Fox’s Chad Pergram Asks Speaker Johnson Why Congress Is Letting Elon Musk Control Federal Agencies: ‘Aren’t You Ceding Back That Power?’
Fox News Senior Congressional Correspondent Chad Pergram questioned Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Wednesday about the outsized role Elon Musk is playing in the Trump administration.
President Donald Trump tapped Musk to lead the “Department of Government Efficiency,” which was billed as a cost-cutting advisory commission. Instead, Musk has been granted unprecedented access to several government agencies, including the Treasury, the Department of Education, the United States Agency for International Development, the General Services Administration, and the Office of Personnel Management.
The billionaire Tesla CEO has all but closed down USAID and ceased distribution of its funds, which were appropriated by Congress. USAID’s website is now simply a message explaining that staff have been placed on leave.
During Wednesday’s weekly press conference with House Republicans – who have praised Musk – Pergram asked Johnson how the Republican-controlled Congress can allow Musk to arrogate powers to himself that the Constitution reserves to Congress. He also asked the speaker about Trump’s pledge to shutter the Department of Education, which was created by Congress:
PERGRAM: Is there an inconsistency by Republicans on one hand, where we’ve heard for years now, “All we want [is] to not have unelected bureaucrats in charge of things downtown,” and yet ceding Article I powers to the executive branch under Elon Musk?
Is there not an inconsistency about calling for the elimination of the Department of Education? And yet we’ve heard from some of your colleagues here this morning, “We don’t want women to be playing sports with men.” And aren’t you ceding back that power, then, as it pertains to education if you eliminate the Department of Education?
JOHNSON: No. Look, I’ve gotta challenge the premise of the question, Chad. You know me. I’m a fierce advocate and defender of Article I. I mean, look, we are the legislative branch. There’s a reason the Founding Fathers put the Congress, the legislative branch, as the first article in the Constitution. And we’re gonna vigorously defend that. But what’s happening right now, I think there’s a gross overreaction in the media to what is happening. The executive branch of government in our system has the right to evaluate how executive branch agencies are operating and to ensure that not only the intent of Congress in funding mechanisms, but also the stewardship of precious American taxpayer dollars is being handled well.
The speaker added that he does not view the actions of Trump and Musk as a threat to Congress’s powers “at all.”
Civil servants at the agencies Musk has meddled in have reported being shut out of their computer systems and prohibited from entering their workplaces. Democrats have demanded Trump rein in Musk, who has not been transparent about his activities at the agencies – particularly the Treasury Department, where he and his young staffers have access to Americans’ sensitive information, including Social Security numbers and bank account information.
On Monday, it was reported that associates of Musk had installed a server at the Office of Personnel Management, allowing them to control a massive federal database.
Watch above via Newsmax.
