Did Trump end the federal investigations into Musk? I made FOIA requests to find out

We can't let this go unchallenged

On Tuesday, we learned that Elon Musk is not actually part of the Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE”) that he is utilizing to wage a war on federal agencies. Rather he’s a “Senior Advisor to the President" and as such as a “special government employee.”

But there are a few things we have long known about Musk. For starters, he has made billions from the federal government. As the NY Times reported recently, “Musk’s companies secured $13 billion in contracts over the past five years.” While Musk is gutting agencies that help Americans from the FAA to the National Labor Relations Board, Musk’s companies saw nearly $4 billion in government contracts in 2024—with lots more on the way in 2025 given his close ties to Trump.

And second—while this has received less attention---Musk’s companies were being investigated by various federal agencies during the Biden administration. As the NY Times found, in January 2025, there were 32 continuing investigations into Musk’s six companies being led by at least 11 different federal agencies. These ranged from discrimination complaints filed by Black Tesla workers to potential stock fraud to consumer complaints about Tesla and more.

Some of the most visible investigations into Musk’s companies include the FAA seeking $633,000 in civil penalties against SpaceX for “allegedly failing to follow its license requirements during two launches in 2023.” The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) suing Musk for violating the Securities Exchange Act by failing to divulge to the public he had purchased more than five percent of Twitter stock as he was seeking to take over that company. If the public had known Musk had purchased the stock, the price would’ve jumped costing Musk more money to be future stock shares. The SEC is seeking disgorgement of ill-gotten gains and other penalties.

Then there is the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)—a watchdog agency for workers—that is pursuing at least 24 investigations into Tesla, SpaceX and other Musk companies. And the list goes on.

From NY Times

But since Musk has come to power with his DOGE operatives, he has targeted the very agencies that were investigating him. In fact, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee--led by Rep. Jamie Raskin--recently released a fact sheet that details how Trump and DOGE are “punishing” agencies that were investigating Musk.

Examples cited by the House Democrats include the NLRB investigation on behalf eight Space X employees fired “in retaliation for speaking critically of Musk.” And a lawsuit by the E.E.O.C. that sued Musk’s Tesla for widespread and “ongoing racial harassment of its Black employees” and retaliation.

These investigations appeared to have ground to a halt because Trump recently fired the E.E.O.C. commissioners and the chair of the NLRB. Trump also fired the Inspector General for the Dept of Labor that oversees both. And when Trump replaces these people—if ever—it’s expected to be with people who will be pro-Musk.

Same for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)--which was investigating more than 300 consumer complaints versus Telsa. This agency has been shuttered--at least temporarily—and ordered “to put a hold on all investigations.” In response, Musk took a victory lap writing on social media, “CFPB RIP.”

Over at the FAA—which had been seeking civil penalties of nearly $650,000 from Musk-the FAA Administrator resigned effective Jan. 20 following very public pressure from Musk. And during his confirmation hearing, Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy vowed to look into these fines—obviously with an eye to reducing or dropping them to help Musk.

Another glaring example involves the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) where the agency’s Inspector General had initiated a probe into Musk’s Starlink satellite terminals provided to the government of Ukraine. Musk made USAID one of his top targets—spewing lies such as $50 million was spent by the agency to give condoms to the people of Gaza-as he worked to shut down the agency.

In addition, we just learned on Tuesday that Musk’s DOGE is heading to the SEC to review that agency---which is of course investigating Musk. But this is par for this course.

This is what a corrupt oligarchy looks like. It’s why 12 House Democrats sent a letter to Trump’s Attorney General a little over a week ago demanding DOJ “uphold federal ethics laws in relation to Elon Musk’s role as a special government employee.” The letter—which should have been signed by every House Democrat—rightfully notes, “The American people deserve assurances that no individual, regardless of stature, is permitted to influence policy for personal gain.”

The reality is that at this point, no one knows with certainty what these agencies are doing about the 30 plus investigations into Musk. Are they still pending? Have they been dismissed? Closed? Put into storage?

To answer these questions, I filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the various agencies that were reportedly investigating Musk’s companies. My hope is to uncover information about the status of the investigations of Musk from the consumer complaints to the FAA fines.

Federal law requires these agencies disclose any information requested under the FOIA unless the information falls into one of nine exemptions. Of course, the law doesn’t matter to Trump nor Musk as we are seeing. It will be telling if Trump’s regime ignores my requests for info concerning Musk. But that doesn’t mean that you and I should not request it—which you can easily do online. I will of course update people on anything I receive.

We have never seen these types of brazen conflicts of interest, self-dealing and corruption playing out for all to see. The anger of the people is growing. And at some point, there will be a reckoning for Musk and the other oligarchs. The only question is what does that look like?!

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