DOGE team that oversaw dismantling of government now profiting in private sector

Elon Musk’s ex-staffers capitalizing on Washington experience, new analysis finds

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Ex-employees of Elon Musk’s DOGE, which sought to slash waste federal expenditure in the first six months of President Donald Trump’s second term, are monetizing their experience in the private sector, a new analysis has found.

The staffers identified have turned their hands to a variety of ventures, effectively bridging the gap between Silicon Valley and D.C. by capitalizing on their newfound insider knowledge to launch new companies, win executive posts or secure large stakes in start-ups pursuing government contracts.

New businesses either co-founded or receiving investment from ex-DOGE personnel have raised at least half a billion dollars in funding, according to the Post’s analysis, which it explains was compiled by examining government data, investor research platforms and venture capital funding disclosures and comparing that information with lists of former members of Musk’s team it compiled alongside The New York Times and ProPublica.

Special, another AI business, explicitly states in a company announcement quoted that its founders were “motivated to extend the ethos of our work at DOGE back into the private sector.”

Jeff Hauser, executive director of the nonprofit Revolving Door Project, told the Post that DOGE’s alumni had little influence when they first applied to work with Musk but now find themselves with “enormous juice.”

Former Obama-era White House ethics lawyer Norm Eisen agreed that the group appear to have “found a new way to monetize government service that is far beyond anything lobbyists ever dreamed of.”

Shortly before the department’s dissolution, Musk left the Trump administration in explosively acrimonious style after falling out with the president over his One Big, Beautiful Bill, a spat that saw the two billionaires exchange highly personal insults over their respective social media platforms, X and Truth Social.