Top House Democrat urges FBI probe of Musk’s China ties
Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, called for FBI Director Kash Patel to investigate Elon Musk’s ties to the Chinese government, arguing that the U.S. DOGE Service’s access to millions of Americans’ sensitive data poses an unacceptable conflict of interest, given Beijing’s regulatory power over the tech billionaire’s vast business operations in China.
In a letter sent Tuesday, Raskin (Maryland) requested any information from the FBI on Musk and his ties to Chinese officials in his role as a U.S. “special government employee” overseeing the cost-cutting DOGE — a designation that has allowed him to skirt some financial and conflict-of-interest disclosure rules.
Raskin also requested details on Musk’s and his associates’ travel to China, asking that the law enforcement agency present a report to the committee by April 15.
“Mr. Musk’s access to national security secrets and the sensitive data of hundreds of millions of Americans is alarming because his companies rely on Chinese markets and Chinese consumers for much of their business and revenue growth,” Raskin wrote.
The FBI declined to comment on the letter.
Raskin said the ties between Beijing and the world’s richest man — who now wields outsize influence over U.S. policy — are particularly alarming given the vast troves of Americans’ personal data that DOGE staffers have accessed. DOGE has accessed systems and records within the Social Security Administration, the Treasury Department, the IRS and federal payroll databases, with the aim of rooting out what Musk and President Donald Trump have said are wide-scale abuses of American taxpayer dollars.
The letter came ahead of a hearing Wednesday by the Republican-led committee to examine what it says were “waste, fraud and abuse” at the FBI under President Joe Biden and FBI Director Christopher A. Wray.
Musk has had several high-profile meetings in recent weeks with the heads of agencies tasked with overseeing the most sensitive aspects of the U.S. rivalry with China — including the Department of Defense, the National Security Agency and the CIA. While officials at those agencies have emphasized that the briefings are limited to Musk’s cost-cutting work at DOGE, that hasn’t stopped lawmakers and analysts from raising alarms.
As Tesla CEO, Musk has secured face-to-face meetings with some of China’s highest-ranking politicians, who have praised him for promoting business ties and for resisting calls for economic “decoupling.” Musk — who launched an enormous Tesla manufacturing facility in Shanghai in 2019 — met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang as recently as April of last year as part of an effort to secure regulatory approval for full self-driving cars.
Raskin and other Democratic lawmakers say they are particularly concerned about Musk’s Pentagon meeting last month, where he was reportedly slated to attend a briefing on classified plans for a potential conflict with China. Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vehemently denied those reports and said Musk would not receive secret briefings related to China. “Certainly you wouldn’t show that to a businessman,” Trump told reporters at the time.
Raskin and other Democrats have also raised concerns that DOGE’s access to sensitive personal data on millions of Americans could make Musk a target for espionage.
“Our country’s most sensitive intelligence and strategic materials must be safeguarded, and our military policies must be guided by American values and interests — not by the preferences of private individuals whose personal interests could compromise our nation’s security,” Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (Illinois), the ranking Democrat on the House select committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said following Musk’s visit to the Pentagon.
Musk and his DOGE team have accessed vast troves of data as part of their new mandate to downsize the government and root out fraud, clashing with the courts. Last month, a federal judge blocked DOGE from accessing Social Security systems that contain personal data on millions of Americans and ordered the team to delete any data already obtained, calling the effort a “fishing expedition.”
“Under any other administration, Republican or Democrat, such an individual would never be granted a security clearance, much less given such broad access to the American people’s records and sensitive information related to national security,” Raskin said.
A spokesman for House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) declined to comment on the letter to Patel.
Musk’s largest business, Tesla, has continued to expand its footprint in China since the billionaire publicly endorsed Trump and took on an advisory role in the new administration. Last month, the company announced a $200 billion battery factory expansion in Shanghai.
About 37% of Tesla cars are sold in China — an outsize share of the company’s global sales — and Tesla has benefited from the billions of dollars in subsidies handed out by Beijing to boost purchases of domestically made electric vehicles, even as the Trump administration and congressional Republicans move to unwind similar incentives in the United States.
The FBI recently launched a task force that it says intends to “crack down” on violent incidents involving Teslas, following a spate of arson and vandalism targeting Tesla cars and charging stations.
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• Perry Stein contributed.