Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) shared criticism for tech billionaire Elon Musk on Wednesday, saying that some of the actions he has taken through his Department of Government Efficiency are “illegal.”
Sanders, who previously supported some of Musk’s plans to cut federal spending and waste, shared his thoughts while appearing on CNN’s “AC360.”
“Nothing wrong with looking for waste in the kinds of bureaucracy that exist. I think we can do a whole lot to get rid of the waste, the fraud, the excessive bureaucracy that exists in government — especially, by the way, in the Defense Department,” Sanders shared with Anderson Cooper.
“What is wrong right now is one simple reality: What Musk is doing is illegal and unconstitutional,” Sanders added.
DOGE has made several headlines over the last week as Musk and his team continue to institute changes to the executive branch less than a month into Trump’s administration.
The moves from the oversight department have raised both ethical and legal challenges, as many claim Trump didn’t have the authority to give Musk the power he has.
Last week, Musk moved to lock workers out of the U.S. Agency for International Development and see it absorbed into the State Department. However, some have questioned his actions and authority over USAID, being that the agency is funded through Congress.
“You cannot go into an agency like USAID and essentially fire everybody and get rid of that agency,” Sanders said. “That’s an agency that was created by Congress.”
This week, Musk gained access to the Treasury Department’s federal payment system, something top Democratic Senators have questioned.
“An unelected billionaire now has access to the Treasury’s payment systems—home to some of the most sensitive data, including millions of Social Security numbers and bank account information,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) shared on Musk’s social media site X. “This is a massive data privacy and security risk.”
In his interview, Sanders said the U.S. government has become an oligarchy, being that Musk donated millions to President Trump’s election campaign and has now gained serious power in the government.
“You tell me whether or not we are living in an oligarchy,” Sanders said. “And I think the function of government under Trump, under Elon Musk, will not be to serve ordinary people, but to make the very richest people in this country even richer.”
Trump defended Musk’s action this week, sharing that nothing he does goes unchecked by his administration.
“He’s got access only to letting people go that he thinks are no good, if we agree with him, and it’s only if we agree with him,” Trump said in response in the Oval Office.
Trump went on to say that the administration will deny Musk’s requests for access to areas they feel aren’t appropriate for him to be in.
“We’ll give him the approval when appropriate. Where not appropriate, we won’t. But he reports in, and it’s something that he feels very strongly about,” the president said. “If there’s conflict, then we won’t let him get near it.”