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Vice Ranking Member Crockett and Ranking Member Connolly Launch Investigation Into Elon Musk’s Obvious Conflicts of Interest at Department of Commerce

Washington, April 8, 2025

Today, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, Vice Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to Acting General Counsel John K. Guenther at the U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) requesting documents, information, and answers as to how Commerce is ensuring Elon Musk is not exploiting Commerce to enrich himself in violation of federal ethics rules.  As Elon Musk and his DOGE lackeys’ gut and terminate Americans’ vital programs and services under the guise of “efficiency,” he has conveniently ignored the potential waste, fraud, and abuse stemming from his own companies’ lucrative contracts worth billions in taxpayer dollars.  Ethics laws prevent political appointees, including SGEs, from taking part in any matter that might impact their personal finances.  Yet, as of February 2025, Mr. Musk and his companies have received a combined total of at least $38 billion in contracts, loans, subsidies, and tax credits from the federal government and state governments. In fact, Mr. Musk’s businesses have been more reliant on government funds than many of his competitors.   

 “At Commerce, where Mr. Musk’s companies have received significant financial benefits and have the potential to receive vast amounts of new business, his defiance of recusal laws and control of Commerce’s operations directly benefit his businesses,” wrote the Members.  “The known conflicts of interest presented by this arrangement are illegal and must be addressed immediately.”

Financial Benefits to Musk’s Companies from Commerce include: 

  • Mr. Musk’s space exploration company, SpaceX, has benefitted from at least $3.6 million in total taxpayer-funded benefits from Commerce alone since 2003. For example, SpaceX has received $1.9 million in federal contracts from the Department in the past decade.
  • Commerce has reportedly changed the rules of the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program meant to expand internet access around the country and particularly in rural areas. Starlink, which was previously expected to get roughly $4 billion under this program, could nowreceive as much as $20 billion under the new rules.
  • Disturbingly, Musk can expect to benefit from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s unlawful encouragement of Fox News viewers to “buy Tesla” stock. “I think, if you want to learn something on this show tonight, buy Tesla,” Lutnick told viewers.

Michael Grimes, a Wall Street executive who has worked with Mr. Musk for many years and assisted Mr. Musks’s $44 billion purchase of Twitter, is now a senior adviser at Commerce.  Grimes will reportedly lead a U.S. sovereign wealth fund that will be created by the Trump Administration and could direct billions of dollars to Mr. Musk’s companies.

In addition, as of March 2025, Mr. Musk’s DOGE operation had terminated approximately 2,000 employees of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which is housed in the Department of Commerce, leading former NOAA employees to sound the alarm on Mr. Musk’s efforts to gut NOAA to privatize space and satellite operations and steer new contracts to SpaceX and Starlink. 

President Trump illegally fired Commerce’s inspector general, the agency’s independent watchdog responsible for conducting oversight of any potential waste, fraud, abuse, or corruption associated with Mr. Musk.  

In order to ensure that Commerce is complying with federal ethics and other relevant laws with respect to Elon Musk, Vice Ranking Member Crockett and Ranking Member Connolly requested that Commerce provide information, documents, and answers by April 22, 2025.   

Click here to read the letter to Commerce Acting General Counsel John K. Guenther. 
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