Musk defends DOGE, slams AP in interview with Joe Rogan
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Elon Musk holds a chainsaw reading "Long live freedom, damn it" during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
Elon Musk defended DOGE's actions, name dropped alleged Jeffery Epstein clients and weighed in on the "Gulf of America" standoff between the Trump administration and the Associated Press in an appearance on the "Joe Rogan Experience" podcast.
The big picture: The pair, in their three-hour interview, railed against legacy media, discussed what the world would have been like if Twitter wasn't X and explained why DOGE is seen as a threat — though Musk said it doesn't go far in exposing corruption because doing so could get him "killed."
Musk: "DOGE is a threat to bureaucracy"
Musk said DOGE is the "first threat to bureaucracy" and the "revolution might actually succeed."
- He railed against government-funded NGOs, calling them a "gigantic scam" and said people become "very wealthy" through the nonprofits.
- Musk claimed without offering a name or any evidence that DOGE discovered $1.9 billion was given to an NGO that had no prior activity before receiving the funds.
- Musk has made grandiose claims about the amount of money DOGE has saved the government, but the math has been filled with errors.
- "Many things that DOGE is fixing were identified by Government Accountability Office many years ago," Musk said, referencing millions of people who are marked as alive in the Social Security database.
- "I have to be careful that I don't push too hard on the corruption stuff because it's going to get me killed," Musk said towards the end of the interview.
Musk on Epstein clients and files
Musk called Epstein clients "powerful politically" and "very wealthy," and mentioned Bill Gates, Bill Clinton and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman by name.
- Musk also claimed Hoffman was "so intent on destroying Trump" out of fear the Epstein files would become public.
- Hoffman told Axios in an email that he was "never a client of Jeffrey Epstein's. The claim is simply slander and a lie."
- "I think the public will be rightly frustrated if no one is prosecuted for the Epstein client list," Musk said. "At least the top five ... There should at least be an attempted prosecution of the worst offenders," he added.
- Hoffman previously said he's had to hire additional security after Musk's accusations lead to death threats.
Rogan: "World would be a very different place" if Musk didn't buy Twitter
Musk said his account "would have been suspended a long time ago" if it was still being run the way it was before.
- "Trump would have never come back and Alex Jones would have definitely never been back," Rogan responded.
Rogan and Musk on AP News and "Gulf of America"
Rogan and Musk started laughing before describing the standoff between the Associated Press and the White House over calling the "Gulf of America" the "Gulf of Mexico."
- An AP news reporter was barred from the Oval Office because the outlet's stylebook still refers the the body as the Gulf of Mexico.
- The AP sued the White House for blocking its reporters from access to events like Oval Office meetings and Air Force One press pools. A federal judge refused to immediately order the White House to restore their access to presidential events.
- Rogan called AP and other news outlets "propaganda campaigns" and that they all "distributed absolute lies."
- "It's only Fox News that's talking about the positive things that DOGE has found," he added.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with a statement from Hoffman.
