WASHINGTON — Democrats need to know if President Donald Trump ever seen his former adviser Elon Musk utilizing medication whereas working within the White Home.
Rep. Stephen Lynch (Mass.), the highest Democrat on the Home Oversight Committee, requested Trump in a letter Wednesday about recent reporting that Musk used ketamine, ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms in the course of the 2024 presidential marketing campaign.
“The drastic and erratic nature of Mr. Musk’s choices and actions as a authorities worker, coupled with the studies of his drug use, begs the query whether or not Mr. Musk was below the affect of illicit substances whereas working in your White Home,” Lynch wrote in his letter.
“The American individuals need to know whether or not Mr. Musk was below the affect whereas he gleefully took a ‘chainsaw’ to our federal authorities,” Lynch wrote.
Musk served as a particular authorities worker heading up Trump’s so-called Division of Authorities Effectivity, an initiative geared toward tackling wasteful spending. Musk and his staff recognized a tiny fraction of the $2 trillion of allegedly wasteful spending he as soon as boasted he’d get rid of.
Lots of the DOGE staff’s efforts, together with mass firings, allegedly improper entry of delicate knowledge methods, and the wholesale elimination of federal businesses, have been tied up in courts. In February, Musk gleefully wielded a chainsaw onstage at a political convention, describing it as an emblem of his efforts to destroy the federal paperwork.
Stuart Cahill/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald by way of Getty Pictures
Lynch first pressed the White Home for Musk’s national security questionnaire form, which incorporates questions on illicit drug use, after The New York Times reported final week that Musk’s drug behavior “went effectively past occasional use.” The story didn’t element drug use by Musk whereas working within the White Home.
“Given his distinguished position within the Trump Administration, the American individuals need to know the historical past and extent of Mr. Musk’s drug use and any affect illicit medication could have had on his efforts to illegally and recklessly dismantle our authorities,” Lynch wrote. “If Mr. Musk is battling substance abuse, it’s our hope he will get the help and remedy he wants.”
The White Home didn’t instantly reply to a HuffPost request for remark.
Musk has denied being a drug consumer and claimed the Occasions was mendacity. He stated he had as soon as been prescribed ketamine a couple of years in the past, one thing he’s beforehand been open about. “It helps for getting out of darkish psychological holes, however haven’t taken it since then,” Musk wrote on social media.
Musk left his place, which was restricted to 130 days, after that deadline handed final week. This week, in a surprising flip, he harshly criticized the legislation Republicans are moving on Capitol Hill to enact Trump’s home coverage agenda. Musk referred to as the invoice a “disgusting abomination.”
Democrats have cheered Musk’s flip towards the invoice, which mixes tax and Medicaid cuts and would widen federal funds deficits, opposite to DOGE’s mission of enhancing the federal government’s funds.
“Now even somebody on ketamine, mushrooms and Ecstasy can see it,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said online.
Lynch is serving as the highest Democrat on the Republican-led Oversight Committee on a short lived foundation after the loss of life of Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.). Lynch is one among a number of Democrats vying for the “rating member” place that can be determined by an inner occasion election later this month.
