DOGE To Examine Congress Members Who Became ‘Strangely Wealthy’
The world's wealthiest man is demanding answers about how certain members of Congress have become "strangely wealthy" despite earning relatively modest government salaries.
During a town hall event in Wisconsin on Sunday night, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, Starlink, and SpaceX, stated that his team at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) would investigate how some lawmakers have managed to accumulate generational wealth, according to a report from the New York Post.
Musk was addressing a question from an audience member who inquired whether DOGE had found any indications of financial transfers from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
"Yeah, so," Musk began, seemingly collecting his thoughts. "There is a massive amount of corruption, but it is circuitous. So what happens is there’s money that — obviously it’s your taxpayer money — that is then sent to various government organizations who then send it to NGOs, which an NGO is a non-governmental organization, but obviously it’s a government-funded non-governmental organization.
"It’s just an organization. It’s just a government, and effectively there’s a giant fraud loophole which is that the government can send money to an NGO that is then no longer governed by the laws of the United States," he elaborated.
"So they’ll send the money overseas to one NGO, then they’ll go through a bunch of them, and then, I’m highly confident that a bunch of that money then comes back to the United States and lands in the pockets of the people you just mentioned," he said. "But it is a circuitous route. It doesn’t go directly, but let’s just say that there’s a lot of strangely wealthy members of Congress where I’m trying to connect the dots of, 'How do they become rich?'"
Numerous longtime lawmakers have accumulated substantial wealth over their careers. Among the most affluent are former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), with an estimated net worth of around $250 million, and Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), whose fortune is valued at approximately $552 million, The Post noted.
A significant portion of Pelosi’s wealth is linked to successful investments made by her and her husband, venture capitalist Paul Pelosi, in major tech firms such as Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Netflix.
Scott, on the other hand, built his wealth primarily through business endeavors before entering the Senate. He co-founded HCA Healthcare, a leading operator of hospitals and medical centers in Florida, and also established Solantic, a chain of urgent-care clinics.
"How do they get $20 million if they’re earning $200,000 a year?" Musk questioned further. "We’re going to try to figure it out and certainly stop it from happening."
Pelosi, in particular, has faced scrutiny over her and her husband’s notably successful stock trading history.
In December, popular podcaster Joe Rogan and former Democratic Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich discussed the matter, pointing out that the couple has consistently outperformed the market in ways that appear suspicious. This has led to speculation that Paul Pelosi may have been benefiting from insider trading information obtained through his wife’s congressional position, though no definitive proof has emerged.
During the conversation, Rogan mentioned that someone created an app called Autopilot, which tracks the stock trades made by members of Congress, including Pelosi.
"Oh, it’s so good," Rogan commented. "I’m not really a stock market person. I don’t pay attention. But, I do know people that are very invested in the stock market. And 'Pelosi stock tracker' is legit. Like, you could find out what she’s buying and you should buy it."
"She’s a really good stockbroker, Rod," Rogan added sarcastically. "She’s super good at it."
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