DOGE staffer who resigned over past social media posts reinstated with higher access: Filing

The Hill

01-04-2025

A Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffer who resigned over racist posts that resurfaced on social media last month was reinstated to oversee the slashing of waste, fraud and abuse in March under the agency led by Elon Musk, according to court filings.
Marko Elez, 25, allegedly relinquished access to sensitive systems being reviewed by DOGE in early February as divulged by the White House.
However, he was listed as a staffer in a lawsuit that required the Trump administration to reveal the identity of the agency's hired workers.
Legal documents categorize Elez as a Department of Labor employee detailed to the United States DOGE Service and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) since March 5.
Filings say he had access to the federal directory of new hires, general ledger accounting system and contract writing system at HHS.
'Mr. Elez was granted read-only access to the above-listed systems in furtherance of the DOGE EOs [executive order] directive to identify waste, fraud, and abuse and to modernize government technology and software to increase efficiency and productivity,' according to court documents.
'Mr. Elez's access to the above referenced CMS systems has been disabled. Mr. Elez has not modified, copied and shared with any unauthorized users, or removed any records from any of the systems he has actually accessed,' it reads.
'There are currently no pending requests to grant Mr. Elez access to other sensitive systems at HHS, nor has Mr. Elez been denied access to any systems at HHS.'
The documents confirm that Musk's intent to rehire Elez as a staffer was affirmed.
'He will be brought back,' the tech giant wrote on X amid emerging reports of the 25 year old urging the public to 'Normalize Indian hate' in a deleted post.
Vice President Vance, whose wife is Indian, also supported Elez's return.
'Here's my view: I obviously disagree with some of Elez's posts, but I don't think stupid social media activity should ruin a kid's life,' the vice president said on social platform X, referring to the staffer Marko Elez. 'We shouldn't reward journalists who try to destroy people. Ever. So I say bring him back.'
'If he's a bad dude or a terrible member of the team, fire him for that,' he added.
When Elez resigned from DOGE in February, the Treasury Department issued a statement saying that Elez was given 'read-only' access to the highly sensitive payment systems, despite numerous reports indicating that he had the ability to rewrite the payment system base code.
The White House did not immediately respond to The Hill's requests for comment on Elez's reinstatement at DOGE.