The Trump administration is trying to investigate an incident in which the official Department of Government Efficiency Veterans Affairs account sent an angry personal message to an outspoken critic of tech billionaire Elon Musk.
According to Politico, "James Fishback, the anti-DEI investor who recently launched FSD PAC — a super PAC aimed at blunting Musk’s political ambitions — received a direct message on X from the official DOGE Veterans Affairs account." The message stated, “James - we need to talk. Your recent behavior has crossed some serious lines. That’s why we rejected your DOGE application in the first place. Let’s step your game up. This is embarrassing.”
Fishback never worked for DOGE directly, the report noted, but he advised far-right businessman Vivek Ramaswamy while he was involved with the task force.
The White House said the individual responsible for the message no longer works at the VA and that an investigation is underway to determine if there are any other personnel concerns within DOGE.
“The president’s mission is to make sure the goal of cutting waste fraud and abuse is successful and continues,” White House spokesperson Harrison Fields told Politico in a statement. “The American people elected him to be a better steward of taxpayer dollars, and every agency and department is working seamlessly to execute the president’s campaign promise.”
Musk, who helped Trump conceive of DOGE, had a dramatic and visible falling out with the administration last month, attacking Trump's tax cut mega bill that was signed into law just last week.
Despite the falling out, and despite Musk no longer working as an adviser to the administration, DOGE and many of the people initially brought into it continue to operate, though the program has been wildly controversial, and has not saved the federal government any significant taxpayer money, despite canceling a wide array of contracts and facilitating extensive public-sector layoffs.