Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who met with President Donald Trump and has supported some of his policies in Congress, nonetheless scolded Elon Musk on Monday for the "chaos and confusion" coming from the Department of Government Efficiency.
Fetterman took aim at Musk on X over a report that DOGE officials are planning to gain access to an IRS system that contains financial information on millions of Americans, including their tax returns.
"I want to save billions of your money and make our government more efficient. Rummaging through your personal s--- is *not* that. A party of chaos loses — always," Fetterman said in one post.
Musk fired back, writing, "if I wanted to rummage through random personal s---, I could have done that at PAYPAL. Hello??? Having tens of millions of people marked in Social Security as 'ALIVE' when they are definitely dead is a HUGE problem."
Fetterman replied, saying he has kept an "open mind" about DOGE, given that its "mission resonated" in Pennsylvania. However, "For many, it's causing chaos and confusion — which IMO, doesn't help DOGE. PA voters want their personal info secured and taxes spent wisely. Safe to assume both are priorities?" Fetterman said in a second post.
The White House confirmed Monday that DOGE is seeking access to the Integrated Data Retrieval System for the purpose of eradicating "waste, fraud and abuse," Politico reported. DOGE is seeking an agreement with the IRS to put one official each from DOGE and the IRS on the effort with an agreement to keep information confidential and destroy records if they are provided.
Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., accused Musk and DOGE of "seeking to weaponize government databases containing private bank records and other confidential information to target American citizens and businesses as part of a political agenda."
Fetterman has incurred scrutiny and criticism from his fellow Democrats over his outreach to Trump. He has had to beat back speculation that he's planning to switch parties over his support of policies, including the Laken Riley Act. Fetterman in December said that a pardon for Trump would be appropriate and even received praise from Trump, who called the senator "a common-sense person."
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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