Resignation follows resurfaced social media posts

A staffer associated with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) resigned on Thursday after now-deleted racist social media posts resurfaced.

The resignation was confirmed by a White House official who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Marko Elez steps down after online activity comes to light

Marko Elez, a 25-year-old software engineer, had been working within the Treasury Department to cut costs and eliminate fraud as part of Musk’s DOGE initiative. Elez, who previously worked at Musk’s companies X and SpaceX, was one of two temporary appointees at Treasury connected to DOGE. He had access to a highly sensitive Treasury system that processes trillions of dollars in payments each year.

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The Wall Street Journal reported on a number of 2024 posts from an account linked to Elez on Musk’s X platform. Following the report, White House officials confirmed Elez’s resignation.

“You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity,” the account posted in September. Another post from the same month read: “Normalize Indian hate.”

In July 2024, the account wrote: “Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool.”

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Additional posts from December called for repealing the Civil Rights Act and stated: “I just want a eugenic immigration policy, is that too much to ask?”

All of these posts have since been deleted, but NPR independently confirmed them through the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.

Elez did not respond to NPR’s requests for comment.

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DOGE faces scrutiny over staffing and access to sensitive data

Elez’s resignation comes as lawmakers and former federal employees raise concerns over the staff Musk has assembled to carry out aggressive cost-cutting measures. Some reports suggest DOGE is even attempting to dismantle entire agencies.

Efforts to investigate Musk’s government role have faced political resistance. A Democratic-led push to subpoena Musk over potential conflicts of interest—given his control over six private companies while leading DOGE—was blocked by Republicans in Congress on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, two unions representing federal employees and an advocacy group for retirees have sued the Treasury Department, alleging violations of federal privacy laws. The lawsuit stems from concerns over whether sensitive financial data, including banking information of millions of Americans, is being shared with Musk and his associates.

Treasury defends DOGE team despite legal challenges

Elez was recently designated as a special government employee at Treasury, a temporary appointment allowing for “limited services.” A Justice Department lawyer stated in federal court this week that both Elez and another Treasury appointee, Tom Krause, had “read-only” access to the payment system and that no data had been shared outside the agency, including with Musk’s White House-based DOGE team.

A judge has temporarily barred Treasury from granting payment system access to anyone outside the department. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended DOGE’s operations in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Thursday.

“This is not some roving band running around doing things. This is methodical and it is going to yield big savings,” Bessent said.