Judge Calls DOJ Answers About Musk DOGE Role ‘Highly Suspicious’

A federal judge overseeing a lawsuit claiming Elon Musk is wielding vast unconstitutional power to reshape US government said he was “highly suspicious” of the Trump administration’s incomplete explanation of the billionaire’s actual role.

US District Judge Theodore Chuang on Friday grilled a US Justice Department lawyer during a hearing in Maryland about the structure and actions of the Department of Government Efficiency. The judge said that while the government had represented in court that Musk isn’t the head of DOGE, it wasn’t offering complete details about his role or who is running the new agency.

Chuang is the latest judge handling some of the legal challenges to President Donald Trump’s executive orders to demand more information about DOGE and to raise concerns about the explanations they’re receiving about what Musk and his efficiency team are doing inside federal agencies.

Read More: Judge Prods ‘Where Is Mr. Musk’ as DOGE Legal Challenges Build

Chuang didn’t immediately rule on whether to grant the plaintiffs’ request to bar Musk and DOGE-affiliated employees from accessing records at the US Agency for International Development or making decisions about agency personnel or spending. The plaintiffs are current and former USAID employees and contractors.

The challengers are “saying he was the head of DOGE,” Chuang told a government lawyer. “You’re saying he wasn’t, but we can’t tell you who was, which, admittedly, is highly suspicious.” The judge added, “I’m not saying that you’re not being candid, but just the whole operation, it raises questions.”

The White House earlier this week confirmed the identity of the person who is serving as the administrator of DOGE, Amy Gleason, after stating in court papers that it wasn’t Musk, despite Trump’s public statements about putting the billionaire in charge. Musk, the chief executive officer of Tesla Inc. and the world’s richest person, has been the public face of the administration’s push to slash spending and the federal workforce.

Justice Department lawyer Joshua Gardner struggled to directly answer some of Chuang’s questions. Gardner said he didn’t have information about whether anyone had served as the DOGE administrator before Gleason and what agencies DOGE-affiliated employees detailed to USAID had come from.

Chuang asked if Gardner had tried to find out if anyone preceded Gleason, saying it seemed like “a knowable fact.” Gardner said he had asked — he didn’t specify who he tried to communicate with — but wasn’t able to get an answer.

Chuang also expressed frustration with the lack of documentation in the court filings from the government showing who approved recent activity at USAID. Gardner said that the Justice Department office that defends the administration in court had shrunk by half since November and was now trying to keep up with dozens of lawsuits unfolding on fast schedules.

Chuang suggested that it was “part of the problem” if the Justice Department and USAID didn’t have enough people to respond to lawsuits.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Zoe Tillman in Washington at ztillman2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Sara Forden at sforden@bloomberg.net

Steve Stroth

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