The run away power of Elon Musk

 CNN -   Elon Musk and his allies have spent the last two weeks barreling full speed into multiple government agencies, causing confusion and chaos and raising questions about whether an unelected businessman can wield this kind of authority, seemingly running roughshod over laws and programs set up by Congress.

Over the last several days, Musk-aligned personnel have gained full access to the Treasury’s payments system, threatened to shut down the US Agency for International Development, offered all federal employees a sort of “buyout” plan, and in several agencies, pushed aside career civil servants – in some cases locking them out of their offices or computers.

Taken together, Musk’s moves represent an unprecedented effort to expand the power of the executive branch with little regard for laws or procedures – an effort Donald Trump foreshadowed during his successful 2024 campaign. Musk, the world’s richest man, has tens of billions of dollars in government contracts, and now, access to the innermost workings of the federal government.

“I have a hard time thinking of anyone who has exerted the kind of power and control that he has exerted over government operations in the last week,” Kathleen Clark, a Washington University law professor who specializes in government ethics, told CNN.

... As a special government employee, Musk is covered by a federal conflicts-of-interest statute that prohibits government employees from participating in matters that would affect their financial interests. That law can be enforced criminally or in the civil context, but it only by the Justice Department – in this case, Trump’s Justice Department.

It is unclear whether Musk has formally been appointed the administrator of the US DOGE entity created by a January 20 Trump executive order. The White House press office hasn’t responded to multiple CNN emails seeking that clarification. More