Trump urged to make Musk, DOGE staff certify they will not use authorities knowledge for private benefit-OxBig News Network

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen urged President Donald Trump on Wednesday to require billionaire Elon Musk and particular authorities workers of his DOGE challenge to certify earlier than leaving authorities service that they can’t use for private profit any personal authorities knowledge they gained entry to.

Shaheen, D-N.H., in a letter to Trump, famous that the Tesla CEO Musk and DOGE workers have “unprecedented” entry to “huge swathes of a number of the most delicate U.S. authorities knowledge” throughout a broad vary of federal companies.

DOGE, whose workers embrace veterans of Musk’s firms, has reportedly accessed knowledge within the Social Security Administration, the Treasury Department, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and several other others, the letter stated.

Her letter was first reported by NBC News.

Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has, at Trump’s behest, slashed or sought to eradicate federal companies, their personnel and different sources. 

The companies focused embrace ones which can be tasked with regulatory oversight of Musk’s firms.

“I’m very involved that SGEs [special government employees], lots of whom come from the tech discipline, might return to the personal sector and use nonpublic info from the federal authorities to provide their private enterprise actions an unfair and anticompetitive increase,” Shaheen wrote Trump.

The letter famous that Steve Bannon, the right-wing provocateur who served as a high White House advisor to Trump in his first stint in workplace, “shares my concern.”

“According to a latest report: ‘Bannon additionally stated he needs a letter of certification displaying that nobody has taken any knowledge from the Trump administration or authorities, to which Semafor’s editor-in-chief Ben Smith requested, “Sounds like you do not belief [Musk] to not take knowledge?” “Trust, however confirm,” Bannon responded.’ ” Shaheen wrote.

A senior White House official referred to as the senator’s letter “pointless.”

The official added in an announcement to NBC that “SGEs are already required to abide by government department ethics guidelines together with the principles regarding misuse of place or different authorities sources or info.”

Musk, who’s the world’s wealthiest particular person, was Trump’s greatest monetary backer within the 2024 elections.

He runs a portfolio of companies that embrace electrical automobile maker Tesla, and the aerospace and protection contractor SpaceX, which incorporates Starlink, a satellite-based wi-fi web service.

His latest enterprise, xAI, develops synthetic intelligence fashions and merchandise, such because the AI chatbot Grok, which require enormous quantities of coaching knowledge.

xAI lately merged with X, the social media firm beforehand often known as Twitter.

Musk’s 130-day time period restrict as a particular authorities worker is quickly approaching, as is that of a few of his DOGE staffers.

While some DOGE staffers are poised to take longer-term authorities jobs, others might quickly transfer to the personal sector. That has raised questions concerning the safety of delicate knowledge and programs they accessed throughout their tenure at DOGE.

X is already in sizzling water with Canada’s privateness watchdog, which is investigating whether or not the corporate used private knowledge to train Grok with out customers’ consent.

Musk has claimed that  DOGE saved cash for the federal authorities.

But a New York Times evaluation and others have discovered that DOGE and Musk have repeatedly overstated the impression of their work.

The Partnership of Public Service estimated that DOGE may price taxpayers $135 billion this fiscal yr, due partially to the price of firing and placing staff on paid go away, and in addition due to the rehiring of terminated workers whose abilities are nonetheless wanted.

In an interview Tuesday with CNBC anchor David Faber, Musk stated that DOGE may have decreased the federal authorities’s spending by $160 billion from 2025 to 2026, which he characterised as “16% of the way in which in the direction of a trillion in 5 months.” 

Musk and DOGE initially aimed to chop $2 trillion from the federal funds. But they later walked that objective again to $1 trillion.