House Democrats are investigating SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's glaring conflict of interest — and specifically whether he's using his immense sway over NASA to enrich himself.
In a letter sent to NASA's chief legal officer, Iris Lan, representatives Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-FL) and Gery Connolly (D-VA) requested information and documents to prove that Musk wasn't exploiting his influence over the agency to hand himself and his businesses government contracts, Axios reports.
Critics have pointed out that as the CEO of SpaceX — already one of NASA's largest private contractors — Musk could easily abuse access to information about his competitors in the space industry to give himself an unfair advantage.
Key members of Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which has overseen the gutting of several government agencies, have been given "unrestricted physical access, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, to NASA facilities, including the NASA Administrator’s suite," according to a separate letter sent by three House Democrats to acting administrator Janet Petro, Bloomberg reports.
"The agency has allowed unvetted and untrained individuals to obtain unprecedented access, seemingly in defiance of standard agency protocols and simple common sense," the letter reads. "If the agency has vetted these DOGE-associated persons for their questionable professional histories or apparent conflicts-of-interest, we are not aware of it."
They're also concerned that he could also give SpaceX preferential treatment. Musk's space company has received over $15 billion in funding from the space agency over the years and has secured another half a billion dollars since Trump was inaugurated, per Axios.
"At NASA, where Mr. Musk has both benefited from significant contracts and has the potential to receive vast amounts of new business, his defiance of recusal laws and control of operations directly benefit his businesses," Frost and Connolly wrote in their letter to Lan. "The known conflicts of interest presented by this arrangement are illegal and must be addressed immediately."
The topic of conflict of interest at NASA is especially pertinent as billionaire fighter jet pilot-turned-SpaceX astronaut Jared Isaacman is expected to attend a confirmation hearing today and is widely expected to be sworn in as the agency's next administrator.
Isaacman has traveled to space twice during two all-private missions involving SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsules and has never worked for NASA.
In a March 12 letter to Lan, Isaacman argued that in the "event that an actual or potential conflict of interest arises during my appointment, I will consult with an agency ethics official and take the measures necessary to resolve the conflict, such as recusal from the particular matter or divestiture of an asset."
Whether those assurances will be enough for lawmakers remains to be seen. Given Isaacman's own considerable conflict of interest, his hearing today will likely draw plenty of probing questions from lawmakers worried about an impending SpaceX takeover of NASA.
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