Musk’s DOGE Sets Up Conflict-of-Interest Clash for Billionaire

President Donald Trump’s executive order creating the Department of Government Efficiency makes billionaire Elon Musk subject to conflict-of-interest laws, while also granting him access to a vast trove of federal data with immeasurable value.

Trump’s unprecedented use of a rare type of government agency — never before used outside the national security realm — solved one problem for Musk. It allows him to serve on the cost-cutting entity without triggering public disclosure of his considerable financial holdings, raising new questions about the secrecy surrounding the effort.

And by downsizing DOGE’s mission to focus solely on information technology issues within ...