‘Strangely wealthy’: Elon Musk reveals DOGE’s next target

The world’s richest man says he’s dying to figure out how politicians on Capitol Hill got “strangely wealthy” despite their comparatively modest public salaries.

The world’s richest man is dying to figure out how politicians on Capitol Hill got “strangely wealthy” despite their comparatively modest salaries.

Speaking at a town hall in Wisconsin, Elon Musk suggested that his team at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will investigate how certain members of Congress have achieved generational wealth, The New York Post reported.

One attendee at the town hall had asked Mr Musk if DOGE had uncovered evidence of funds wired from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to California Representative Maxine Waters, California Senator Adam Schiff, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

“They’ll (the government) send the money overseas to one NGO (non-governmental organisation), then they’ll go through a bunch of them, and then I’m highly confident that a bunch of that money then comes back to the United States and lands in the pockets of the people you just mentioned,” Mr Musk replied.

“But it is a circuitous route. It doesn’t go directly, but let’s just say that there’s a lot of strangely wealthy members of Congress where I’m trying to connect the dots of, ‘How do they become rich?’.”

Elon Musk alleged that members of Congress are lining their pockets with government dollars. Picture: AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps

Rank-and-file members of Congress make $US174,000 ($276,102) annually. Last year, Mr Musk – whose net worth is pegged at $US330 billion ($528b) by Bloomberg – helped kill legislation to raise congressional pay, then later supported an increase as a means of fighting corruption.

Scores of politicians who have spent decades in Congress are millionaires.

Two of the wealthiest include former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has a reported networth of $US250 million ($400m) and Republican Senator Rick Scott, whose personal fortune hovers around $US552m ($883.6m).

Ms Pelosi’s wealth largely comes from her and her venture capitalist husband Paul’s lucrative investments in companies like Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Netflix.

Mr Scott’s personal fortunes largely stem from his work co-founding HCA Healthcare, a company that runs hospitals and other medical facilities around Florida, and Solantic, an urgent-care clinic chain. His work on both of those companies predates his time in the Senate.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has a reported networth of $400 million. Picture: Kent Nishimura/Getty Images/AFP

“How do they get $20 million if they’re earning $200,000 a year?” Mr Musk told the town hall.

“We’re going to try to figure it out and certainly stop it from happening.”

Mr Musk swung through Wisconsin to rally support for Brad Schimel, a conservative Waukesha County judge, in the closely-watched election for the state Supreme Court.

During his visit, Mr Musk handed out $1 million cheques to two voters. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has encouraged the state’s residents to sign his petition against “activist judges” to get prize money.

“I should say that the reason for the cheques is that it’s really just to get attention,” he said.

“And somewhat inevitably, when I do these things, it causes the legacy media to kind of lose their minds.”

The Wisconsin Supreme Court race pits Judge Schimel against Dane County Judge Susan Crawford, with the winner having outsize sway over issues such as state abortion laws and redistricting.

Control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court is seen as politically valuable given the ongoing battles between Democratic Governor Tony Evers and the GOP-controlled state legislature.

This article originally appeared on The New York Post and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as ‘Strangely wealthy’: Elon Musk reveals DOGE’s next target