A House Republican found himself under fire late Wednesday on CNN courtesy of anchor Kaitlan Collins, who pressed him on why Elon Musk — not Congress — is rooting out fraud.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) joined "The Source" to talk about the tech billionaire's private discussion with Republicans, who pushed for answers as they face combative town halls from angry constituents over the Department of Government Efficiency's mass purge of the federal government.
Gimenez said his GOP colleagues asked Musk to be "kept in the loop a little bit" — and noted they probably struck a different "tone" than their Senate counterparts.
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"Most of the House members there were saying, 'Yeah! We like what you're doing. Keep it up. Just keep us in the loop. Make sure you don't step on any landmines, etc." said Gimenez.
After Gimenez insisted all large businesses need to self-audit once in a while, Collins noted Congress has already created watchdog offices to do just that — "essentially doing what Elon Musk was doing," in making recommendations to Congress.
"Are you saying that these inspectors general weren't —" she began, as Gimenez shook his head and repeatedly replied, "No."
"No I don't think they were doing the job that Elon Musk was doing," he shot back.
"None of them?" replied Collins.
"I don't think they were. They're also part of the bureaucracy," he said, talking over Collins, who tried to push back that these positions found fraud in both Medicare and Social Security and was able to "claw it back."
"You don't think that person was doing their job?" she questioned.
"I don't think a lot of them were doing the job that they should be," said Gimenez.
But Collins wouldn't let him off the hook.
"What does that say about Congress?" she asked. "I mean, Congress picked these people to do these jobs and have oversight of these agencies and then to report back to Congress. So wouldn't that be your role as an elected lawmaker — not just yours, but your colleagues as well — to do that instead of having Elon Musk do it?"
But Gimenez doubled down.
"No I like Elon Musk doing it," he replied. "Because Elon Musk is outside of government and he's going to look at things in a completely different light. Things that maybe these folks that were in government weren't going to be looking in the same way."
