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Lawsuit Filed Against Elon Musk's DOGE Minutes After Trump's Inauguration Over Transparency Laws

Jan 20, 2025, 04:30 PM

Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is facing a lawsuit alleging violations of federal transparency laws, set to be filed within minutes after President Donald Trump's inauguration on Monday. The lawsuit, reported by The Washington Post and filed at 12:02 pm in the D.C. federal court by the National Security Counselors, is supported by government watchdog groups including Public Citizen and the American Federation of Government Employees. It claims that DOGE qualifies as a federal advisory committee under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), which requires balanced representation, open meetings, and recorded minutes. DOGE, led by Musk and involving figures such as Vivek Ramaswamy, is central to Trump's agenda to reduce government waste and inefficiency, aiming to cut trillions in federal spending. This legal action represents one of the first lawsuits against the new administration and marks the beginning of a potential battle over transparency and governance within its cost-cutting efforts.