Donald Trump‘s spokeswoman slapped down a letter from Senator Elizabeth Warren as ‘toothless’ after she accused his close ally Elon Musk of ‘corruption.’
Trump, 78, tapped Musk to co-head the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after the world’s richest man went all in to help him win the 2024 election.
It is almost unusual these days to see the president-elect publicly without the tech billionaire hovering nearby, be it in Florida, New York or Washington.
The progressive lawmaker raised alarms over Musk’s ability to work with the government moving forward because of potential ‘conflicts of interest.’
In a letter to Trump on Monday, Warren details ‘concerns’ with ‘dual roles’ played by Musk in the incoming government and private sector.
But Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s incoming press secretary, shot back a fiery response, essentially telling the senator to shove it as Musk remains a near permanent fixture at Mar-a-Lago.
‘President Trump has assembled the most impressive and qualified team of innovators, entrepreneurs, and geniuses to advise and staff our government,’ Leavitt in a statement to DailyMail.com.
‘Pocahontas can play political games and send toothless letters, but the Trump-Vance transition will continue to be held to the highest ethical and legal standards possible—a standard unfamiliar to a career politician whose societal impact is 1/1024th of Elon Musk’s,’ she continued.
Pocahontas is a controversial nickname Trump has long used for the Massachusetts Democrat for falsely claiming she has significant Native American heritage.
The Massachusetts lawmaker noted Musk’s close proximity to the president-elect and his planned role to help tackle government waste through DOGE.
Donald Trump ‘s spokeswoman slapped down a letter from Senator Elizabeth Warren as ‘toothless’ after she accused his close ally Elon Musk of ‘corruption.’
President-elect Donald Trump ‘s spokeswoman slapped down a letter from Senator Elizabeth Warren as ‘toothless
But she warned ‘Musk is no ordinary citizen’ and pointed out he’s the CEO of several companies with ‘significant interests before the federal government’ – including getting indirect subsidies and federal contracts worth billions.
Warren also argued Musk’s other companies ‘have an ongoing interest in how the government does or does not enforce labor laws, workplace safety rules, environmental regulations, and other federal laws.’
‘Mr. Musk’s substantial private interests present a massive conflict of interest with the role he has taken on as your ‘unofficial co-president,” Warren wrote.
‘Currently, the American public has no way of knowing whether the advice that he is whispering to you in secret is good for the country—or merely good for his own bottom line,’ she continued.
Warren pointed out that federal financial conflict-of-interest rules ‘prohibit federal employees from working on particular matters that affect their own financial interests.’
She also quoted the Trump transition team’s own ethics plan about avoiding actual and apparent conflicts.
Pocahontas is a controversial nickname Trump has long used for the Massachusetts Democrat for claimed she has Native American heritage
Musk standing with Trump and Vice President-elect Vance at the Army-Navy game on Dec. 14
The senator asked the president-elect or his transition team to provide a series of answers to fourteen questions about Musk’s role as co-chair of DOGE and whether he will recuse himself on matters affecting his companies.
Separate to Musk, she asked what penalties will be imposed if individuals do not meet the transition team’s ethics standards and questioned if DOGE’s records be retained and released to the public.
‘As your Transition Team Ethics Plan makes clear, the role of government is not to line the pockets of the wealthiest Americans; a strong, enforceable ethics plan for the world’s richest man is a necessary first step for delivering on that promise,’ she wrote.
Elon Musk with his son on Capitol Hill after meeting with lawmakers on December 5
But the Trump transition team shot back a fiery response, essentially telling the senator to shove it as Musk remains a near permanent fixture at Mar-a-Lago.
The pair have butted heads since Trump’s first term in the White House as the progressive lawmaker remains a fierce critic of the Republican leader and his team, calling out the nominations of a series of billionaires.
But Warren has signaled in recent weeks there are areas where she could see herself working with the incoming administration including on credit card rate caps.
