{"id":2399042,"date":"2025-02-05T07:10:02","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T12:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/elon-musks-special-status-exposes-longtime-government-loophole\/"},"modified":"2025-02-05T07:15:38","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T12:15:38","slug":"elon-musks-special-status-exposes-longtime-government-loophole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/elon-musks-special-status-exposes-longtime-government-loophole\/","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk&#8217;s &#8216;special&#8217; status exposes longtime government loophole"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Felon-musks-special-status-exposes-longtime-government-loophole%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2399042&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses Elon Musk&#8217;s position as a &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/top-biden-coronavirus-adviser-announces-last-day-in-job\/\" title=\"Top Biden Coronavirus Adviser Announces Last Day in Job\">special government employee<\/a>&#8221; within the Trump administration, highlighting concerns from ethics watchdogs regarding the lack of transparency \u2064that comes \u200dwith this designation. Being a special government employee exempts Musk from many typical ethics disclosures, a loophole criticized for allowing individuals with\u200d significant conflicts of interest\u2014like Musk, who\u200d is a major \u2062government contractor and has ties to various regulatory agencies\u2014to \u200coperate without sufficient scrutiny. <\/p>\n<p>The article \u2064features insights from various ethics experts,including Richard Painter,a \u200bformer chief ethics lawyer for president Bush,who notes that special government employees\u2063 often complicate ethical\u2062 oversight. Critics argue that Musk&#8217;s significant influence and involvement in governmental affairs introduce considerable ethical dilemmas. This also ties into broader issues regarding <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">wealthy individuals circumventing transparency laws<\/a> by accepting low-paying positions. Notable examples of other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ilhan-omar-other-leftists-distract-from-capitol-attack-by-focusing-on-gun-control-and-racism\/\" title=\"Ilhan Omar, Other Leftists, Distract From Capitol Attack By Focusing On Gun Control And Racism\">high-profile figures<\/a> \u2062using this loophole\u2064 are mentioned, such as Anita Dunn and Jeff Zients under the Biden administration.<\/p>\n<p>Commentary includes calls for Musk to operate with greater transparency and recuse\u2063 himself from discussions that\u2064 may affect his buisness interests. The article concludes by cautioning that should Musk exceed the 130-day limit typical for\u2063 special employees, he could face legal challenges regarding his funding disclosure obligations.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Elon Musk shielded by ethics loophole as Trump &lsquo;special government employee&rsquo;<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1973510\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Billionaire&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/elon-musk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Elon Musk<\/a>&nbsp;may have a novel role within the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/trump-administration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Trump administration<\/a>, but the title that allows him to serve in the government has drawn the ire of ethics watchdogs for decades.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Musk&rsquo;s status as a special government employee protects him from typical ethics disclosures, a loophole that has been used by administrations from both parties since the last century.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Special government employees have been a pain in the neck since Day One,&rdquo; said Richard Painter, the chief ethics lawyer for former President George W. Bush from 2005 to 2007. &ldquo;They handle issues that may affect their businesses, but there are no public financial disclosures to keep track of them.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>For Musk, the world&rsquo;s richest man, the possible conflicts of interest are colossal. He is a large government contractor who has had multiple dealings with agencies that regulate his businesses.<\/p>\n<p>As a special government employee, Musk is exempt from some disclosure laws required of full-time employees, or what Painter describes as the &ldquo;SGE disclosure loophole.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Special government employees work for no more than 130 days <span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">in any 365 consecutive days and can be paid or unpaid. They are supposed to provide important but&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/ethics.od.nih.gov\/what-special-government-employee-sge\" target=\"_blank\">limited<\/a>&nbsp;services to the govern<\/span>ment&nbsp;that might be unavailable among an agency&rsquo;s regular employees.<\/p>\n<p>However, several presidents have brought in special government employees for much broader purposes, generally high-profile adviser roles, which have attracted scrutiny from ethics officials.<\/p>\n<p>The Biden White House brought in top communications adviser Anita Dunn as a special government employee <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2587738\/third-times-the-charm-top-biden-advisers-corporate-clients-draw-scrutiny\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"twice\">twice<\/a> before she finally joined the administration full-time ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. She was paid just below the salary threshold for disclosure obligations, keeping her client list <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2587738\/third-times-the-charm-top-biden-advisers-corporate-clients-draw-scrutiny\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"private\">private<\/a> along with a substantial asset portfolio.<\/p>\n<p>Jeff Zients, former President Joe Biden&rsquo;s chief of staff and one of the richest members of his administration, was also brought in as an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2642732\/ethics-nightmare-temporary-biden-staffers-raise-financial-disclosure-concerns\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"uncompensated\">uncompensated<\/a> special government employee ahead of the midterm elections.<\/p>\n<p>Painter holds that special government employees were never intended to be powerful people with the ear of the president and vast administrative influence, though he said the fact that presidents from both parties have used the loophole would blunt any effect of Democrats criticizing Musk.<\/p>\n<p>Before Zients and Dunn, the first Trump White House attracted criticism by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/05\/11\/business\/dealbook\/keith-noreikala-office-of-the-comptroller-of-the-currency.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"hired\">hiring<\/a> Keith Noreika to run the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency as a special government employee. Prior to that, Hillary Clinton raised eyebrows during her run as secretary of state for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2015\/09\/clinton-abedin-state-job-approved-214038\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"bringing in\">bringing in<\/a> her top aide, Huma Abedin, as a special government employee, allowing Abedin to continue working at the Clinton Foundation while advising her at State.<\/p>\n<p>However, Musk&rsquo;s problems may be bigger than those of anyone before him, given that he has pledged to overhaul vast swaths of the government and hired his own staff at the Department of Government Efficiency.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Musk should exceed any of the transparency rules and recuse himself from meetings that conflict with his companies&rsquo; contracts and regulatory interests,&rdquo; said Scott Amey, general counsel at the Project on Government Oversight. &ldquo;Musk should also reveal who is on the DOGE team, who they are meeting with, and all of their work product so as to not violate the public trust.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> contacted the White House asking for a response to Musk&rsquo;s critics and whether his role will end after 130 days. Officials did not respond directly to those questions but sent a statement from press secretary Karoline Leavitt. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Elon Musk is selflessly serving President Trump&rsquo;s administration as a special government employee, and he has abided by all <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-jim-jordan-slams-jerry-nadler-as-democrats-try-to-codify-school-board-domestic-terrorist-scheme-into-law\/\" title=\"Watch: Jim Jordan Slams Jerry Nadler as Democrats Try to &#039;Codify&#039; School Board Domestic Terrorist &#039;Scheme&#039; into Law\">applicable federal laws<\/a>,&rdquo; Leavitt said. <\/p>\n<p>Jeff Hauser, executive director of the Revolving Door Project, argued that Musk&rsquo;s ethical matters extend beyond his status as a large government contractor.<\/p>\n<p>Tesla, Musk&rsquo;s electric vehicle company, is the subject of an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/10\/18\/business\/tesla-self-driving-investigation.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"investigation\">investigation<\/a> from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration over traffic crashes that may have been caused by self-driving technology. The Federal Aviation Administration <a href=\"https:\/\/www.faa.gov\/newsroom\/faa-proposes-633009-civil-penalties-against-spacex\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"proposed\">proposed<\/a> civil penalties against SpaceX, and Musk also waged <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2024\/11\/18\/nx-s1-5192918\/spacex-amazon-nlrb-labor-board-elon-musk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"battles\">battles<\/a> against the National Labor Relations Board.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;There are an overwhelming number of ethical issues that are raised by his appointment as an SGE and the range of access he seems to enjoy across the executive branch,&rdquo; Hauser said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The fact that wealthy people such as Dunn, Zients, and Musk are able to circumvent ethics disclosures by accepting relatively low pay is also problematic, Hauser added.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We think the idea that if you&rsquo;re rich enough, you can essentially buy opacity over transparency is a real problem,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>For now, critics may have little recourse to Musk&rsquo;s special government employee status, but Painter said he could find himself in trouble if evidence emerges that he&rsquo;s worked for more than 130 days.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;If he goes to 131 days, somebody is going to go into court and say he&rsquo;s really a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/google-union-launches-drop-the-deadnames-petition-after-transgender-worker-had-id-badge-name-change-request-denied\/\" title=\"Google Union Launches \u2018Drop The Deadnames\u2019 Petition After Transgender Worker Had ID Badge Name Change Request Denied\">full-time employee<\/a> and demand to see his financial disclosure forms,&rdquo; Painter said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1973510\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1973510\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elon Musk&#8217;s role as a &#8216;special government employee&#8217; raises ethics concerns<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2635,"featured_media":2399043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Elon-Musk-Special-Government-Employee-ethics.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[32192,49841,49843,49842,40319],"class_list":["post-2399042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-elon-musk","tag-government-loophole","tag-regulatory-issues","tag-special-status","tag-tech-industry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Elon-Musk-Special-Government-Employee-ethics.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2399042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2635"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2399042"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2399042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2399051,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2399042\/revisions\/2399051"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2399043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2399042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2399042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2399042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}