CNN's Boris Sanchez grilled Rep. Nick LaLota (R-NY) on Friday about the role of X owner Elon Musk in unilaterally shutting down entire federal agencies.
During the interview, Sanchez asked LaLota if he was comfortable with Musk usurping Congress's power of the purse.
"I am curious about how you feel about having the richest man on Earth, someone that has business not only with the Pentagon but with even U.S. adversaries, having the power to overrule spending that Congress has already appropriated," said Sanchez. "You sit on the Appropriations Committee. DOGE is attempting to cut off money that's already been allocated. Do you think that DOGE is superseding the authority of Congress?"
LaLota dodged Sanchez's central question.
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"I don't use rich as a negative," he replied. "The gentleman has earned a lot of success in our great capitalistic economy, a self-made individual, and we should want to, as a federal government, welcome people into that system who want to make this more efficient so that we can have more prosperity as a country or offer more opportunities to our kids and grandkids."
Sanchez, however, did not let the matter drop.
"On the note about his wealth, it's not really a question of whether he should be rich or not," he said. "It's more a conversation about the business that he does with foreign governments like China, U.S. adversaries, and whether there's any conflict of interest in him having a handle over what these government agencies do, given that some of them are tied to what he's doing with his business. You don't see any concern? You don't see any problem with that?"
LaLota once again didn't address Sanchez's central question.
"Well, I don't care that he's rich," he said. "I only brought that up because you brought that up in describing him in your first few words... So I don't care about it, I'm happy to hear that, now, you don't care about it either."
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