Elon Musk takes acquainted fraud, waste claims to Joe Rogan with DOGE dialogue
In one in every of his first in-depth interviews since becoming a member of the U.S. authorities, Elon Musk pushed quite a lot of claims about waste and fraud however supplied little new info or perception into the work of the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE).
In a wide-ranging, three-hour dialogue with podcaster Joe Rogan printed Friday, Musk revisited well-trodden grievances about information retailers and billionaire Democratic donor George Soros. He additionally touched on whether or not he thinks personal aerospace contractors have secret propulsion expertise (“I don’t assume they’re hiding it from me.”), his respect for Trump’s Cupboard (“This can be a revolutionary Cupboard and possibly essentially the most revolutionary Cupboard because the first revolution.”), and a latest fringe concept that the gold in Fort Knox had been stolen.
Musk had Rogan ask Grok, the AI chatbot constructed by Musk’s firm, xAI, whether or not “all of the gold was in Fort Knox.”
“Are you a f—— conspiracy theorist?” Grok responded, drawing laughs from Musk and Rogan.
Musk, who has appeared on Rogan’s podcast twice earlier than, additionally mentioned the DOGE efforts stoking chaos at authorities businesses, together with the U.S. Company for Worldwide Improvement, Social Safety Administration, Federal Emergency Administration Company and Treasury Division.
The podcast look comes as Musk’s ascendance within the U.S. authorities now seems full. Although the administration has stated he’s a White Home advisor, President Donald Trump has stated that Musk is main the way in which with DOGE’s efforts to slash the federal authorities. At Trump’s first Cupboard assembly Wednesday, Musk had an outsized position, with Trump giving him the ground for a big chunk of it.
Regardless of Musk’s excessive profile and near-constant posting on X, main questions stay about DOGE and what it’s doing, with strain mounting from politicians and judges to be extra forthcoming about its operations.
The Rogan podcast did little to reply these questions. Although Musk spoke at size about DOGE, he supplied few particulars.
DOGE is dealing with practically a dozen lawsuits relating to its entry to authorities businesses’ and departments’ information. Musk defended the efforts, saying that “anybody from DOGE has to undergo the identical vetting course of that these federal staff went by means of” to entry databases.
“If for instance there’s a safety clearance wanted, the DOGE particular person has to have that very same safety clearance, so there’s no discount in safety,” Musk stated.
It’s not clear what sort of clearance or vetting DOGE staffers have.
He additionally stated DOGE’s cuts weren’t obligatory.
“I need to be clear, these are cuts that DOGE recommends to the division,” Musk stated. “Often these suggestions are adopted, however these are suggestions which might be then confirmed by the division.”
Musk instructed Rogan that the initiative started with round 40 to 100 individuals, however didn’t say whether or not that quantity has elevated, and the full variety of DOGE staff stays unknown. DOGE has been ridiculed by members of Congress, federal officers and others for its staffing selections, with some members being as younger as 19.
Musk additionally continued to make claims about fraud with little proof. He revisited Social Safety, round which he lately made claims about fraud that had been debunked by The Related Press, citing a 2024 Social Safety’s inspector basic report.
“We discovered simply with a primary search of the Social Safety database that there have been 20 million lifeless individuals marked as alive,” Musk stated.
When Rogan requested in the event that they had been receiving cash, Musk stated sure however couldn’t reply what proportion was receiving cash. Social Safety’s appearing commissioner Lee Dudek, acknowledged latest reporting. “The reported information are individuals in our data with a Social Safety quantity who would not have a date of loss of life related to their document. These people should not essentially receiving advantages.”
Musk stated the fraud stemmed from individuals getting incapacity and unemployment funds as a result of they had been marked as alive. He offered no proof for that declare, calling the fraud a “financial institution shot.”
Within the interview, Musk additionally stated FEMA allegedly spent $59 million in housing for migrants, a declare he additionally made on X. Regardless of Musk writing in his put up that the knowledge had been found by the “DOGE group,” the spending had been made public and appropriated by Congress.
The day after Musk made his X put up, 4 FEMA officers had been fired for having ties to funding lodges for migrants in New York Metropolis.
Musk additionally addressed the backlash he confronted after making a gesture some in comparison with a Nazi salute throughout Trump’s inauguration celebration. He known as the protection after that episode “coordinated propaganda” from the “legacy media.” After he made the gesture, Musk posted Nazi-related puns to X.
“It was clearly meant in essentially the most constructive spirit attainable,” Musk stated. “Now I can by no means level at issues diagonally.”
“It’s deliberate propaganda.” Musk added. “They realize it was clearly not meant in a unfavorable approach. I’d actually stated, ‘my coronary heart goes out to you.’ It was very constructive. My complete speech was very constructive.”
