Trump admin fights attempt to get Elon Musk's testimony in DOGE case

By Zoe Tillman

 

The Trump administration is fighting efforts by government workers and contractors to force billionaire Elon Musk to testify in a lawsuit that accuses him of unlawfully directing the dissolution of the US Agency for International Development while he was a senior adviser to the president.  

The Justice Department has asked a federal judge in Maryland to block depositions of Musk and two former senior USAID officials, according to a recent court filing. USAID was gutted earlier this year as part of President Donald Trump’s plan to slash the size and reach of the government using mass firings, cancelled grants and the dismantling of agencies. 

 

The government argues the current and former workers and contractors who sued have failed to prove the situation involved “exceptional circumstances” that would overcome “longstanding limitations” on compelling testimony from high-level executive branch officers.

 

Musk, the chief executive officer of Tesla Inc. and SpaceX, left his position as an administration adviser this spring after spending months as the public face of the Department of Government Efficiency initiative. He was also a prominent backer of Trump’s campaign. The Justice Department has continued to represent his interests in cases where he was sued in his official capacity over moves associated with DOGE.

 

The USAID employees accused Musk of unconstitutionally exercising a high level of power within the US government that’s reserved for Senate-confirmed officials. They also alleged that efforts by Musk and other executive branch officials to shutter the US foreign aid agency, which was created by Congress, violated the Constitution’s separation of powers principles.

 

A Maryland federal judge ruled in August that the case could go forward, denying the government’s request to have it tossed out. Lawyers for the current and former USAID employees have spent recent months seeking information, documents and testimony from the government.

 

In a court filing late last week, the Justice Department argued against requiring Musk and the two former USAID officials, Peter Marocco and Jeremy Lewin, to appear for depositions. 

 

Courts historically have set a high bar for forcing testimony from high-ranking members of the executive branch. In the latest request to block Musk’s deposition, the government argued that it “would necessarily intrude on White House activities and the president’s performance of constitutional duties, which triggers significant separation-of-powers concerns.”

 

The government said the plaintiffs had to “exhaust alternatives” before they could force depositions, such as submitting more requests for information in writing or deposing other witnesses who didn’t present the same issues. 

 

The Justice Department has previously represented in court that Musk only advised the president and didn’t have authority to make major policy decisions. In ruling that the USAID case could go forward, the judge in Maryland noted evidence presented by the plaintiffs of Musk appearing to personally take credit, including a social media post from February in which he wrote, “We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper.”

 

The Trump administration has fought other efforts to force the disclosure of information about DOGE. In May, the US Supreme Court blocked a lower court order forcing DOGE Administrator Amy Gleason to testify in a fight over whether the office qualified as an agency that must comply with public records demands. That litigation is ongoing. 

 

A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment. A representative of Democracy Defenders Fund, the liberal-leaning advocacy group representing the USAID employees, and a spokesperson for Musk’s companies did not immediately return requests for comment on Monday afternoon.

 

The case is Does v. Musk, 25-cv-462, US District Court, District of Maryland (Greenbelt).