Liz Warren demands Trump set conflict of interest agreement for Elon Musk

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) asked President-elect Donald Trump on Monday whether clear conflict of interest guidelines will govern Elon Musk if he intends to continue being a key adviser to the incoming president, The Washington Post reported.

The emailed letter from Warren’s office in the Senate to Trump says that everyone on the Trump Vance 2025 Transition team is subject to an ethics policy that insists they “avoid both actual and apparent conflicts of interest.” That policy, disseminated by the General Services Administration, prohibits transition team personnel from engaging in “particular matters involving specific parties that affect” their interests.

Musk, currently listed as the world’s richest person with an estimated fortune of $474 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, contributed more than $250 million to the Trump campaign, joined Trump at Mar-a-Lago on election night, and was described by the Washington Post as the president-elect’s “first buddy.” He is the joint head of the Department of Government Efficiency, along with entrepreneur and sometime politician Vivek Ramaswamy. The outlet reported that "It is not clear what ethics rules, if any, Musk, has agreed to follow in his role as a Trump adviser."

“Putting Mr. Musk in a position to influence billions of dollars of government contracts and regulatory enforcement without a stringent conflict of interest agreement in place is an invitation for corruption on a scale not seen in our lifetimes,” Warren wrote. “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.”

Transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt responded to the letter by reminding her of her assertions of indigenous ancestry. “President Trump has assembled the most impressive and qualified team of innovators, entrepreneurs, and geniuses to advise and staff our government,” Leavitt said in a statement. “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.”

Musk’s considerable enterprises do run into federal regulatory agencies and Tesla receives federal government money for his electric vehicle recharging spaces, the WaPo noted. Federal employees are not permitted to be involved in areas that might bring them financial gain.

Trump was recently asked whether he thought Musk was demonstrating a conflict of interest by being his advisor while retaining control over several companies that regularly liaise with government agencies. “I think that Elon puts the country long before his company,” Trump said. “He considers this to be his most important project, and he wanted to do it.”

The Warren letter specifically asked “Moving forward, will he recuse himself from matters affecting Tesla, SpaceX, X, or any other company he owns or in which he has a substantial investment?” It also noted, “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.”