Washington DC [US], December 18 : Democratic Party's senator from Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren has written to President-elect Donald Trump requesting clear and transparent conflict-of-interest rules to bind billionaire businessman Elon Musk, the Washington Post reported.
The letter becomes significant as Elon Musk has taken a prominent role inside Trump's orbit.
As per the Washington Post, Senator Warren wrote the letter on Monday. The letter which was sent by email from the Democrat's Senate office to Trump's transition team notes that regular members of the Trump Vance 2025 Transition Team operate under an ethics policy that requires them to "avoid both actual and apparent conflicts of interest." Those rules, which have been published by the General Services Administration, include prohibition from transition team members working "on particular matters involving specific parties that affect" their interests.
Elon Musk, who is worth USD 474 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, spent more than USD 250 million to help elect Trump president and has since embraced the label "first buddy" to describe his role, the Washington Post reported.
Musk has time and again advocated for Donald Trump and advised him on government formation and taking a lead role in a new effort to cut federal spending. It is not clear what ethics rules, if any, Musk, has agreed to follow in his role as a Trump adviser.
"Putting Mr. Musk in a position to influence billions of dollars of government contracts and regulatory enforcement without a stringent conflict of interest agreement in place is an invitation for corruption on a scale not seen in our lifetimes," Warren wrote. "As your Transition Team Ethics Plan makes clear, the role of government is not to line the pockets of the wealthiest Americans; a strong, enforceable ethics plan for the world's richest man is a necessary first step for delivering on that promise.", Washington Post reported.
Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the transition, did not address Musk's ethics commitments in her response to the letter.
As per the Washington Post, during the presidential campaign, Musk held events for Trump in Pennsylvania, making media appearances and staging a high-profile cash giveaway to encourage voter engagement.
Notably, Trump had promised that if elected, he would accelerate federal plans to land a mission on Mars, a major priority of Musk's rocket company Space X. Tesla, another company Musk runs, receives federal funding for its electric vehicle charging stations, and several of his companies have significant regulatory issues before the government.
As noted by the Washington Post, Musk's company has been under the radar for several issues. America's National Highway Safety Administration is investigating Tesla for several pedestrian accidents. Musk recently posted a response to a "settlement demand" from the Securities and Exchange Commission for potential securities fraud. Other Musk enterprises, including the satellite internet provider Starlink and brain implant company Neuralink have separate contracts and regulatory issues before the federal government.
In the US, federal employees are generally prohibited by law from acting on particular matters that affect their own financial interests. There are also federal conflict-of-interest statutes that apply to members of certain federal advisory committees.
The letter by Senator Warren thus questions President-elect Donald Trump on 14 issues about the rules governing Musk, his associates and others involved in the Department of Government Efficiency project that Trump has asked Musk to lead. The questions concern what ethics rules Musk has agreed to and whether he has agreed to recuse himself from any matters, Washington Post said.
"Moving forward, will he recuse himself from matters affecting Tesla, Space X, X, or any other company he owns or in which he has a substantial investment?" Warren asked in the letter.
She added, "Currently, the American public has no way of knowing whether the advice that he is whispering to you in secret is good for the country -- or merely good for his own bottom line".