The Week In Musk: A wall of errors
Every time the U.S. DOGE Service (DOGE) has updated its “wall of receipts,” an online database where it reports the money it has supposedly saved taxpayers, massive new errors have emerged. Last week was no different. DOGE claimed credit for saving $53.7 million by cancelling U.S. Coast Guard contracts that were fulfilled in 2006 and 2011 and a Treasury Department contract that was axed when former President Joe Biden was still in office, according to the New York Times. The Times also found that DOGE had inflated the value of a cancelled National Institutes of Health contract by $148.8 million.
Asked about the discrepancies, a senior administration official told the Times that individual agencies are providing the numbers. Of course, this would not absolve DOGE of blame. It has deputies planted at nearly every federal agency and has pressured agencies to provide them with numbers DOGE can claim as budget cuts. “The group has even created a ‘leaderboard’ to measure which ones have eliminated the most,” the Times reported.
"I’d say it cost us at least a full day’s productivity, if not more"
Elon Musk dispatched another round of emails last weekend demanding federal workers spell out five things they accomplished over the week. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) — the government’s human resources wing that has been transformed into a Musk cut-out — had initially said responses were voluntary. But in an update to its privacy impact assessment (PIA) last Friday, OPM removed wording describing responses as “explicitly voluntary.” The new PIA states, “The consequences for failure to provide the requested information will vary depending on the particular email at issue.” President Donald Trump has also said that federal employees who do not respond could lose their jobs.
The scramble to respond to Musk’s email has led to inefficiencies for federal workers, including at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). “In response to Saturday’s ‘what did you do last week?’ email, leadership scheduled yet another meeting first thing Monday morning — forcing me to reschedule a veteran’s appointment just to receive guidance from my leadership on how to respond,” one VA employee told HuffPost. Another employee at the agency told HuffPost that their managers became “mired in daily meetings to discuss what little information we had, how it was affecting employees and overall morale, and addressing whether or not any of this is legal… I’d say it cost us at least a full day’s productivity, if not more.”
Musk’s ability to simultaneously email all federal workers was described as “illegal” by a federal judge last week in a lawsuit brought by the American Federation of Government Employees. The same judge ruled that OPM has no authority to layoff federal workers.
In an extraordinary move, Trump gathered members of his Cabinet on Thursday to inform them that they were in control of their departments and personnel, not Musk, according to Politico:
Trump told top members of his administration that Musk was empowered to make recommendations to the departments but not to issue unilateral decisions on staffing and policy… Musk joined the conversation and indicated he was on board with Trump’s directive. According to one person familiar with the meeting, Musk acknowledged that DOGE had made some missteps — a message he shared earlier this week with members of Congress.
DOGE fires government efficiency team
The Trump administration terminated 90 technologists last Friday at the General Services Administration (GSA) who were working to modernize the software the federal government runs on, according to Reuters. The Atlantic reported that members of the GSA team known as 18F were informed their roles had been “abolished as part of an agency reduction-in-force.”
Among the team’s achievements was an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) program that allowed taxpayers to file directly with the agency for free instead of paying for filing software from Intuit TurboTax. 18F employees were also responsible for maintaining the government’s weather alerts and forecasts service. It’s unclear if IRS Direct File or weather.gov will continue to operate.
News of the layoffs comes a month after Musk spread the theory that the 18F team was a “far left government wide computer office.”
Judge orders DOGE member to testify
Judge John Bates ruled last week that a member of DOGE must testify in a case challenging the group’s access at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services. A federal judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Bates said the deposition would be “necessary to determine the contours of the agency actions that plaintiffs challenge.” Musk has repeatedly called for Bates to be impeached, describing him as an “evil judge.” Andy Ogles, a House Republican from Tennessee, heeded Musk’s request, introducing articles of impeachment last month against Bates, whom he described as a “radical LGBTQ activist.”
Federal judge calls out Trump administration for mischaracterizing Musk's role
Last Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Theodore Chuang contested the Trump administration’s claim that Musk has no formal role in DOGE. Chuang, who is overseeing a lawsuit from plaintiffs who worked with or for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), said the characterization appeared to be “factually inaccurate.”
Joshua Gardner, a Justice Department lawyer defending DOGE in the case, struggled to explain who exactly has been leading DOGE. The White House recently revealed that Amy Gleason, a former health care investment executive, is the official administrator of DOGE. But Gardner could not say who was leading the group before Gleason, an omission that Chaung said was “very suspicious.”
Gardner also claimed that USAID had not been shuttered and was instead undergoing “a reorganization in consultation with Congress,” another claim Chuang did not appear to buy. “The wood chipper isn’t usually reorganization,” the judge replied. (Early last month, Musk announced that DOGE was "shutting down USAID.")
As for the Trump administration’s continued insistence that Musk is not leading DOGE, the president’s own words were used to refute that argument on Tuesday. "I have created the brand new Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. Perhaps. Which is headed by Elon Musk, who is in the gallery tonight," Trump said during his congressional address. Kelly McClanahan, a public interest lawyer handling a lawsuit challenging the legality of DOGE, filed the remarks in court as “new evidence” of Musk’s leadership role.
DOGE pushing for access to IRS records
The Washington Post reported on Monday that DOGE is working to access personal tax records held by the IRS, which they purported to need to root out fraudulent payments. From the Post’s Jacob Bogage and Jeff Stein:
Gavin Kliger and Sam Corcos, DOGE representatives embedded at the tax agency, on Friday asked IRS lawyers to assist in creating an “omnibus” agreement with other federal agencies that would allow a broad swath of federal officials to cross-reference benefits rolls with taxpayer data. The request prompted significant alarm within the IRS, the people said. By law, taxpayer data is heavily guarded — improper disclosure carries both civil and criminal penalties — and the agency closely polices how other federal officials use its systems. IRS lawyers quickly concluded that DOGE’s request would violate privacy laws, the people said.
The Post noted that acting IRS commissioner Melanie Krause has signaled she is open to approving DOGE’s request for the data. However, as part of Kilger’s agreement to work at the IRS, he cannot access personal taxpayer data. Corcos’s access to IRS systems has not yet been approved due to privacy concerns.
February was Tesla’s second-worst month ever
Last week, Tesla finished the second-worst trading month in its history, plummeting nearly 30% amid Trump’s trade wars, dismal sales figures in key markets, and rising risks to its carbon credits business. Tesla shares were down to $263.45 as of market close on Thursday, significantly below its high of $479.86, which it reached in mid-December.
Year-over-year sales of its vehicles made in China dropped by nearly 50% in February. Rival automakers in the country have released new electric models starting at below $10,000 that include free advanced driving-assistance systems, which isn’t much more than what a consumer would have to pay just to access Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” software.
Tesla sales for February were down 42% in Sweden, 48% in Norway and Denmark, and 76% in Germany. If the downturn persists, Tesla could have other problems in Europe. Automakers that sell cars with internal combustion engines often will not meet Europe’s carbon emission requirements. As a short-term remedy, traditional automakers including Toyota, Ford, and Stellantis have paid Tesla billions of dollars to join its carbon credits pool, as Teslas do not produce carbon emissions. But the scheme would fall apart if Tesla cannot sell enough vehicles in Europe to offset those sold by its carbon-emitting pool partners. "If things go bad for Tesla and they don't sell enough cars this year, they might not have enough credits for what they promised Stellantis and the others," Peter Mock of the International Council on Clean Transportation told Politico Europe. "Tesla is under pressure."
The carbon credits side of Tesla’s business is facing another threat. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced this week that she would reduce regulatory pressure on traditional automakers to transition to electric vehicles.
As for Tesla’s U.S. operations, Trump’s 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada would raise costs for the EV maker. At least 20% of the parts used to make Teslas in the U.S. come from Mexico, according to Electrek. Trump, however, has suspended the tariffs for another month.
Trump administration prepares to pay billions to Starlink
On Tuesday, Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told Fox News that Starlink, the satellite internet subsidiary of SpaceX, would be “part of a solution” to the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) communications overhaul. He added that the FAA still wants “to make sure we have fiber-connected systems in place.” The comments come after the Washington Post reported that Starlink has the inside track to supplant a multi-billion dollar contract the FAA signed with Verizon to upgrade air traffic control facilities.
SpaceX appears to be on the same page as Duffy. On Wednesday, its corporate account wrote on X, "Starlink is a possible partial fix to an aging system. There is no effort or intent for Starlink to 'take over' any existing contract."
Still, the Trump administration is exploring other ways to award federal funds to Starlink as it reexamines a $42.5 billion program to provide internet access to rural communities. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has informed his staff that he will update the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program to make it “technology-neutral,” according to the Wall Street Journal:
That change will free up states to award more funds to satellite-internet providers such as Starlink, rather than mainly to companies that lay fiber-optic cables, to connect the millions of U.S. households that lack high-speed internet service… The potential new rules could drastically increase the share of funding available to Starlink. Under the BEAD program’s original rules, Starlink was expected to get up to $4.1 billion, said people familiar with the matter. With Lutnick’s overhaul, Starlink, a unit of Musk’s SpaceX, could receive $10 billion to $20 billion, they said.
In somewhat related news, FedScoop reported last week that U.S. Customs and Border Protection has submitted the requisite documents to evaluate the use of Starlink in its operations.
Musk spouts theories about Fort Knox and Ebola on Rogan
Last week, Musk returned to Joe Rogan’s podcast for the first time since joining the Trump administration. The three-hour conversation was fairly bland — much of it was Rogan talking at his guest while Musk nodded and mumbled along, including a moment where Rogan suggested CNN was somehow tipped off ahead of the attempted assassination of Trump in July.
Musk attempted to justify his dismantling of USAID, claiming without evidence the agency was “[funding] Ebola prevention, but it turns out that actually, [they’re] funding a lab that develops new Ebola. They claim it's Ebola prevention, but it's actually Ebola creation."
Musk claimed the White House had granted him the "equivalent of an all-access pass from a security clearance standpoint."
He also repeated a theory claiming the gold bars stored in Fort Knox have been removed and replaced with counterfeits. “A live tour of Fort Knox would be awesome,” he said. “Is the gold there or not? They say it is -- is it real? Or did somebody spray paint some lead?”
Musk Minutes
To cover the salaries of 20 of its employees, DOGE is requesting the Office of Personnel Management pay it more than $4 million through July of next year. That works out to $189,950 per person for 17 and a half months of work. (CNN)
The Swedish electric-vehicle maker Polestar claimed its “Trade in Your Tesla” promotion has been a hit with consumers. The deal grants Tesla owners a $5,000 discount on the company’s Polestar 3 crossover. (Inside EVs)
Tesla has fired a manager in its battery division who publicly denounced the Nazi jokes Musk posted on X in January. (New York Times)
Musk met with a group of Senate Republicans on Wednesday to discuss how Congress can make DOGE’s budget cuts permanent. Senator Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, proposed using a “rescission” package — wherein the White House would rescind funds previously appropriated by Congress — a revelation that caused Musk to pump his fists and dance with joy. (NBC News)
A federal judge in California has denied a portion of Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI that would bar the firm from transitioning to a for-profit company. (CNBC)
Musk had another child with Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis, bringing the tally of his known children to 14. (People)
EU lawmaker Daniel Freund has asked the European Commission to account for the public funding provided to Musk’s companies over the past five years. "Trump's MAGA crowd including Musk have the clear aim to weaken or even destroy the EU. So we should have a very close look at the EU funding we provide to them," Freund said on Wednesday. "For me it's clear: the EU should not give millions to people that want to destroy it." (AFP)
A dozen Teslas were set on fire outside one of the company’s stores in France on Sunday. In Boston, numerous Tesla charging stations were destroyed on Monday in an apparent arson attack. And last month, a Tennessee man was arrested for threatening to burn down Musk’s xAI facility in Memphis. (Electrek, NBC News, AP News)
Prompted by Trump’s resumption of his trade war with Canada, Ontario premier Doug Ford has followed through with his threat to cancel his province’s $68 million contract with Starlink. (CBC)
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has launched a probe into X’s use of personal data to train AI models. (Reuters)
Any one still calling this pudgy Nazi a genius, please let me know. You are in the tribe of “stupid”.
I can't believe we're only weeks into this. My previous 45 years seemed much quicker.