House Dem Pat Ryan calls Elon Musk a villain, accuses Trump of enriching his inner circle

Yahoo

04-02-2025

Rep. Pat Ryan, D-N.Y., labeled Elon Musk as a villain and also accused President Donald Trump of enriching his inner circle during an appearance on CNN on Tuesday.
Ryan accused Trump of being "in a pursuit of power for himself," as well as attempting to accrue "more wealth for the folks in the front row of his swearing in."
He claimed that the President is now beholden to his wealthy donors, including Musk, who he believes have far too much power over the president.
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"These ultra wealthy donors that he's now beholden to ahead of his own cabinet, which is confirmed constitutionally by the Senate. And that's going to be harmful to the American people. That's not just something that should theoretically bother us. It's going to hurt people's lives."
Ryan also expressed concern over the private data Musk now has access to as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
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He asserts that Trump is "allowing the most powerful and rich person in the history of the world, Elon Musk, to have access to our personal private data in an unprecedented, unconstitutional way. And we need to be out there talking about that."
Trump tapped Musk to lead DOGE in November, and said the purpose of the department was to "dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies."
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The representative from New York continued to rail against Musk, labeling him a villain and calling on "every American who believes in the Constitution" to treat him as such.
"I think that we have to be clear when there are villains, we have to talk about them. And I think at this point, that is Mr. Musk. And we have to talk about heroes, which are the American people. And so when you said, 'who should be talking about this,' it's not just Democrats. Every American who believes in our Constitution and the values that I risked my life in combat 27 months to defend, should be out there regardless of party."
During his final thoughts on Musk, Ryan claimed, "We will see a broader coalition stand up and say, this is not who we are as a country."
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Alternatively, Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, defended Musk's access to sensitive government information during an interview with CNN's Kaitlan Collins on Monday.
Collins asked Davidson whether it bothered him that Musk has "multiple Chinese Government contracts," and now has access to the federal payment system for the U.S. Treasury.
Davidson responded, "I am euphoric that he finally has access to it," pointing out that Musk needs access to this information in order to audit government agencies and fulfill his duties as the head of DOGE.
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Musk was granted access to the U.S. Treasury Department's payment system through DOGE, and immediately began combing through the department's payments.
Over the weekend, Musk made a post to X, reading, "The @DOGE team discovered, among other things, that payment approval officers at Treasury were instructed always to approve payments, even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups. They literally never denied a payment in their entire career. Not even once."Original article source: House Dem Pat Ryan calls Elon Musk a villain, accuses Trump of enriching his inner circle