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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDemocrats demand investigation into Musk over possible criminal corruption
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/17/democrats-elon-musk-investigationLeading Democrats on Monday demanded an investigation of possible criminal corruption involving Elon Musk, the tech billionaire and worlds richest man tasked by Donald Trump with slashing the federal government.
The investigation should involve the Federal Aviation Administrations decision to cancel a $2.4bn contract with Verizon to upgrade air traffic control communications, and to pay Musks Starlink to help manage US airspace, senators Chris Van Hollen, Richard Blumenthal and Elizabeth Warren wrote to Pam Bondi, the attorney general, and Mitch Behm, acting inspector general of the transportation department.
We ask that the Department of Transportations Office of Inspector General and the Department of Justice investigate the scope of Mr Musks activities at the FAA, the senators said.
An investigation, the letter said, would determine whether Musk, in his capacity as a special government employee in the White House has participated in any particular matter in which he has a financial interest, which would violate the criminal conflict-of-interest statute.

multigraincracker
(35,588 posts)End of the world for maga.
🤣
FBaggins
(28,088 posts)Musk often gains or loses Soros' entire net worth in a single day.
Bezos and Zuckerberg are next in line
Kid Berwyn
(20,258 posts)Then Hugo Drax will buy all the robots he will ever need and have the US taxpayers pay for the privilege.
Grumpy Old Woman
(27 posts)malaise
(283,783 posts)and welcome to DU.
Tickle
(4,076 posts)Trump owns the DOJ. When Trumps term is over they all better leave the country. Maybe the Saudis will take them
ancianita
(40,426 posts)usaf-vet
(7,480 posts)...... they need to be purged of any software and /or hardware (it's possible that one chip swapped out could contain the routine to flip votes) and have a clean company-certified installation of all necessary software/hardware before the Democrats are likely to have any chance of winning critical national elections in the swing states again. LISTEN TO THE END OF THE VIDEO.
THIS HAS BEEN THE GOP's PLAN SINCE 2000 (Bush v Gore). They needed a nationwide cluster of connected networks to engineer and calculate where to alter the election results.
Please don't bother telling me I'm crazy or don't know what I'm talking about. I have heard it all before, maybe from Russian bots or delusional cultists. So be it!
Someday, the truth will be out at 78; I will likely not be around to say I told you so unless I have my material grandparents' genes. They lived into their late 90s.
ancianita
(40,426 posts)AND while that's happening -- for right now this year -- we MUST codify immediate state paper trail audits in every swing state so that the paper trail audits begin immediately after the votes are "called" in the midterms, as a dry run for 2028.
Too damn bad if the certifications take longer, or some officials make "mistakes." They will all have to follow the new paper trail audit laws and timeline.
usaf-vet
(7,480 posts)...... stops so they don't trip the automatic recount point in each swing state.
ancianita
(40,426 posts)and correct that mechanical trick.
tishaLA
(14,625 posts)If there is a way out.
It's complete lawlessness.
jmowreader
(52,224 posts)rubbersole
(9,765 posts)Well, I guess it beats a strongly worded letter from the office of the Minority Leader.
surfered
(6,567 posts)I think the Justice Department will be just too busy prosecuting Trumps political enemies and those Tesla protesters
Hotler
(13,067 posts)malaise
(283,783 posts)ancianita
(40,426 posts)Hotler
(13,067 posts)against all enemies foreign and domestic. Their oath is their leverage. That has to have some weight in court. Each congressional/senate Dem go to the mic and speak, "I raise today to honor my oath of office and declare DJT and E. Musk domestic enemies and call for immediate arrest for attempting another coup and violating the constitution or some other shit. Then sit back and let the fascist melt down. It could be priceless.
Or, get all of them out on the steps as one and make the statement or something similar.
Now would be a good time to test the water, throw something against the wall and see if it sticks.
The late John Lewis said get into good trouble.
ancianita
(40,426 posts)Or if they did, even evidence?
I think that congressman Eric Swalwell's suit against Trump is pending while the felon is president. Maybe he has reason that other congress people don't. Not being a lawyer, I'll bet there's a reason (you might not have thought of ) why the congress people who ARE lawyers have not done what Swalwell did.
I like your hard driving optimism about fighting for justice... I'm with you, I believe in good trouble and we need it as of yesterday ... but there must be a legal reason why ( something about legal immunity) they're not filing lawsuits, imho. They're smart people, so it can't just be that they haven't thought of these things.
Hotler
(13,067 posts)I say do it just to start trouble and piss the fascist off. Going before the mic and calling them domestic enemies and call for their arrest might start the national conversation that they are enemies and start shouts of "LOCK THEM UP-LOCK THEM UP" everywhere.
Just like they did to Hillary.
Be well
slightlv
(5,456 posts)We've been looking at this like elections and impeachments are the only remedies we have. Instead of giving in to the repugs, what if Schumer had a petition signed by (at least) all democratic senators, reps, and movers and shakers declaring WAR on him. After all, it is congress who is suppose to declare war. Oh, it'll get laughed at... but if there's enough pre-planning with judges, sympathetic police, write-ups, and protests held in favor of it, I'll bet it wouldn't be ignored.
Autumn
(47,774 posts)I don't. But if the Republicans wanted to investigate Biden or his son there would be enough Democrats to insist that would get done. This movie is stuck on repeat.
2naSalit
(96,735 posts)Is some condescending snark from bimboBondi.
patphil
(7,775 posts)In less than 2 months the Trump administration has already established itself as one of the most corrupt of all time.
James48
(4,818 posts)Not one of. THE most corrupt of all time.
patphil
(7,775 posts)chowder66
(10,499 posts)It also places pressure on republicans who may have issues with Musk just by announcing it.
It may feel impossible but it's something.
DENVERPOPS
(12,049 posts)DEMOCRATS demand???????????????
Skittles
(163,972 posts)riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight
sop
(14,044 posts)Liberty Belle
(9,660 posts)Trump has immunity but Musk and others doing the dirty work do not. States must step up and file criminal charges, not just civil lawsuits.
Baron2024
(1,492 posts)The sooner state AGs file criminal charges against Musk and his DOGE crew the better.
Rec
flvegan
(64,950 posts)Walleye
(39,995 posts)slightlv
(5,456 posts)that the real acting president is Musk and his inactive vp is trump. I think that was a winning combo, if only it had been kept up. There ARE things that can shame and humiliate these people. It's not the same type of things that would effect us... but anything that diminishes them in from of and in the eyes of the people they wish to emulated... the real movers and shakers of New York, for example, or the tech bros for Elon, would be to the good!
Montauk6
(9,074 posts)Skittles
(163,972 posts)it has gone WAY BEYOND "conflict of interest"
Karasu
(1,053 posts)Fucking really?
SunImp
(2,479 posts)Doing an investigation now doesn't seem like it'll do much.
MangoMoose
(8 posts)*DARK MAGA*
If you're a little confused about what Musk is trying to achieve with DOGE, here's the breakdown:
Elon Musk and Peter Thiel cofounded a company that became PayPal.
Other executives at PayPal went on to found or lead other huge tech companies including YouTube, LinkedIn, Reddit, Affirm, and many VC firms.
This group became known as the PayPal mafia because they basically controlled Silicon Valley.
Peter Thiel mentored a young JD Vance and helped him get set up in his first VC firm.
Peter Thiel and the PayPal mafia funded JD Vance's successful Senate run. Amazing because he had absolutely zero political experience.
Thiel and Musk all but forced Trump to choose JD Vance as VP in exchange for funding his presidential campaign.
The three of them, plus a lot of other tech billionaires subscribe to an ideology called the Dark Enlightenment espoused by this super weird, creepy dude: Curtis Yarvin aka Mencius Moldbug.
Yarvin preaches that the media and academia represent "The Cathedral" that secretly controls power and must be dismantled.
He advocates for a corporate run, monarchy, led by a CEO-Dictator.
Says that Democracy is an "outdated software" and openly opposes it and that:
- Government agencies should be dismantled and The U.S. should be broken up into "patchworks" controlled by tech oligarchs.
- That the elite tech billionaires should rule because they have the intelligence to "fix" society
- That the "masses are asses" too dumb to govern themselves.
The strategy is to gut the government via R.A.G.E - Retire All Govt Employees to make government incapable of operating.
Then to replace government with private corporations.
To eliminate elections because they are "obsolete"
To use distraction and chaos to prevent public resistance.
Trump is their useful tool to be disposed of as soon as they can wrest control.
This is why Elon wears a black MAGA hat. They are not Trump supporters, they are "Dark MAGA"
This isn't a hypothetical. The plan is already in motion:
- Musk, Thiel, and their network are actively dismantling democratic institutions.
- JD Vance, the MAGA heir, is being positioned to help implement this transition.
- The public is too distracted to realize whats happening.
- If successful, democracy in America will be permanently replaced by a corporate-run authoritarian state.
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That's it. Now that you understand that you can see how everything that's happening fits within that lens.
Now the only question is what do we do about it?
That's my Dark Ted Talk. Thanks for listening.
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Sources:
Shane Almgren, Author of "The Trumpland Diaries"
https://lnkd.in/eCHvt4Cj
The Financial Times
https://lnkd.in/ed_7Fv8Q
The New Yorker
https://lnkd.in/e7XDZFyV