Trump’s Musk and Ramaswamy appointments spark conflict of interest fears – US politics live | US news

Wednesday 13th November 2024 06:03 AM

Ramaswamy and Musk to lead ‘government efficiency’ department sparking conflict of interest concerns

The announcement that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would lead a new non-governmental “Department of Government Efficiency” has immediately raised questions about conflicts of interest.

Both men, CNN notes, “lead companies with existing, lucrative government contracts”. Musk runs companies including Tesla, SpaceX, X and Neuralink while Ramaswamy is a wealthy biotech entrepreneur.

In his statement announcing the new roles, president-elect Donald Trump said of Musk and Ramaswamy:

Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal agencies.

Reacting to his appointment, and giving his view of what he sees as government bureaucracy, Ramaswamy posted to X to say “Shut it down”.

Ramaswamy also announced he was ending his bid to be appointed Ohio senator in stead of JD Vance, who is set to become vice president.

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US politics website the Hill is reporting that the hardline Trumpist Republican Freedom caucus in the House is to drop its objection to the re-election of speaker Mike Johnsonand will not be putting up an alternative candidate.

Instead it is believed the group will force an on the record vote on Johnson’s role, which will allow them to register their onjection to his reappointment. The caucus is unhappy with proposed rule changes intended to enforce better party discipline on the more rebellious Republican members of the House.

Joe Biden will host Donald Trump later today at the White House as part of transition efforts between the current administration and the incoming one.

Yesterday White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters “[Biden] believes in the norms, he believes in our institution, he believes in the peaceful transfer of power. That is what is the norm. That is what is supposed to happen.”

Reuters reports that Brian Vancea spokesperson for the Trump transition, said “The Trump-Vance transition lawyers continue to constructively engage with the Biden-Harris administration lawyers regarding all agreements contemplated by the Presidential Transition Act.”

In an analysis piece for CNN, Stephen Collinson has described Donald Trump’s flurry of announcements as “a night of Maga shock and awe.”

He writes:

The selection of people such as Elon Musk, Kristi Noem and Pete Hegseth are partly designed to honor the aspirations of Trump’s voters and epitomize the president-elect’s own outsider brand — as well as his deeply developed craving for loyalty.

His choice of ultra-loyalists is borne out of Trump’s frustration that establishment military officers, officials and conventional Washington operators reined in his own most extreme impulses in his first term.

But Trump is also taking a risk. While it makes sense to pick outside revolutionaries to tear down governance, many of his picks lack the kind of in-depth experience and knowledge of the departments they will run.

In its coverage of the controversial appointment of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a non-governmental commission to cut government spending, the Washington Post reminds readers of something the latter said earlier in the year.

It quotes Ramaswamy saying “We have a fourth branch of government – the administrative state – that our Founding Fathers didn’t envision. Removing the excess bureaucracy is going to be good for our economy and for our national spirit.”

The Washington Post goes on to say:

A person familiar with the effort, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive negotiations, said that details of the organization’s funding would emerge soon. The [Republicans] had talked about reducing waste for many years, but had not been effective, the person added, leading the campaign to the conclusion ‘outsiders with a much more entrepreneurial approach’ were better suited to the task.

Some Trump advisers see Musk’s commission as an opportunity to implement long-sought goals to reduce federal spending and regulation. They have pointed to the Grace Commission, a Reagan-era panel that recommended billions of dollars in spending cuts. Under that model, which some Trump advisers hope the Musk plan will emulate, the commission identified hundreds or thousands of examples of wasteful government programs and regulations, and called on Congress to approve the recommendations, backed by the president.

The constitution gives Congress authority over taxation and spending, meaning any federal budget changes recommended by Musk’s commission would have to be approved by the House and Senate.

Philip Wen

As my colleague Philip Wen noted in his report on the appointment of Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to the newly created “Department of Government Efficiency”, a lot of details remain unclear:

It is not clear how the organization will operate. It could come under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which dictates how external groups that advise the government must operate and be accountable to the public.

Federal employees are generally required to disclose their assets and entanglements to ward off any potential conflicts of interest, and to divest significant holdings relating to their work. Because Musk and Ramaswamy would not be formal federal workers, they would not face those requirements or ethical limitations.

Trump said the agency will be conducting a “complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government, and making recommendations for drastic reforms”.

Trump said their work would conclude by 4 July 2026, adding that a smaller and more efficient government would be a “gift” to the country on the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Read more here: Trump selects Elon Musk to lead government efficiency department