Elon Musk’s DOGE Will Investigate Lawmakers’ Wealth, Suggests Money Trails Lead Back to Congress
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk is raising questions about how members of Congress accumulate vast personal fortunes despite their relatively modest government salaries.
Speaking at a town hall event in Wisconsin on Sunday night, Musk announced that his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will investigate the financial dealings of lawmakers who have become “strangely wealthy.”
Elon Musk: “There is a massive amount of corruption… effectively there’s a giant fraud loophole where the government can send money to an NGO that is then no longer the government by the laws of the U.S., let’s just say there are a lot of strangely wealthy members of Congress..” pic.twitter.com/Gy2Q38o5hj
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Musk, whose net worth is estimated at $330 billion, has long criticized political corruption and insider financial dealings in Washington. During the event, an audience member asked whether DOGE had found any links between the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and prominent Democratic lawmakers, including Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
In response, Musk suggested that taxpayer funds sent overseas may ultimately be making their way back into lawmakers’ pockets through complex financial channels.
“They’ll [the government] send the money overseas to one NGO [non-governmental organization], 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,” Musk said, according to the New York Post.
While he admitted that the process is not always direct, he pointed to the financial success of long-serving politicians as a red flag.
“There’s a lot of strangely wealthy members of Congress where I’m trying to connect the dots of, ‘How do they become rich?’” Musk added.
Rank-and-file members of Congress earn an annual salary of $174,000, yet many lawmakers—especially those who have served for decades—are multimillionaires.
One of the most notable examples is former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), whose net worth is estimated at around $250 million, according to The Post. Her husband, venture capitalist Paul Pelosi, has made highly profitable investments in major companies like Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Netflix—often coinciding with legislative developments.
Florida Sen. Rick Scott (R) ranks as one of the wealthiest members of Congress, with a personal fortune of approximately $552 million. However, much of Scott’s wealth predates his time in office, stemming from his work co-founding HCA Healthcare and the urgent-care chain Solantic, The Post notes.
Musk questioned how members of Congress could amass such fortunes on government salaries alone.
“How do they get $20 million if they’re earning $200,000 a year?” he asked. “We’re going to try to figure it out and certainly stop it from happening.”
Musk’s appearance in Wisconsin was part of a larger effort to rally support for conservative judicial candidate Brad Schimel in the state’s closely watched Supreme Court race, as previously covered by Resist the Mainstream. The contest between Schimel and Dane County Judge Susan Crawford carries major implications for Wisconsin’s abortion laws and redistricting battles, as the state’s highest court remains a key battleground between Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and the Republican-controlled legislature.
During his visit, Musk made headlines by handing out two $1 million checks to Wisconsin voters. He has also encouraged state residents to sign a petition opposing “activist judges,” promising prize money to select participants.
“I should say that the reason for the checks is that it’s really just to get attention,” Musk explained. “And somewhat inevitably, when I do these things, it causes the legacy media to kind of lose their minds.”
Musk’s push to scrutinize congressional finances comes after he helped block a proposal to raise congressional salaries last year. While he initially opposed the measure, he later suggested that higher pay could reduce the incentive for corruption.
The billionaire’s concerns over political corruption have resonated with many conservatives who argue that insider trading and backdoor financial deals have allowed lawmakers to profit at the public’s expense.
With Musk’s DOGE team now investigating how certain politicians have built massive fortunes, it remains to be seen whether Capitol Hill’s wealthiest members will face real scrutiny or if the issue will be overlooked once again.
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