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Elon Musk had a lot riding on the 2024 presidential election. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO, who poured more than <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/11/06/elon-musk-trump-victory/" target=_blank>$118 million</a> into a pro-Trump political action committee he launched, has had years of interactions with the federal government.

SpaceX has amassed billions of dollars in federal contracts, including deals worth about $4 billion with NASA to put humans on the moon.

Meanwhile, Musk has faced significant federal regulatory scrutiny as owner or chief executive of the various companies he leads.

Now, the outspoken executive has been named to a new advisory role aimed at reshaping the federal government. President-elect <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/donald-trump/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Donald Trump</a> this week tapped Musk and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to stand up a commission to make recommendations by 2026 for cutting government spending and regulation.

Dubbed the “Department of Government Efficiency,” or DOGE, the commission’s structure and specific goals are not yet clear. (Under current law, only Congress can actually cut spending. Trump’s team is exploring how it could implement some DOGE recommendations without congressional approval, The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/11/13/elon-musk-government-efficiency-congress-budget-law/" target=_blank>reported this week</a>.)

Musk has publicly sparred with agencies over the years, including those that have taken actions against his businesses. For example, this week <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1855810991709475099" target=_blank>he elevated</a> a call for “defanging” both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission, an agency he has accused of <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1679498716783480833" target=_blank>“overreach” </a>and being “weaponiz[ed] … for censorship &amp; political machinations.”

Neither Musk nor Tesla, SpaceX or X responded to requests for comment.

Here are some of the key agencies with which they have tangled.

Actions: Last year, the Justice Department <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-spacex-discriminating-against-asylees-and-refugees-hiring" target="_blank">sued SpaceX</a>, alleging its hiring practices discriminated against refugees and those granted asylum. SpaceX countersued, saying the agency’s administrative judges were improperly appointed. A Texas judge last year <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/spacex-wins-reprieve-us-lawsuit-alleging-anti-immigrant-bias-2023-11-09/" target="_blank">issued</a> an injunction, temporarily halting the DOJ’s case.

In connection with a Justice Department probe, prosecutors have also been examining whether Tesla committed securities or wire fraud by misleading consumers and investors about the capabilities of its advanced driver-assistance systems, Autopilot and Full Self-Driving, Reuters has <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-autopilot-probe-us-prosecutors-focus-securities-wire-fraud-2024-05-08/" target=_blank>reported</a>.

The FBI <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/07/11/elon-musk-tesla-full-self-driving/" target="_blank">has interviewed</a> former Tesla workers about matters including a video Tesla produced that was <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/tesla-video-promoting-self-driving-was-staged-engineer-testifies-2023-01-17/" target="_blank">staged </a>to exaggerate Autopilot’s capabilities, work that was said to stretch back to the first Trump administration. Tesla said in a recent SEC <a href="https://ir.tesla.com/_flysystem/s3/sec/000162828024043486/tsla-20240930-gen.pdf" target="_blank">filing</a> that to its knowledge “no government agency in any ongoing investigation has concluded that any wrongdoing occurred.”

Justice Department officials declined to comment.

What Musk has said: “DOJ needs to sue themselves!” Musk <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1695484357333631134" target=_blank>posted on X</a> in August 2023, after the SpaceX suit was filed.

Actions: Musk has a long history with the SEC, which regulates the financial markets. In 2018, the agency <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/09/29/teslas-elon-musk-settles-with-sec-paying-million-fine-resigning-board-chairman/" target="_blank">sued Musk over allegations of fraud </a>after he tweeted he had “Funding secured” to take Tesla private at $420 per share, causing the stock to surge. It soon came crashing back to earth as the claim came under scrutiny. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/08/25/musk-says-investors-convinced-him-tesla-should-stay-public/" target="_blank">Musk then reversed course and said</a> no such deal would take place.

Musk and Tesla ultimately <a href="https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2018-226" target=_blank>settled</a> those fraud allegations by agreeing to pay separate fines of $20 million each. Musk also had to step down as Tesla board chairman.

Tesla has <a href="https://ir.tesla.com/_flysystem/s3/sec/000162828024017503/tsla-20240331-gen.pdf" target=_blank>acknowledged</a> receiving other inquiries from the SEC. According to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-autopilot-probe-us-prosecutors-focus-securities-wire-fraud-2024-05-08/" target=_blank>news reports</a> and public filings, the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/sec-doj-probe-tesla-over-statements-about-autopilot-functionality-11666898610" target=_blank>agency also is probing</a> the company’s claims to consumers and investors about its driver-assistance software.

Separately, the SEC is conducting a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/05/27/elon-sec-twitter/" target=_blank>fraud probe</a> into whether Musk properly disclosed <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/09/01/musk-twitter-investors-underwater/" target=_blank>his accumulation</a> of Twitter shares before he announced plans to purchase the social media firm in 2022. (He later renamed it X.)

The SEC said it does not comment on the potential existence of investigations.

What Musk has said: In a 2018 interview with “60 Minutes,” Musk <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/12/10/elon-munk-i-do-not-respect-sec-following-million-fine/" target="_blank">said</a>, “I do not respect the SEC.”

In an April 2022 <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1518569260523659266?s=46&t=WYjWoZWnhUBCiqY6lrGS8Q" target=_blank>tweet</a>, Musk called the SEC’s San Francisco office “shameless puppets ... doing nothing to protect actual shareholders. That is why I lost all respect for them.”

Actions: Musk’s space exploration company SpaceX has tangled with the agency over environmental reviews and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/02/02/spacex-test-sn9-faa-license/" target=_blank>regulatory hurdles</a> for years. In September, the FAA <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/09/17/faa-spacex-fine-elon-musk-regulation/" target=_blank>proposed fining</a> SpaceX $633,009 for allegedly failing to follow licensing rules during two rocket launches last year. SpaceX had 30 days to respond to the proposal, and the outcome is unclear.

The FAA said it does not discuss ongoing proposed civil penalty cases. In a statement, the FAA said its “first priority is the safety and efficiency of the national airspace system.”

What Musk has said: Musk has <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1852363658912845848" target=_blank>frequently criticized</a> the FAA’s bureaucracy as holding back advancements. “The biggest impediment to progress that we’re experiencing is overregulation,” Musk said at an investment conference in Saudi Arabia last month. “It takes longer to get the permit to launch than to build a giant rocket.”

The same day the FAA proposed fining the company, Musk posted on X that “SpaceX will be filing suit against the FAA for regulatory overreach.” The Post was unable to find evidence that a lawsuit had been filed, but SpaceX sent a letter to Congress, denying it had violated regulations and <a href="https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1836765012855287937" target=_blank>complained on X</a> about the agency’s “inability to keep pace with the commercial spaceflight industry.”

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Actions: The country’s top auto safety regulator has at least five pending investigations into Tesla, as well as others that have closed. Several stemmed from a probe into cars in Autopilot crashing into parked emergency vehicles, which led to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/12/13/tesla-autopilot-recall/" target=_blank>recall</a> late last year of nearly every Tesla ever built. To address <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/12/13/tesla-autopilot-recall/" target=_blank>the recall</a>, Tesla said it added further measures to combat driver inattention while using Autopilot.

NHTSA also is examining Tesla’s advanced driver-assistance feature, Full Self-Driving, after a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/10/18/tesla-full-self-driving-nhtsa-fsd/" target="_blank">series of crashes</a> in conditions with limited road visibility. Full Self-Driving enables the cars to maneuver using the company’s software, making turns and following traffic signals and road signs, provided a fully attentive driver is behind the wheel.

In 2021, NHTSA started requiring Tesla and other automakers to report crashes involving advanced driver-assistance systems.

In response to a request for comment, NHTSA said the order has been crucial, enabling it “to learn about safety issues much more quickly than before, sometimes within a day.”

What Musk has said: Musk has decried NHTSA as <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1492667516275105792" target=_blank>“the fun police.” </a>He also <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1626292856112705536" target=_blank>sided with</a> critics who say the agency should change the way it approaches automotive recalls, given that Teslas often can be fixed through immediate, <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1626292856112705536" target=_blank>over-the-air software updates </a>instead of being physically “recalled” to a car dealership.

NHTSA said its recall authority is a vital tool: “A recall notification is an important acknowledgment of a safety defect or noncompliance with a safety regulation, regardless of the manner of the repair.”

Actions: The NLRB, which is tasked with protecting workers’ rights to organize, issued a complaint against SpaceX in January, alleging the company unlawfully fired eight employees who wrote and handed around an open letter <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/06/17/spacex-workers-fired-elon-musk/" target=_blank>critical of Musk.</a> The complaint was halted after the company sued, saying the agency’s structure is unconstitutional because it illegally insulates its judges and members from removal by the president. (If successful, the suit could upend the labor board’s authority.)

Tesla currently faces 15 open unfair labor practice charges at the NLRB, including cases brought by workers who allege a range of offenses such as surveillance and retaliation.

In a statement, NLRB general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo pointed out that the agency’s constitutionality was decided by the Supreme Court <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.nlrb.gov/about-nlrb/who-we-are/our-history/1937-act-held-constitutional__;!!M9LbjjnYNg9jBDflsQ!EdLEF31SMHbfGbdxoU7E5aB55qHaFitVjwp4xHMUI9EEcVI5rVI6nRU706zEKDK5w77TlCL6Tw0fCw6k9FQ7-AKnp54$" target=_blank>nearly 90 years ago.</a>

“It is nothing new for big companies to challenge the authority of the NLRB to enforce workers’ rights so as not to be held accountable for their violations of the National Labor Relations Act,” she said.

What Musk has said: Musk has been critical of the board, <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/998372753362173952" target=_blank>once tweeting </a>“Literally your Mom could file for NLRB.”

Actions: The FTC, which focuses on consumer protection and antitrust matters, probed allegations that Musk violated a settlement that limited Twitter’s sharing of user data by ordering employees in 2022 to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/24/elon-musk-twitter-meltdown-tesla/?itid=lk_inline_manual_4" target=_blank>give a group of outside writers “full access to everything”</a> in the company’s files after he took over as CEO.

In a letter to House Republicans earlier this year, FTC Chair Lina Khan said the agency had concluded that no violation occurred because Twitter employees prevented the writers from directly accessing the company’s internal systems.

The FTC said it does not comment on investigations.

What Musk has said: Last month, in response to the release of a report by House Republicans claiming Khan abused her authority “to Advance the Biden-Harris Administration’s Agenda,” Musk tweeted: <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1851985438933668337" target=_blank>“She will be fired soon.”</a>

Actions: In 2020, as part of its rural broadband program, the FCC tentatively awarded SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet nearly $900 million in subsidies. Two years later, it rejected the grant, saying Starlink was one of a dozen companies that did not meet the program requirements.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Kentucky)<a href="https://oversight.house.gov/release/comer-probes-fcc-decision-to-revoke-starlink-funds/" target=_blank> said last month</a> he is investigating the decision.

In a statement, an FCC spokesperson said the agency stands by it: “The question was never about whether the company could provide service, as evidenced by their efforts to do so now without any taxpayer dollars. It was whether they could meet the required basic upload and download speeds. They couldn’t.”

What Musk has said: After Hurricane Helene, Musk <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1841533475414749383" target=_blank>posted </a>on X: “Had the FCC not illegally revoked the SpaceX Starlink award, it would probably have saved lives in North Carolina,” likely referring to people losing connectivity after the storm.

Actions: The EPA <a href="https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2024-09/spacex_cafo_cwa-06-2024-1768_txu09110_090624__0.pdf" target=_blank>fined SpaceX</a> nearly $150,000 for violating the Clean Water Act by discharging hundreds of thousands of gallons of wastewater into wetlands near its launch site in South Texas without a proper permit. SpaceX said it settled the matter with the agency, despite disagreeing with the findings.

The EPA said it can’t comment on potential or pending enforcement actions.

What Musk has said: “Paying fines is extremely disappointing when we fundamentally disagree with the allegations,” SpaceX said <a href="https://www.spacex.com/updates/" target=_blank>in a statement</a>. “ ... Only the name of the permit has changed.”

Christian Davenport, Todd Frankel, Aaron Schaffer and Eva Dou contributed to this report

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Faiz Siddiqui is a technology reporter with The Washington Post's Business Desk covering companies such as Tesla and Twitter. His area of coverage has also included ride-hailing and the race to build autonomous cars. Prior to that, he covered the D.C. Metro and local transportation scene.

Faiz Siddiqui

Western Washington University, BA in Journalism

Rachel Lerman covers the economy and technology for The Washington Post. She focuses on reporting visually driven stories.

Rachel Lerman

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