The host of MSNBC’s flagship weekend show disputed Elon Musk’s assurances that everyone working at the Department of Government Efficiency had been properly vetted.
“Okay, I’ll say he’s full of crap!” network host Michael Steele exclaimed on Saturday’s episode of The Weekend in response to a clip from the Tesla founder’s recent appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
During his sit-down with Rogan, Musk said that all members of his advisory committee had undergone the same background checks required of federal workers who have access to private information on American citizens.
“Everything he just said is a lie,” Steele lamented as the clip finished playing.
The DOGE chief had said “tens of thousands” of federal employees already have access to the relevant systems. Steele shot back that even if those numbers were accurate, federal workers have had to undergo additional screening to access citizens’ most private information.
“You don’t just randomly give access to the system to just somebody because they have a federal ID,” Steele raged. “That’s the problem.”
Guest Skye Perryman—CEO of Democracy Forward, a nonprofit organization currently bringing a number of legal challenges against DOGE—also found Musk’s claims laughable.
“There’s no vetting,” Perryman explained, adding that she had first-hand experience with Department of Justice lawyers who were unable to answer questions about DOGE‘s access because the information has apparently not been provided to them.
“It’s patently false,” she went on before asking, “Where are the people putting country over party, and who decided it was acceptable… for so many people across this country to have their future in the hands of Elon Musk, who clearly doesn’t care?”
