gained access to the Treasury Department's payment systems and to the most sensitive information of virtually every U.S. citizen. Donald Trump basically handed Doge the Social Security data of virtually every American citizen.

Donald Trump gave Doge access to America's personal tax refund data. He gave Doge access to people's Medicare and Medicaid benefits, disability payment data, veteran benefit data. Worst of all, we don't know what Doge intends to do with this information. If you want to know how an unelected shadow government operates, look no further.

than Doge. Doge staffers, whomever they are, now have unprecedented access to the most sensitive payment data in the entire federal government with no transparency, with no guardrails, and guess what? The one independent watchdog who could have provided oversight was fired by Donald Trump over a week ago. The Treasury Secretary must revoke Doge's access to the Treasury payment system at once.

If not, Congress must act immediately. That is why Leader Jeffries and I are working together on legislation, which we will introduce, to stop unlawful meddling in the Treasury Department's payment systems. We must protect people's Social Security payments, their Medicare payments, tax refunds from any possible tampering by Doge or any other unauthorized entities. Let's be very clear.

Doge is not a real government agency. It has no authority to make spending decisions. It has no authority to shut programs down or ignore federal law. To give Doge a chokehold on Treasury payments is outlandishly dangerous. It's like putting a tiger into a petting zoo and then hoping for the best. It's impossible to overstate that this is playing with fire. The Bureau of the Fiscal Service

which oversees these Treasury Department payments, executes over one billion, billion transactions a year worth $6 trillion. If these payments were ever intentionally or even accidentally halted or manipulated, it could paralyze our economy if we're not careful. One mistake and people's Social Security benefits could freeze.

disability payments, aid to veterans, loans to small businesses, they could all be endangered. The Treasury Department is already using extraordinary measures to ensure we do not default on the debt. If Doge's careless meddling caused us to default, it could trigger a worldwide financial crisis. This all begs an obvious question. What does Doge really want with this data? What possible reason

is there to give right-wing extremists people's Social Security payments, Medicare payments, and personal information? Will Doge try to halt Social Security or Medicare or Medicaid payments? God forbid. God forbid. Will Doge cut funding to programs approved by Congress that Donald Trump decides he doesn't like? What about cancer research, food banks, school lunches, veterans aid, literacy programs, small business loans?

How do we know Doge won't use its access to the Treasury to enrich Donald Trump's billionaire friends? What if they go after business competition of Doge's leadership? It is laughably naive to look at the wealthy billionaires who run Doge and take them at their word that all they care about is efficiency. Give me a break. The Treasury Department must revoke Doge's access to the Treasury payment system at once.

We must halt this unlawful and dangerous power grab. Doge has no business anywhere, anywhere near the federal government's payment systems nor America's private data. Senator Murray. Well, we're two weeks in and it is already painfully clear

This is the most corrupt administration in our history, and it's putting our economy, our government, and our most at-risk communities in serious jeopardy. In particular, we learned that Elon Musk now has access to the Treasury Department's most sensitive payment system, handling $6 trillion every year and managing nearly all federal disbursements.

It's a system that contains extremely sensitive, personal, and commercial information. And I've been hearing from people across my state who are truly alarmed about what Musk and his associates having access to this system could mean for their data and for funding that they count on. Let's not mince words here. An unelected,

unaccountable billionaire with expansive conflicts of interest, deep ties to China, and an indiscreet ax to grind against perceived enemies is hijacking our nation's most sensitive financial data systems and its checkbook so that he can illegally block funds to our constituents based on the slightest whim or wildest conspiracy.

funds, mind you, that Congress passed on a bipartisan basis. Some Republicans are trying to suggest that Musk only has viewing access to Treasury's highly sensitive payment system as if that's acceptable either. But why on earth should we believe that, particularly when he is saying the exact opposite loudly and repeatedly for everyone to see?

What funds will Elon target next? Life-saving medical research? Housing assistance? Food banks? We already know he is falsely attacking faith-based organizations that help people and promising to cut off funds based off conspiracy theories. The world's richest man has vowed to cut off funding that helps the least among us? Think about that.

And next, think about how many dollars he himself makes from government contracts. And the Trump administration is handing the keys of the Treasury to him? It does not get more blatantly corrupt than that. And let me underscore just how dangerous this is, because now that Trump has handed over Treasury's checkbook, what if Elon decides he doesn't like how Ford is getting federal funds to build an EV battery plant?

What's next? All Elon has to do is say, "Oh, they're woke," and he can convince Trump to illegally cut off those funds. Maybe Elon will decide he doesn't like that Blue Origin and not SpaceX gets a contract, so he wants to gum up the works on their payments. Private corporations and competitors take note, and anyone who thinks that surely won't happen has not been paying attention.

Now, make no mistake, Trump and Musk have absolutely zero, zero legal authority to hold up any federal payments that are law. But that has not stopped them so far. This country is still reeling from the chaos of last week's blanket spending freeze and Trump's illegal EOs to withhold funds are still not yet revoked.

Trump and Musk have yet to find a law they think applies to them. That is not how things work in this country. We have a democracy. We have checks and we have balances where the president is accountable to Congress, where we pass the laws and he implements them.

But some of my colleagues across the aisle seem to be forgetting that our democracy doesn't work by magic. We have to hold our, do our part to hold the president accountable. Our job is not to say yes to everything any president does, no matter how lawless or

or harmful. Democrats are pushing back with the tools that we have. We'll speak out, we will press this administration, we will open investigations, and we will demand accountability. The one tool we do not have is the majority in this Congress. So that means our Republican colleagues have to say enough.

We need them to join us. We need them to stand up to the corruption and lawlessness and stand up for the people they represent. Ron. Thank you, Senator Murray. And I got horse flying all night, so no filibusters from me. Our finance investigators got confirmation from whistleblowers late Friday that the Treasury Secretary had turned the keys over to the Musk hatchet squad.

And here's where we are now. It is clear that unqualified and unaccountable people have seized control of the flow of taxpayer funds and a trove of extremely sensitive data. They are seizing the tools you need for a coup.

Their first target out of the gate wasn't anything to do with fraud or waste. It was a religious charity for poor people. If Donald Trump cared about improper payments, he wouldn't have fired the inspectors general. Nobody should fall for that bit of misdirection. Now, a few hours ago, Trump claimed that Musk only looks at payments and doesn't have the authority to shut any down. That's Donald Trump.

It's pretty clear, folks, that Musk sees it differently. As Trump and Musk continue targeting Americans they don't like, there's nothing to stop them from cutting off Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid, penalizing cities and states that defy Trump's illegal orders.

And a lot of us care deeply, as our constituents do, about privacy. Musk has access to the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans' bank accounts, tax data, social security numbers, home addresses. If people are creeped out, and you heard from Senator Murray how folks in the Northwest feel about this,

Elon Musk and his hatchet squad having your bank accounts, your home address, social security number. Trust me, folks in the Pacific Northwest think that this is way out of bounds for government. The Musk hatchet brigade has infiltrated a goldmine of data that every foreign spy and every corrupt actor would love to see.

It is a prescription for nightmares. Let's remember that Musk reportedly couldn't get a security clearance because of his financial ties to the Chinese government and his other foreign connections. That's the guy, folks, who's now got his hands on the personal data of hundreds of millions of Americans and some unknown number of businesses and groups.

Last point, the Trump administration caused chaos in Medicaid and other services that are important to Americans last week when they shut down the primary payment portals to states and social service agencies. These are incompetent people. They don't care about the damage they're doing. And now they may be in charge of the tightrope walk the Treasury has to do to avoid defaulting on out of debt.

We're one mistake away from economic catastrophe. Senator Murray, who are we going to next? Senator Warren. Thank you. Thank you. So I just want to be clear about what's going on here. The system that makes sure that your granddad gets his Social Security check is

the system that makes sure that your mom's doctor gets Medicare payment to cover her medical appointment, and the system that makes sure that you get the tax refund that you're owed has been taken over by Elon Musk.

And every organization from your state government that uses federal money on that bridge project to the local Head Start that takes care of little kids while their mommies and daddies go to work is now at the mercy of Elon Musk. Maybe you get paid or maybe you don't because now it appears that all of us work for Elon Musk.

Elon just grabbed the controls of our whole payment system, demanding the power to turn it on for his friends or turn it off for anyone he doesn't like. One guy deciding who gets paid and who doesn't. It is not the law, but it is the reality.

Now there's a second problem here. It's not just payments from the federal government that are now in Elon's control. Elon and his handful of friends now have full access to your personal and financial information that's in the system.

Your payment history, your social security number, your bank account numbers. Elon now has the power to suck out all of that information for his own use. Now, whether it's to boost his finances or expand his political power, it is all up to Elon. And there is a third problem.

In order for this handful of programmers to gain access to our $6 trillion payment system, we don't know what safeguards were pulled down.

Are the gates wide open now for hackers from China, from North Korea, from Iran, from Russia? Heck, who knows what black hat hackers all around the world are finding out about each one of us and copying that information for their own criminal uses.

Donald Trump and his billionaire buddies are determined to take over this government to make it work better for themselves and worse for everyone else. And this is just the start.

As we gear up for the tax fight, it will become even clearer that Trump will open the doors for his billionaires and giant corporations to find more ways to loot the government at your expense. Meanwhile, everyone else pays more for groceries, more for housing, more for prescription drugs, and more for health care.

When unelected billionaires start ransacking our government offices, this is not business as usual. Nope, nothing is normal. We are living a nightmare created by Donald Trump and Elon Musk, and we need to wake up.

We need to use every tool we have to fight back. And in the Senate, we can start by saying no to dangerous Trump nominees like Tulsi Gabbard and Russ Vogue. That's it for me. Go ahead. I just want all of you to imagine yourself a foreign correspondent. How would you cover this if this were in South America or Central America or Sub-Saharan Africa? How would the coverage change?

If you don't like an agency, if you don't like a spending provision, propose a bill, pass a law. That is so foundational to the American system of government that I don't want to race past this idea that you can wave away a federal law because you don't like it.

And so it is both an outrage and an illegal act, but it also gives us some confidence and the public should have some confidence. The law here is absolutely on the side of the American people being in control of taxpayer funds through the Congress, through the Congress. And so they are depending on some sort of sense of swagger and inevitability to storm into buildings and take over the servers

and to run the databases and to relieve people of their duties. Like this is some hostile takeover of a tech company. This is your government. And you can hate parts of it and love parts of it and be neutral about other parts of it, but it's still your government. And the way a person expresses their views about spending is by electing a member of Congress who believes what they believe.

And so if anyone in the Trump administration wants to modify the spending law that was enacted, you've got to come back to Congress and modify the law that was enacted. This is not some minor transgression. This is an illegal act. They stormed into buildings. They shut down agencies illegally. And sure, first it was USAID.

But they are now systematically going into the Small Business Administration, the Department of the Treasury, and they will not stop until they believe they have total control over spending. And that's not the way the American system of government is supposed to work.

Thank you. I have a question. Senator Schatz, you had put a vote on all the State Department nominees. This is for all of you. Why not go to the mat? You have all these nominees on the floor. I know they're coming in and out of the executive session on the bus vote. Why not, if you're so upset about this and this is such a damning action down there, make them go through every single parliamentary hurdle, go in and out of executive sessions, put a vote on every single nominee, and make this as difficult as possible?

We are pursuing every action that we think we can do. But I will tell you this, we are here to pull the fire alarm.

We are pulling the fire alarm. It is up to Republicans who are the majority in Congress, who are passing these nominations, who are sitting silently by while Elon Musk goes into departments, into agencies and takes your information. It is up to them to decide whether they want to get out the fire hoses or sit in the fire.

And I think we know what they need to do. And we're calling on them to do that. Jed, one fact I know because you follow the Finance Committee, the filing season has just started. And we got word that Musk...

apparently doesn't agree with the Treasury Secretary. The Treasury Secretary said that he was going to allow direct file, this new approach that Senator Warren and a whole group of us have been after for years because we're the only Western industrialized nation that doesn't use this approach

And we've got to run this to ground, but it's our understanding that Musk is going after that. And if that's the case, that will be an immense burden on people who've already started to file their taxes. This is out of control and simply cries out for some accountability. And that's what we're focused on. And a bunch of us are on the tax committee and are already working on it.

Yes. Can you just expand on that a little bit? You are in the minority right now. You are finding this through your communication, but what other steps can the Democrats do to, like you say,

Well, first of all, remember last—oh, here we are, a week later. A week ago, the Trump administration illegally started impounding money that Congress, in a bipartisan fashion, had agreed to put into law. Within a few days, we had legal challenges to that in the courts, and—

Every judge that has seen this, to my knowledge, has told them that this is illegal and that they need to start the payments again. I will, as an aside, tell you I spent the day on the phone with a number of my constituents who were calling who still don't have access to their funds.

So we have an administration right now who doesn't believe the law applies to them. We will pursue this in the courts. We will demand that our counterparts in the Republican caucus also call on the president to follow the law. And we will...

Again, ask everyone out there to let your legislator know, use your voice to let your members of Congress know you will not stand for this. That's what changed last week. One final thing on the procedural stuff. We're just not going to preview.

We're just not going to preview all of our parliamentary moves. We have leverage. We don't have extensive leverage, but we're not without tools and we will be using them, but we're not going to announce all of what we're up to today. Do you have any idea about March 14th government funding deadline and fund leverage? And if so, how do you find it? Well, I don't know that it's a point of leverage. It's a fact. On March 14th, the government shuts down.

between now and then, we have to have an agreement, bipartisan, that goes through Congress, that is passed by the House and by the Senate. And what is giving me great pause right now is what if we do all that and come to an agreement and, you know, we like some, we don't like some, but we voted in. And this administration says that's

We don't have to go by that. So the level of trust is at the lowest I have ever seen it here in Congress in our ability to work together, find a compromise and get it passed. It is up to our Republican colleagues to stand up to this and assure us that an agreement and a law is valid.

real and that they will follow up with us. So yes, we're all worried about the government shutdown deadline of March 14th. No Democrat wants the government to shut down. We have all worked extremely hard to come to an agreement. We expect our Republican colleagues to stand up and work with us to get it done in a system of trust that this democracy is founded on. Senator Wyden, can you expand on how you know when the last two weeks are going to be a direct problem with your government?

Well, we've heard it several places. Mr. Kerry can get you some of the details. But yeah. And the point really is, it's almost government by whim. You know, we're used to rules and the opportunity for all sides to be heard on the Finance Committee. We have worked on this for years and years. And we said, we want to save five, six hundred bucks

for the working guy. It is now the filing season. And based on what we've heard, essentially, Musk, I guess, says he's now going to be Secretary of Treasury as well as everything else, because he's telling Besant, you know, he's going to go in there. And Besant told us in the Finance Committee, when I asked the question, he said it is on for this year and people have started filing. Have you tried being a hold of the Treasury Secretary in the last few days? And has he responded to you?

He certainly didn't consult with us. Under normal circumstances, the Treasury Secretary consults with the committee, and we've heard nothing from him on this.

Can I ask a question about USAID? Last question, and we'll let Ferran take it. Now, your former colleague, Senator, now Secretary Rubio, said today of USAID, he said, my frustrations with USAID go back to my time in Congress. It's a completely unresponsive agency and it's supposed to respond to policy derivatives from the State Department, and it refuses to do so. I know that some of you all have good relationships with him. Have you tried to reach out to him today about USAID?

Do you remember him talking about this when he was a member? We've been in constant contact. My office and a number of us in the Senate have been in constant contact with Secretary Rubio about this. He's been obviously overseas, so a little harder to catch. Here's what I would say about that.

If there is an opportunity to look at reform, I am all ears. I'm now the ranking member of the SFOP's subcommittee. Lindsey Graham and I had a conversation about the kinds of reforms that were being contemplated by the secretary. But we cannot have a negotiation when the whole agency is illegally shut down.

If the agency is reopened, then we can start acting like adults again and have a negotiation. But right now they've illegally shut down all foreign aid. One other point of fact for you is we passed the foreign assistance appropriations bill in Congress last year. It was completely everyone voted for it on a bipartisan basis.

Across the board, every single member, no one raised any issues that you just stated. No one. And we had a full committee hearing and markup, and none of that was raised. Can I just add one follow-up? I have heard from someone with USA Station Abroad who has not been locked out of their assistance. You're saying everything is shut down? Is that the case?

I can't speak to individual employees. What I can tell you is that money is not flowing. I can tell you that medicine is not being delivered. I can tell you that there is medicine on the dock that was abandoned and spoiled. I can tell you that people are evacuating countries. I can tell you that there is an outbreak of Ebola in Uganda and Marburg virus in East Africa and all of those programs.

are either completely shut down or hobbled to the point where people can't deliver aid. And it's not just about providing life-saving care. It's about maintaining stability overseas so that that instability doesn't visit us in the United States. Thank you all very much.

Hey, thank you so much for listening today. I really do appreciate your support. If you could take a second and hit this subscribe or the follow button on whatever podcast platform that you're listening on right now, I greatly appreciate it. It helps out the show tremendously and you'll never miss an episode. And each episode is about 10 minutes or less to get you caught up quickly. And please, if you want to support the show even more, go to patreon.com slash stage zero.

And please take care of yourselves and each other. And I'll see you tomorrow.