By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two U.S. House of Representatives lawmakers on Thursday asked the Transportation Department’s top ethics official to detail how the agency is addressing Elon Musk’s potential conflicts of interest given ongoing investigations of SpaceX and Tesla, companies run by the close ally of President Donald Trump.
“Mr. Musk remains in charge of a sprawling private sector business empire that continues to rely on billions of dollars in government funding and has been charged with managing his own conflicts of interest,” wrote Representative Gerald Connolly, top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, and Representative Emily Randall on Thursday. “This arrangement is corrupt on its face and threatens accountable, democratic governance.”
The Transportation Department, White House and Tesla did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Musk, a senior Trump adviser, has led the effort to dramatically shrink the size of the federal government through the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
“Mr. Musk continues to profit from taxpayer dollars and now finds himself in charge of determining which federal contracts the government will keep and which will be cut — an arrangement that runs afoul of the law,” the letter said.
The letter noted that the Federal Aviation Administration in September proposed fining SpaceX $633,000 for violating launch license requirements and that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has five pending investigations into Tesla.
One of those covers 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with Full Self-Driving software after four reported collisions, including a fatal 2023 crash.
In February, NHTSA laid off 4% of its staff as part of a government-wide trimming of probationary employees. USDOT overall has cut hundreds of employees and about 4,000 department employees this week sought to take voluntary buyouts.
The letter seeks “a detailed and complete list of all steps DOT is taking to ensure compliance with all relevant conflicts of interest and ethics laws pertaining to Mr. Musk’s
businesses.”
The letter also wants a list of actions to ensure Musk
“is not permitted access to information that would give Mr. Musk’s businesses an advantage over competitors.”
Numerous lawmakers have raised questions about the potential for Musk to interfere or take over a $2.4 billion FAA telecommunications contract with Verizon.
Musk, who owns satellite company Starlink, has sharply criticized the current FAA telecom system. Starlink has denied it wants to take over any FAA contract.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Bill Berkrot)
