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After pumping a record-breaking $474 million into midterms in the hopes of electing Republicans to protect his bottom line and avoid congressional investigations, Elon Musk found out the hard way after the US midterm elections not everything — or everyone — can be bought by the highest bidder.
Despite Musk’s best efforts to buy electoral victories for the GOP, voters instead delivered a resounding blue wave, flipping control of both the House and Senate to Democrats. Even in Texas, where Musk dropped at least $180 million on Republican campaigns, Democrats won every major race, including the gubernatorial and attorney general seats.
But Musk lost more than money on Tuesday night. With Republicans in power for the past two years, Musk has been shielded from congressional oversight and has evaded accountability for everything from self-dealing and conflicts of interest to his relationship with Putin and his recent decision to throttle Ukraine’s Starlink connection. That’s all about to change now that control of the investigative agenda is switching hands — a point that Democrats made clear over the past week.
“Elon Musk waved a chainsaw on stage and laughed while he fired public servants and gutted the services Americans rely on,” Rep. James Walkinshaw said on Monday. “He must answer for it under oath.”
“See you in January, @elonmusk,” Sen. Ruben Gallego said Thursday in an X post.
Rep. Robert Garcia, the incoming chairman of the House Oversight Committee, had only this to say: “Lawyer up.”
These comments come on the heels of other recent threats by Democrats to investigate Musk, including a pledge by Sen. Chris Coons, who said he would question Musk about his ties to Putin “when I subpoena him.”
Musk knows he is vulnerable and has even threatened Democrats who dare to investigate him. In October, Musk quote-tweeted an article about congressional Democrats coming for him, writing:
“Live by the sword, die by the sword. Those who pick fights with me should understand that I will find out who is really pulling the strings and come for them, not just their puppets…”
But that’s not stopping Democrats, who have already taken steps to initiate several investigations and have since promised that a slew of new inquiries are on the way.
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Musk’s Conflicts of Interest and Self-Dealing
A major area of focus is Musk’s dual role at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and his own company, SpaceX, including DOGE’s influence over agencies that award, oversee, or regulate SpaceX contracts.
Musk was tapped by Trump shortly after the 2024 election to help lead DOGE, which was created in response to Musk’s proposal to create a government efficiency commission. But as the New York Times reported, Musk and his allies didn’t really want a commission — “they wanted direct, insider access to government systems.” And that’s what they got. Musk embraced his leadership role at DOGE, turning it into a game and promising to “delete entire agencies.” As Democrats struggled to push back against DOGE’s takeover, which some compared to a coup, Republicans cheered on Musk and the teenage coders he hired to do his dirty work inside the government. Many of those Republican lawmakers were voted out of office last week.
Now, Democrats want to determine whether Musk used his access and influence within Government to pad his own pockets via lucrative contracts or favourable deals, and whether public resources were misused in the process. In total, Democrats say they have more than 150 separate investigations and lines of inquiry related to Musk and DOGE.
During Musk’s time as a special Government employee leading DOGE, SpaceX was awarded an estimated $6 billion in Government contracts. Since he left that role, another $10 billion in Government contracts has been awarded to SpaceX.
Additionally, at least 11 executive departments and 14 independent Government agencies have taken significant actions that benefit Musk’s businesses, including “fast-tracked, sole-source SpaceX contracts from the Pentagon; the Justice Department’s argument that citizen groups cannot sue a Musk company over alleged environmental violations; and FCC action clearing the way for Starlink to compete in the mobile-carrier market,” according to the Democracy Defenders Fund.
In 2025, House Democrats questioned NASA and Department of Defense (DOD) officials about Musk’s dual role at DOGE and SpaceX, including DOGE’s influence over agencies that award, oversee, or regulate SpaceX contracts. Federal ethics laws prohibit political appointees, including special government employees, from being involved in any matter that might impact their personal finances.
“At DOD, where Mr. Musk’s companies have benefitted from contracts, been under investigation, and are angling for vast amounts of new business, his control of DOD operations and defiance of recusal laws directly benefit his businesses,” Rep. Gerald Connolly, Ranking Member of the House Oversight Committee, wrote in a letter. “The known conflicts of interest presented by this arrangement are illegal and must be addressed immediately.”
House Oversight Democrats have also requested records about Musk’s Government contracts, foreign ties, and potential conflicts of interest, citing national security concerns.
“Given the vast and growing number of government contracts awarded to Mr. Musk and his companies, including from the Department of Defense (DOD), General Services Administration (GSA), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)—as well as the multiple conflicts of interest arising from them—the Democratic Members of the Committee are interested in whether he has fully disclosed all connections, interactions, payments, and business with foreign governments and officials,” Connolly wrote in a separate May 2025 letter.
In addition to these general inquiries, Democrats have also identified a number of specific decisions that they believe Musk may have quietly influenced. For example, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal have announced their intentions to investigate an incident in which the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) — which had charged SpaceX with unlawfully firing employees who criticised Musk — suddenly decided to drop the charges.
The senators want to know whether Musk’s influence within the Government affected the NLRB’s decision. There are also allegations by lawmakers that DOGE personnel tried to exfiltrate and edit data within NLRB’s computer systems, then attempted to cover up their activity.
Democrats expressed similar concerns about Musk using his influence within DOGE to undermine the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which supervises Musk’s digital payment platform and oversees certain corporate-consumer transactions that would affect Tesla’s business. In early 2025, DOGE gained access to the CFPB’s computer systems, which Musk celebrated by tweeting “CFPB RIP.”
Democrats have also alleged that Musk may have used his position inside DOGE to gain access to confidential corporate data that could have given Musk’s digital wallet and payment system an unfair advantage over competitors.
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Musk’s Ties to Putin and Russia
Lawmakers are also looking into whether Musk used his high-level access within the Trump administration to pressure foreign Governments into giving preferential treatment to Starlink in exchange for US policy concessions — allegations that are supported by extensive reporting on the issue. In a 2025 letter to the White House, Senate Democrats accused Musk of “taking advantage of his government role to coerce concessions from foreign governments for his own benefit, including unfettered market access as well as contracts with his companies, in exchange for favorable treatment by the US government.”
The letter referred to Musk’s alleged self-dealing as “an egregious breach of public trust” and demanded that it be “fully investigated.”
In May 2025, House Oversight Democrats requested Musk’s background investigation records and demanded additional information about his ties to China, Russia, and other foreign Governments, as well as his Government contracts and potential liabilities that could make him vulnerable to corruption and coercion.
Senators Mark Warner and other Democrats also called for an investigation into reports that Musk’s Starlink business sought favorable treatment abroad while he held a government role. More recently, Democratic lawmakers have pledged to investigate Musk’s alleged role in throttling Ukraine’s Starlink satellite internet service amid the ongoing war with Russia. Rep. Adam Schiff said Musk should be “compelled to testify before Congress and under oath,” noting that the Starlink restrictions had “life or death consequences for Ukraine.”
“How on earth did we get to this point?” Rep. Mike Levin wrote on X. “How is it possible that Musk can disrupt an American ally’s military operations whenever he chooses, maintain a clear line to the Kremlin, and face zero accountability to the American people or the U.S. government?”
As part of that probe, Democrats also want to look into Musk’s ties to senior Russian officials, following reports that Musk has been in “regular contact” with Putin since 2022. Musk has also allegedly communicated with Putin’s deputy chief of staff, Sergei Kiriyenko, who was involved in an effort to spread Russian propaganda on Musk’s own social media platform X in order to chip away at public support for Ukraine.
“These relationships between a well-known US adversary and Mr Musk, a beneficiary of billions of dollars in US government funding, pose serious questions regarding Mr Musk’s reliability as a government contractor and a clearance holder,” Sens. Jack Reed and Jeanne Shaheen wrote in a letter to the attorney general and the Defense Department Inspector General.
“I want to know what Musk has been discussing with Russian officials, whether those conversations had anything to do with the Starlink disruptions, and what the Trump administration knew,” Levin added.
DOGE ‘Election Interference’ Scheme
In another line of inquiry, Democrats have taken steps to initiate an investigation into DOGE’s access to and potential misuse of sensitive Government data. In particular, lawmakers allege that DOGE personnel, under the leadership of Musk, wrongfully accessed Americans’ social security data, bypassed key safeguards, and shared that data on an unapproved third-party server in furtherance of an “election interference” scheme.
Earlier this year, Rep. John Larson led an effort by House Democrats to launch a probe into DOGE’s reported misuse of sensitive social security data, warning that DOGE had “signed an agreement to use data they took from Social Security [and give it to] a MAGA-affiliated group working to overturn election results, sent sensitive data on about 1,000 individuals directly to Elon Musk’s ‘top lieutenant,’ and traded confidential data on an unapproved server.” Larson also called for a criminal investigation and charges for those involved.
“Elon Musk and his ‘DOGE’ believe they are above the law and refused to appear before Congress,” Larson said in a statement. “Republicans have blocked every effort to hold this Administration accountable, voting down our resolutions demanding documents, even changing House Rules to shield ‘DOGE’ from accountability and protect themselves from having to take another vote on the issue.”
Without subpoena power, Democrats have thus far been unable to compel witnesses to testify or force the production of documents and records, which has left them somewhat powerless to pursue any proper investigations. Musk has reveled in this lack of accountability and spent much of the past two years using his platform X to attack Democrats and publicly feud with lawmakers like Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
At one point, Musk even posted memes mocking Democrats who were upset about what DOGE was doing and accused lawmakers who opposed DOGE of being part of a “radical left shadow government.”
But now that the balance of power has shifted, Musk’s antics may finally be about to catch up with him. While it’s possible that Trump may pardon Musk before leaving office, that would only offer protection against federal charges — and unfortunately for Musk, the Republican attorney general in Texas who has shielded him from state prosecution since he moved there six years ago just got voted out and replaced by a Democrat who campaigned on a promise to investigate Musk.