Elon Musk and Donald Trump have rejected two Democrats who asked to join the Musk co-chaired Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The newly minted cost-cutting department already has 50 employees working in Washington, D.C.
They do not, however, include Norman Eisen and Virginia Canter, an ethics official for Barack Obama and attorney for Bill Clinton, respectively.
The two Democrats asked if they could take part in Trump and Musk’s attempt to cut government waste.
‘We write to request our appointment as members of the ‘Department of Government Efficiency,’ the pair said in a letter to Musk and fellow co-chair Vivek Ramaswamy.
The pair were rejected, with a spokesperson for the Trump transition team pointing to a Truth Social post by the president-elect for further explanation.
‘President Trump’s Truth made clear we have no room in our administration for Democrats,’ Katie Miller told the New York Times.
Miller appeared to be referring to a message of ‘out with the old, in with the new’ sent by Trump on Wednesday that named and shamed many of his former Cabinet members while honoring his new administration.
Elon Musk and Donald Trump have rejected two Democrats who asked to join the Musk co-chaired Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)
The newly minted cost-cutting department already has 50 employees working in Washington, D.C. under the guidance of Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy (pictured right)
Almost everyone named in that missive was a Republican or a person who worked for Trump during his first term.
He wrote: ‘As of today, the incoming Trump Administration has hired over 1,000 people for The United States Government. They are outstanding in every way, and you will see the fruits of their labor over the coming years. We will MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, and it will happen very quickly!’
Trump then advised any hiring managers that ‘it would be helpful if you would not send, or recommend to us, people who worked with, or are endorsed by’ a list of anti-Trump Republicans ‘in order to save time, money, and effort.’
He specifically named 11 different Republicans and first-term Trump employees, many of them coming with nicknames, concluding that they and many others suffered from ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome.’
The pair told the Times that they’ve launched a nonprofit in an attempt to keep an eye on DOGE called the State Democracy Defenders Fund.
They wanted to work as ombudsmen for the DOGE efforts to prevent potential conflicts of interest.
Eisen and Cantor also wanted to help keep the group compliant of the Federal Advisory Committee Act which forces committees of nongovernment employees be ‘fairly balanced in terms of the points of view represented.’
DOGE is a private entity not involved with the federal government, but its agents have already been visiting multiple executive branch departments conducting interviews, the report states.
Norman Eisen is a former White House ethics official under President Barack Obama
Virginia Canter worked as an attorney for both Obama and President Bill Clinton
The U.S. Treasury, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Departments Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services have all been involved in preliminary investigations.
Previously, Musk set out the ambitious goal of cutting federal spending by $2 trillion in the coming years from a federal budget that hovers around $6.8 trillion.
However, earlier this week the SpaceX CEO seemed to adjust that target.
‘I think we’ll try for $2 trillion. I think that’s like the best-case outcome,’ he said, ‘But I do think that you kind of have to have some overage. I think if we try for $2 trillion, we’ve got a good shot at getting $1 [trillion].’
DOGE, which was first announced in November after the presidential election, is looking to scale up its operation quickly.
According to the Post’s report, the Washington, D.C., DOGE office is aiming to reach 100 employees in coming weeks.
‘Recruiting for a very small number of full-time salaried HR, IT, and Finance positions,’ the DOGE X account posted at the end of December. ‘If interested, please DM us your resume and a few bullet points about why you are interested in DOGE.’
The official DOGE account posted again this week calling for engineers to apply.
‘Recruiting for a very small number of full-time salaried Software Engineers and InfoSec Engineers,’ the statement said. ‘If interested, please DM us a few bullet points demonstrating exceptional ability, and your cell phone number.’
As much of the department remains shrouded in mystery, like why its employees are sharing an office with SpaceX, who is paying the employee’s salaries and what parts of the government they are targeting, some high-profile executives have been appointed to management positions.
Steve Davis, a veteran of several of Musk’s companies with a reputation of cutting costs, has been brought into DOGE to help recruit top talent.
Emil Michael, a former executive at Uber, has joined on to help cut government regulations, the newspaper reported.
