FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday, February 10, 2025
PRESS CONTACT:
nicole@focalpointstrategygroup.com
Washington, D.C. — In the latest chapter of Elon Musk’s growing influence over the U.S. government, “President” Trump has appointed Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to oversee the dismantling of the Department of Education.
In a recent interview on Sunday, Trump confirmed that Musk and DOGE will turn their attention to the Education Department after successfully dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development. Just last week, Democrats pushed back against Musk’s takeover of the Education Department, but their efforts were blocked as security denied them access. Musk’s oversight of agency destruction also comes after reports of DOGE feeding sensitive data into AI software under the guise of funding cuts within the Education Department.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that Elon Musk is the one pulling the strings in the executive branch, methodically dismantling federal agencies at will, with Trump and congressional Republicans standing idly by. Musk has openly advocated for efforts to dismantle the Education Department, and it now appears he is taking matters into his own hands to implement his personal agenda.
Under Musk’s dismantling, educators and students will suffer across the country, in both blue and red states. Dismantling the agency will be directly harmful to American families – leading to the drain of resources from students living in poverty, increasing class sizes, striping special education services and restricting federal loans and grants for higher education.
Read the Latest:
NBC News: Inside DOGE’s Takeover of the Education Department
- “Members of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency team have obtained ‘administrator’ email accounts at the Department of Education, just as President Donald Trump announced that the billionaire will soon be examining the agency closely.”
- “Tension is high at the Education Department, where leadership announced earlier this week that staff who take the deferred resignation package offered to much of the federal workforce would waive their right to sue if the government fails to uphold the offer. The employee union urged them not to take the deal, worried that it’s ‘eerily similar to the situation at Twitter’ during Musk’s takeover, in which employees did not get the severance they expected.”
- “The person said they were especially concerned that Musk and his team would use information from the national student loan database to target Americans, push career employees out and hamper the federal government’s ability to collect on federal loans.”
Variety: President Trump Vows To Send Elon Musk’s DOGE To Probe Department of Education and Military: ‘We Will Find Hundred of Billions of Dollars of Fraud’
- “When asked if he trusted Musk and his efforts to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, Trump responded, ‘Trust Elon? He is not gaming anything. I wonder how he can devote the time to [DOGE]. He is so into it. I’ll tell him very soon, maybe in 24 hours, to go check the Department of Education. He is going to find the same thing [as USAID]. Then I will go to the military. Let’s check the military. We will find hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud and abuse.’”
The Hill: Members of Congress Denied Access to Department of Education
- “A source familiar with the situation said the lawmakers went to the department after sending a letter Wednesday night requesting an emergency meeting with the acting Education secretary over those reports.”
- “‘Billionaires can go in this building but not representatives,” Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) said in a video. “There’s a lack in transparency here.’”
The Washington Post: Elon Musk’s DOGE is Feeding Sensitive Federal Data Into AI to Target Cuts
- “Representatives from Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service have fed sensitive data from across the Education Department into artificial intelligence software to probe the agency’s programs and spending, according to two people with knowledge of the DOGE team’s actions.”
- “At the Education Department, DOGE’s team aims to radically reduce spending and ultimately shrink the department and its staff, the people said — helping further the Trump administration’s push to get rid of it entirely.”
Associated Press: Musk Team’s Access to Student Loan Systems Raises Alarm Over Borrowers’ Personal Information
- “Musk’s DOGE team already has gained access to a database housing personal information on millions of students and parents with federal student loans, according to two people with knowledge of the issue. One of them, a department employee, said a DOGE representative requested the access more than a week ago.”
- “A federal lawsuit filed Friday seeks to block DOGE’s access to student financial aid systems, saying it violates privacy rights of millions of federal student loan borrowers. It was filed by the advocacy group Student Defense on behalf of the University of California Student Association.”