The Dictatorship
Elon Musk is a walking conflict of interest
This is an adapted excerpt from the Feb. 5 episode of “All In with Chris Hayes.”
Anger is rising as the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, continues to hollow out the United States government. The unelected billionaire and his “Department of Government Efficiency,” or DOGE, have already reportedly seized control of payment and personnel systems and attempted to shut down an agency created by Congress. Americans across the country — in protests, demonstrations and teach-ins — are focusing their outrage on him with calls to “Fire Musk” (even though it is not entirely clear whom he is working for — other than himself).
The man Republicans are letting dismantle swaths of the federal government reportedly has a direct personal and financial interest in that dismantling.
But Musk is still pushing on. On Wednesday, DOGE staffers reportedly entered the headquarters of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Maryland, as well as the building of its parent agency, the Department of Commerce, in Washington, D.C., according to CBS News, citing former NOAA officials who spoke directly with current staffers.
“They apparently just sort of walked past security and said: ‘Get out of my way,’ and they’re looking for access for the IT systems, as they have in other agencies,” Andrew Rosenberg, another former NOAA official with knowledge of the incident, alleged to Mother Jones.
“They will have access to the entire computer system, a lot of which is confidential information,” Rosenberg added.
It should be noted that Project 2025, the right-wing blueprint for Donald Trump’s second term, called for NOAA to be “broken up and downsized” because its role in promoting climate science was “harmful to U.S. prosperity.”
Musk staffers have also reportedly gained access to payment and contracting systems at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the sources of health insurance for more than 150 million older and poorer Americans, five people with knowledge of the matter told The Washington Post. What Musk is doing with that access is unclear. But he did post on the social media platform he owns that “this is where the big money fraud is happening.” According to The Wall Street Journal, DOGE’s access is “read-only.”
This all comes on the heels of Musk’s other moves, including his sudden attempt to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID — a move that is already wreaking havoc on public health and lifesaving aid around the world — and his reported takeover of the Treasury Department’s payment systems. Trump officials continue to insist Musk’s access to those systems is also read-only.
However, some insiders allege otherwise. Three sources tell Wired that a “25-year-old engineer named Marko Elez, who previously worked for two Elon Musk companies, has direct access to Treasury Department systems responsible for nearly all payments made by the US government.”
“Two of those sources say that Elez’s privileges include the ability not just to read but to write code on two of the most sensitive systems in the US government,” Wired goes on to report. “These systems control, on a granular level, government payments that in their totality amount to more than a fifth of the US economy.”
Both Elez and Musk did not immediately respond to Wired’s requests for comment.
This is just a small fraction of what the world’s richest man — a guy that no one voted for — has done in an attempt to take over the U.S. government. In response, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee actually tried to do some oversight and subpoena Musk to force him to testify to the committee. But the committee’s Republican members refused to allow debate on the motion.
One of the main reasons why this is so important is because Musk, the man Republicans are letting dismantle swaths of the federal government, reportedly has a direct personal and financial interest in dismantling much of the government.
In other words, Musk is a walking conflict of interest.
For example, Musk bragged that he spent last weekend “feeding USAID into the wood chipper.” That came a day after he posted“USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die.” What Musk failed to mention is that these comments come months after the agency announced a probe of his company Starlink’s terminals, according to pages that still remain on the agency’s website, as reported on by The Lever.
That investigation was launched with a public announcement last year. Its status is now unknown, but you can take a guess whether it will continue now.
Those Starlink consoles were just a fraction of the business that Musk’s companies do with the federal government. Over the past decade, just two of his companies, Tesla and SpaceX, have won more than $15 billion in government contracts, according to The New York Times.
Most of that comes from his space business, which the Times says “effectively dictates NASA’s rocket launch schedule.” But last September, the Federal Aviation Administration announced plans to fine SpaceX for skirting launch safety rules, including using an “unapproved launch control room.”
Tesla and SpaceX have won more than $15 billion in government contracts, according to The New York Times.
That same day, Musk lashed out on X, saying that “humanity will forever be confined to Earth unless there is radical reform at the FAA!” A week after that, Musk called for the resignation of the FAA’s chief.
Then, last month, in the final days of the Biden administration, a SpaceX starship exploded shortly after takeoff, spreading debris beyond protected areas. There were reports of debris and damage on the Turks and Caicos Islands. Air traffic in the area had to be diverted briefly.
SpaceX announced the rocket had undergone a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.” The FAA immediately grounded SpaceX, barring future launches until an investigation could be conducted. But three days later, Trump became president and the FAA administrator, whom Musk wanted out, announced his resignation.
Given all of that and given Musk’s penchant for exploding rockets (or what he likes to call “rapid unscheduled disassembly”), you would think he is the last guy the FAA would want weighing in on issues of public transportation safety.
But you would think wrong. On Wednesday, the former reality TV star and newly minted Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted on Musk’s platform, “Big News — Talked to the DOGE team. They are going to plug in to help upgrade our aviation system.”
We’re witnessing the world’s richest man, who has been empowered to get into the back-end of virtually every facet of the U.S. government, continue to do simply whatever he wants — all while he has billions and billions at stake.
Allison Detzel contributed.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Most Americans still think their taxes are too high, according to recent polls, even after last year’s tax law fulfilled several of President Donald Trump’s tax-related campaign promises.
In fact, a new Fox News poll indicates people are more upset about taxes than they were last year. The findings from the survey, which was conducted in late March, are another sign that Americans are on edge about their personal finances as the U.S. experiences a spike in inflation and sluggish economic growth. Other polling finds that frustration goes beyond personal tax obligations, with many believing that wealthy people and corporations are not paying their fair share, while others worry about government waste.
The surveys come after Trump and Republicans passed a massive tax and spending cut bill last year. The legislation enacted a range of tax breaks, including a boosted child tax credit and new tax deductions for tips and overtime. Tax refunds are up this seasonand many households are expected to see more income from the Republicans’ tax legislation, but the Congressional Budget Office estimated it will ultimately give the largest benefits to the richest Americans.
Republicans have touted the law as evidence that they are making life more affordable for working families. But polling shows that many Americans may not be feeling the benefits, especially as their tax refunds get eaten up by higher prices.
Most say taxes are too high
About 7 in 10 registered voters say the taxes they pay are “too high,” according to the Fox News poll. That’s up from about 6 in 10 last year. The poll shows heightened concern among very liberal voters and Democratic men, but there has also been a sizable increase among groups that Republicans want to court ahead of the midterm elections, such as moderates, rural voters and white voters without a college degree.
Discontent about taxes has been rising for the past few years. Recent polling from Gallupconducted in March, found about 6 in 10 U.S. adults say the amount of federal income tax they have to pay is “too high,” a finding that’s been largely consistent in the annual poll since 2023. That’s approaching the level of unhappiness found in Gallup’s polling from the 1980s through the 1990s, before President George W. Bush’s 2001 and 2003 tax cuts.
Now, about half of Democrats and about 6 in 10 Republicans say their federal income taxes are too high. Republicans tend to view their tax bill more negatively than Democrats, but Gallup’s polling shows that this gap often shrinks when a Republican is president.
Many believe the rich aren’t paying enough in taxes
Most Americans are troubled by the belief that some wealthy people and corporations don’t pay their fair share of taxes, according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted in January. About 6 in 10 Americans said each of those notions bothers them “a lot,” a measure that is largely unchanged in recent years.
By contrast, only about 4 in 10 U.S. adults in that poll said the amount they personally pay in taxes bothers them a lot.
About 8 in 10 Democrats are bothered “a lot” by the feeling that some corporations and rich people aren’t paying their fair share, the Pew survey found, compared to about 4 in 10 Republicans. Government spending is a bigger issue for Republicans, according to the Fox News poll, which found that 75% of registered voters — and a similar share of Republican voters — say “almost all” or “a great deal” of government funding is wasteful and inefficient.
That points to a perception problem for many Americans. Even if their own tax bill is manageable, the idea that the wealthy are underpaying — or that the government is wasting their dollars — bothers many. About half of Americans, 49%, in the Gallup poll say the income tax they will pay this year is “not fair,” which is in line with the record high from 2023.
Broad unhappiness with Trump’s tax approach
Americans’ tax frustration was rising before Trump re-entered the White House, but it’s still a problem for the president’s party — especially if Americans are not feeling the relief that he promised.
The Fox News poll found that about 6 in 10 registered voters, 64%, say they disapprove of how Trump is handling taxes, up from 53% last April. Disapproval has risen most sharply among independents, but also among Democrats and Republicans.
This aligns with a broader feeling that Trump isn’t doing enough to address inflation. Most Americans said Trump had hurt the cost of living “a lot” or “a little” in his second term, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted in January. Roughly 9 in 10 Democrats and about 6 in 10 independents said Trump has had a negative impact on the cost of living.
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This story has been updated to correct that less than half of Republicans, 43%, said Trump has helped the cost of living, while 33% said he hasn’t made a difference and only 23% said he has hurt it.
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The Fox News poll was conducted among 1,001 registered voters from March 20-23. The Gallup poll was conducted among 1,000 U.S. adults from March 2-18. The Pew Research Center poll was conducted among 8,512 U.S. adults from Jan. 20-26. The AP-NORC Poll was conducted among 1,203 U.S. adults from Jan 8-11.
The Dictatorship
Democrats to confront Trump budget director Russ Vought about his ‘stone cold silence’
When White House budget director Russell Vought appears before lawmakers on Wednesday, he will almost certainly face questions about a ballooning Pentagon budgeta special war-funding request and an extended Homeland Security shutdown. But Democrats also plan to press him on an issue closer to the Capitol: why he has spent months dodging their questions altogether.
Vought is set to testify Wednesday before the House Budget Committee and again before the Senate’s budget panel on Thursday. It’s a long-awaited chance for Democrats eager to question him on several fronts — including the cost of the Iran war, cuts to health care spending, a demoralized federal workforce and what the government’s own watchdog has described as the illegal impoundment of federal funds.
Lawmakers also have a growing to-do list that involves Vought, including a war supplemental for President Donald Trump’s military campaign in Iran and a reconciliation bill that would fund immigration enforcement agencies. Congress is also supposed to adopt a budget, though that may slip after the president’s budget was weeks late and omitted any information about projected federal debts and deficits.
But Democrats see Vought as “missing and reclusive,” ignoring their questions for months, the Budget Committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, told MS NOW. Vought didn’t testify before the committee last year, a break with tradition. And written questions to Vought have been met with “stone cold silence,” Boyle said.
In JanuaryHouse Democrats pressed Vought for answers on the administration’s health care plans, its compliance with congressionally approved funding laws, its attempt to withhold nutrition aid during last year’s government shutdown, and plans for federal layoffs.
“He sent us not one word in response,” Boyle said. “And in doing so, it shows their contempt for the United States Congress, and it shows their contempt for our constitutional system.”
Boyle told MS NOW he plans to introduce legislation to legally require Office of Management and Budget directors to testify before the House Budget Committee, after Vought didn’t do so last year. He also said he aims to require that the OMB director respond to members of the committee.
Democrats didn’t hear back from Vought about testifying to the committee until March, when Boyle displayed a picture of Vought as a missing child on a milk carton. That prompted Vought to respond on X that, “I am coming to testify on April 15. You should get up to speed.”
House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, had previously assured reporters that Vought would testify in 2026, but Boyle said Democrats hadn’t gotten confirmation until the milk carton incident.
“That’s what shamed him into it,” Boyle said of Vought.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee and a member of the Budget Committee, also said Vought had not been responsive to questions from Democratic members of the Senate, including on the cost of the Iran war. She said she’d press Vought at Thursday’s hearing on whether he would distribute funds appropriated by Congress.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said he’d ask Vought questions “around this ‘traumatizing the federal workforce’ stuff,” and whether DOGE wasted money by firing employees who needed to be rehired later. And Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said he’d ask Vought “how he’s not a corrupt stooge of the fossil fuel industry.”
Senate Republicans, meanwhile, say they haven’t been pressing Vought hard for answers. For example, the missing debt and deficit data in the budget proposal — which Maya MacGuineas, president of the fiscally conservative Committee for a Responsible Budget called “an astonishing lack of information — hasn’t prompted pushback from conservative lawmakers.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said he was unbothered by Vought’s decision to leave out the debt data in the president’s budget request.
“Nobody looks at it anyway,” Scott told MS NOW. “It’s just for you guys to write something.”
Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, said he’d ask Vought “to give a great update on the progress that we’ve made” in reducing the deficit. When asked about the missing debt and deficit information, Moreno said he didn’t know about it.
“I haven’t had a chance to see the whole thing, to be honest with you, so I’ve got to see what that’s all about,” Moreno told MS NOW.
In prepared remarks obtained by PunchbowlVought reportedly plans to say that, “when President Trump took office, the nation was facing financial catastrophe under the failed leadership of the Biden Administration and decades of status quo spending strangling our nation.”
But federal spending, according to the Treasury Departmenthas increased under Trump. And the federal deficit is going up. (The federal deficit was $1.8 trillion in fiscal 2025 and is projected to be $1.9 trillion in fiscal 2026according to the Congressional Budget Office.)
Republicans have also been patient with the lack of information about the cost of the Iran war.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Tuesday he still hasn’t seen a request and doesn’t know how much it will cost.
“The only thing I think I’ve seen is what you guys report,” Thune told reporters.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told reporters he’d want to scour the funding request’s details before he decides if he’ll support it.
But when pressed whether the administration had answered his questions on the topic, Johnson made it clear he hadn’t focused on those details yet.
“Haven’t really asked,” he said.
Jack Fitzpatrick covers Congress for MS NOW. He previously reported for Bloomberg Government, Morning Consult and National Journal. He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Arizona State University.
The Dictatorship
Justice Department moves to erase Jan. 6 convictions of Oath Keepers, Proud Boys’ leaders
The Justice Department requested on Tuesday for a federal appeals court to erase the seditious conspiracy convictions of a group of leaders of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys — two right-wing extremist groups who were involved in the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6.
The request asks the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to vacate the individuals’ convictions, effectively erasing their guilty verdicts, and to dismiss the charges with prejudice. A dismissal with prejudice prevents the government from bringing the cases again.
In January 2025, President Donald Trump had already either pardoned or commuted the prison sentences of most of the roughly 1,500 people charged in connection with the 2021 attack on the Capitol after Trump’s loss to President Joe Biden in 2020. While most of the defendants received pardons, wiping their convictions, Trump only commuted the sentences of 14 high-profile defendants to time served, which upheld their convictions while allowing them to leave prison.
The request by the Justice Department would go a step further and erase all the convictions for the extremist group leaders, including Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodeswho didn’t receive pardons last January.
Only 12 of those defendants were referenced in the Justice Department’s request on Tuesday. Rhodes, who was sentenced to 18 yearsin prison, is among those who would benefit.
“The government’s motion to vacate in this case is consistent with its practice of moving the Supreme Court to vacate convictions in cases where the government has decided in its prosecutorial discretion that dismissal of a criminal case is in the interests of justice — motions that the Supreme Court routinely grants,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing signed by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro.
Trump himself faces criminal a series of civil lawsuits related to his incitement of the Jan. 6 attack. A federal judge earlier this month rejected his efforts to end the suits ahead of his trial, which has not yet been scheduled.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW, with a focus on how global events and foreign policy shape U.S. politics. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.
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