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The Progressive

NewsWire

A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release

The Revolving Door Project Publishes List Tracking Reports Elon Musk and His Companies Flout the Law and Regulations

The billionaire’s disregard of federal laws and constitutional powers did not arise out of nowhere when he began his work at “DOGE.” It is just the logical outgrowth of a career spent flouting rules and regulations without consequence.

In response to quasi-President Musk’s manifest disregard of federal law and the constitutional order, The Revolving Door Projectpublished a document tracking Musk’s career of routinely disregarding laws, regulations and rules. Along with this tracker, the Executive Director of The Revolving Door Project, Jeff Hauser released the following statement:

“Lawmakers cannot be surprised at the wanton disregard Elon Musk now shows for the law when he has spent decades ignoring it. Billionaires like Musk and Donald Trump have been enabled at every turn by a judiciary in the pocket of big business, legislators beholden to corporate interests, and law enforcement officials too cowardly to prosecute powerful people for their misconduct.”

Hauser continued: “What Musk is doing now is horrifying to anyone invested in stable governance, effective regulation and the well being of American democracy. But we cannot ignore the fact that this behavior is not new. Musk, like countless other oligarchs, has been enabled at every turn by weak enforcement of federal laws and regulations. On the rare occasion that he or his companies do face penalties for flouting the rules, it is almost always a slap on the wrist – teaching him that he is above the dominion of our nation’s laws.”

“Lawmakers and law enforcement officials must learn that weak enforcement of corporate crime begets further erosion of the rule of law. We at The Revolving Door Project have long called upon attorneys general and regulators to properly enforce the law. We now do so again, with this existential crisis standing as an example of what will happen when billionaires are empowered to disregard the law. We hope this tracker will help reporters, legislators and the public understand how weak enforcement of rules led to Musk’s sense of total impunity, and his hatred of the administrative state.” concluded Hauser.

The Revolving Door Project (RDP) scrutinizes executive branch appointees to ensure they use their office to serve the broad public interest, rather than to entrench corporate power or seek personal advancement.