White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed concerns from New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman on Wednesday about the administration’s restrictions on Elon Musk, who leads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project.
“There is a conflict of interest law in place that says that people who have personal interests can’t interact with government entities that could touch on those,” Haberman said. “Has President Trump signed a waiver for Elon Musk? Does such a thing exist? If it does, will you guys release it in the interest of transparency that he’s committed to?”
Leavitt responded: “I have not seen the law that you are referring to. What I can tell you is that Elon Musk, as I’ve confirmed before, is a special government employee.”
“He is filing the proper financial disclosure and he is complying with all applicable federal laws,” she said. “As you also heard, Elon addressed this directly yesterday, on the alleged conflict of interest, and he said, everything he’s doing is very public, and if you all perceive a conflict of interest, you’re welcome to bring that up.”
“And as the President said, if he feels like Elon is engaging in something that’s a conflict of interest, he will tell Elon not to do that,” she continued.
“And Elon also said yesterday that before he moves forward with anything, he consults with the President of the United States,” she concluded. “So we’re very confident with the ethics and the guardrails that have been put in place here.”
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