The world's richest man is desperate to figure out how lawmakers on Capitol Hill got "strangely wealthy" despite earning modest public salaries. Elon Musk said at a town hall event in Wisconsin on Sunday night that his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team will look into how certain members of Congress have achieved generational wealth.
Musk's new mission is likely to create a lot of noise at Capitol Hill soon. A town hall attendee asked Musk whether DOGE had found any evidence of funds being transferred from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
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"They'll [the government] send the money overseas to one NGO [non-governmental organization], then they'll go through a bunch of them, and then I'm highly confident that a bunch of that money then comes back to the United States and lands in the pockets of the people you just mentioned," Musk replied.
"But it is a circuitous route. It doesn't go directly, but let's just say that there's a lot of strangely wealthy members of Congress where I'm trying to connect the dots of, 'How do they become rich?'"
Rank-and-file members of Congress earn an annual salary of $174,000.
Last year, Musk—whose net worth is estimated at $330 billion by Bloomberg—played a role in blocking legislation aimed at increasing congressional salaries. However, he later supported an increase in pay as a strategy to combat corruption.
Many lawmakers who have spent decades in Congress have accumulated significant wealth.
Among the richest are former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), with an estimated net worth of $250 million, and Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), whose personal fortune is around $552 million.
Pelosi's wealth primarily stems from her and her husband, venture capitalist Paul Pelosi, who has made profitable investments in major companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Netflix.
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Scott's wealth primarily comes from his role in co-founding HCA Healthcare, a company that operates hospitals and other medical facilities across Florida, as well as Solantic, a chain of urgent care clinics. His involvement with both businesses took place before he entered the Senate.
"How do they get $20 million if they're earning $200,000 a year?" Musk further pondered. "We're going to try to figure it out and certainly stop it from happening."
On Sunday, Musk visited Wisconsin to drum up support for Brad Schimel, a conservative judge from Waukesha County, in the high-profile race for a seat on the state Supreme Court.
While in Wisconsin, Musk handed out $1 million checks to two voters. The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX has urged residents of the state to sign his petition against "activist judges" in exchange for a chance to win prize money.
"I should say that the reason for the checks is that it's really just to get attention," Musk explained about the prize money.
"And somewhat inevitably, when I do these things, it causes the legacy media to kind of lose their minds."
The Wisconsin Supreme Court race features a contest between Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel and Dane County Judge Susan Crawford. The outcome will have a major impact on key issues such as state abortion laws and redistricting.
Control of the court is considered politically crucial due to the ongoing power struggle between Democratic Governor Tony Evers and the Republican-led state legislature.
