Latest / Elon Musk Podcast / Breaking: They dropped the hammer on Elon Musk for "unconstitutional government cuts"

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Breaking: They dropped the hammer on Elon Musk for "unconstitutional government cuts" · Elon Musk Podcast

• 0:01
  Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Elon Musk
• 0:04
  Podcast. This is a show where we discuss
• 0:07
  the critical crossroads, the Shape, SpaceX, Tesla X, The
• 0:11
  Boring Company, and Neurolink. I'm your host, Will Walden.
• 0:16
  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So, Mr. Chairman, you know, I'm
• 0:19
  very discouraged by this hearing and by the witnesses in
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  particular that you have chosen to give a platform today instead
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  of having a serious discussion. I'm sure we're going to hear
• 0:31
  conspiracy theories as this committee holds what amounts to
• 0:35
  basically a pep rally in support of President Trump's illegal
• 0:39
  power grab. I certainly agree with this
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  committee that this committee should conduct rigorous
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  oversight of federal spending, including wasteful foreign aid.
• 0:50
  That's certainly what we should be talking about, and we should
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  always be working to sort out and eliminate waste and fraud in
• 0:58
  all federal programs. And in fact, this committee has
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  done that for years on a bipartisan basis.
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  It's a big part of what we do every week as we come together
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  to consider legislation and deal with the tough issues that we
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  face as a country. But today's hearing, I'm sure
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  we're going to hear many of our colleagues on the other side of
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  the dais of my Republican colleagues here cheer on
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  President Trump and his cronies like Elon Musk.
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  And there are illegal and unconstitutional efforts to cut
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  off foreign aid. And it is not only a sham, I
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  think it really misses the point on what this administration is
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  really doing and how far President Trump will go to hurt
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  American families so that they can pay for tax cuts for
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  billionaires. We can't have a real debate
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  about wasteful spending when President Trump has empowered an
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  unvetted billionaire, and let's say it, an unvetted billionaire
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  with massive conflicts of interest, massive conflicts of
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  interest, hundreds of millions of dollars of government
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  contracts he receives. I would hope we will look at
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  those hundreds of millions of dollars of government contracts
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  from Elon Musk as he's cutting off funding to programs that
• 2:11
  clearly the administration doesn't understand or they may
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  not agree with politically. Let's be clear, the Constitution
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  does not empower a social media billionaire with massive
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  conflicts of interest that has never been vetted to decide on
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  how taxpayer dollars are spent. In fact, the Constitution
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  doesn't even empower President Trump to make these decisions.
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  The Constitution gives Congress, the and only Congress the sole
• 2:39
  power to decide how tax money, taxpayer money is spent.
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  And for the most part, we pass bipartisan laws to determine how
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  that money should be spent. But President Trump has directed
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  Elon Musk and many other cronies to ignore Congress, to ignore
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  the Constitution, and recklessly and illegally cut off funding
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  that Congress has passed according to the law.
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  Not only is it illegal, not only is it unconstitutional, but
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  President Trump's direction to shut our USAID will have
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  damaging consequences across the globe and here in the United
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  States. I'd like to enter into the
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  record, Mr. I'm in a numerous statements from organizations
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  and experts that detail those consequences without objection.
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  That's why my Democratic colleagues and I are most
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  concerned about what is, what the agency, what federal
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  programs is going to be next? Where are the dominoes going to
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  fall after USAID? What's going to be next on the
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  chopping block? We know President Trump has
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  already directed his cronies to shut down the Consumer Financial
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  Protection Bureau. Will they halt Social Security
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  payments that seniors count on next?
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  Will they stop Medicare reimbursements and prevent
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  seniors from accessing health care?
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  Will they block disaster aid to states that have suffered from
• 4:00
  hurricanes and wildfires? Well, I'll tell you, President
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  Trump and his cronies have already hinted on all of those
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  resources that Americans count on and more could be shut down
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  going forward. And it's not just that it's
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  illegal. It's not just that it violates
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  the separation of powers. The bottom line is that these
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  actions hurt American families. And it's our job to fight back.
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  And that's why Democrats on our committee will be focused on
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  that today. If this committee is is
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  seriously about defending American families and Congress's
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  oversight role, a role, Mr. Chairman, that I know you have
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  said over and over again as part of what we were going to be
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  doing here at the committee. Then there's the hearing we have
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  today should be about examining blatantly illegal activities
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  that President Trump has led to undermine the laws passed by
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  Congress and to wreak havoc on the programs and services that
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  support Americans. Mr. Chairman, I know you've
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  often talked about how it's Congress versus the executive,
• 5:01
  whoever's in the executive office.
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  That's what's happening right now.
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  Let's hope we focus on that because we're seeing it in
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  clear, clearly happening as president, President Trump's
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  direction, Elon Musk and his minions have illegally cut off
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  funding that Congress passed to support farmers.
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  They've cut off funding to support child care centers.
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  They've cut off funding for life saving Cancer Research.
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  They've cut off funding for community health centers,
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  cutting off funding for religious charities and services
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  that Americans rely on every day.
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  And it's all been under the guise of addressing waste.
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  But if the administration is serious about combating waste
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  and fraud, then the president would not have fired 18
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  inspector generals, the independent watchdogs who
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  actually identify waste, fraud and abuse.
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  Why is Donald Trump firing the watchdogs to waste and abuse?
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  If the president is truly serious about dressing waste and
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  fraud and foreign aid, he certainly would not have fired
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  the Inspector General for the USAID.
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  And let's remember, this isn't the first time a president has
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  tested the limits of law when it comes to presidential powers.
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  We've seen this movie before, but it's the first time that
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  Republicans in Congress have simply rolled over and let a
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  president seize power of the Constitution assigns to the
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  legislative branch. We have the power of the purse,
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  and I've heard the chairman talk about that many times in our
• 6:29
  meetings. But let's look at an example
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  from history. In the 1970s, when President
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  Richard Nixon refused to spend money appropriated for child
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  care, job programs, environmental cleanup programs,
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  and virtually every member of Congress from both parties
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  rejected that, passed the Impoundment Control Act of 1974,
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  which asserted Congress's constitutional power.
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  And when it passed, it passed unanimously.
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  Every Republican senator stood up to Richard Nixon and said
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  this is unacceptable. Now, clearly that was a time
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  when we did not have feckless Republican senators, but it was
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  a great time to look at how the we came together to stand up the
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  presidential power. And it wasn't just Congress.
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  President Nixon lost in the courts over and over again.
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  No judge ever endorsed President Nixon's argument that he had the
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  right to ignore the laws of Congress.
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  If President Trump thinks his actions are lawful, then his
• 7:27
  administration should come forward and be able to answer
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  straightforward questions from Congress.
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  They should operate in the light of day instead of trying to hide
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  what they're doing from Congress, the courts, and
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  independent watchdogs. Mr. Chairman, I was disappointed
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  that over the last few weeks I've had a number of oversight
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  letters that you refuse to sign. I would hope that you'd
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  reconsider, and I look forward to meeting with you to talk
• 7:48
  through those letters in the near future.
• 7:52
  And I think also, Mr. Chairman, many of the questions that we
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  have today about the actions of President Trumpet that has been
• 7:58
  directed by Elon Musk. I think that's something that we
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  should also call in Elon Musk to ask questions, particularly
• 8:04
  about his numerous and substantial conflicts of
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  interest while he's making these kinds of decisions.
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  And I hope that going forward, this committee will work to
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  defend Congress's role and responsibilities under the law
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  and conduct real, meaningful oversight of these lawless
• 8:21
  actions by the Trump administration.
• 8:30
  Hey, thank you so much for listening today.
• 8:31
  I really do appreciate your support.
• 8:33
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• 8:41
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• 8:50
  And please, if you want to support the show even more, go
• 8:52
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• 8:58
  yourselves and each other. And I'll see you tomorrow.