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Elizabeth Warren wants President-elect Trump to draw up conflict of interest rules for Elon Musk.
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Warren called any lack of regulations an “invitation to corruption on a scale we have not seen in our lifetimes.”
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Musk will play an influential role in Trump’s second term as co-leader of the DOGE.
Senator Elizabeth Warren on Monday asked President-elect Donald Trump to establish conflict-of-interest rules that would apply to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who will take on a high-profile role as co-leader of the Department of Government Efficiency. (DOGE).
The Massachusetts Democrat and former 2020 presidential candidate sent the letter to Trump’s transition team, according to The Washington Post, noting that team members must adhere to an ethics policy that forces them to “avoid both actual and apparent conflicts of interest.”
Musk, who has spent more than $250 million to help elect Trump and boost other Republican candidates ahead of the 2024 general election, has been one of Trump’s most ubiquitous confidantes in recent months. He accompanied the President-elect on trips and participated in his conversations with the world. leaders.
Trump has tasked Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy with reducing government waste through the DOGE. The pair have said they want to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget.
“Putting Mr. Musk in a position to influence billions of dollars in government contracts and regulatory enforcement without a stringent conflict of interest agreement in place is an invitation to corruption on a scale we have never seen before,” he said. Warren in her letter.
“Right now, the American public has no way of knowing whether the advice he’s secretly whispering to you is good for the country — or just good for his own bottom line,” she continued.
Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt responded to Warren in a statement to The Washington Post by praising Musk’s influence and criticizing the Democratic lawmaker. Leavitt called Warren a “career politician whose social impact is 1/1024th that of Elon Musk” and said Trump’s transition team adhered to high ethical guidelines.
Representatives of Trump’s transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Musk was one of Trump’s most prominent surrogates during the presidential race, spending weeks campaigning for the president-elect in crucial Pennsylvania, which Trump would later win en route to a national victory.
Read the original article on Business Insider
