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During a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, Democratic Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Jasmine Crockett of Texas condemned President Donald Trump’s use of federal law enforcement to protect Elon Musk, while attempting to intimidate his political detractors.
Raskin took aim at FBI Director Kash Patel’s lack of concern about the world’s wealthiest man.
“What else is the FBI not investigating? Elon Musk,” he said, pointing to Musk’s troubling ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
Musk has met with high-level CCP officials during his multiple trips to China and has had access to sensitive government databases.
“So the men and women of the FBI deserve to know that Congress is watching, and we’ve got your back. We will not stand idly by while this administration tries to turn the FBI into an arm of a pay-to-play gangster state,” he said.
Raskin, who is the top Democrat on the committee, also sent Patel a letter on Wednesday demanding an investigation into Musk’s ties to China, given his apparent unfettered access to both state secrets and U.S. citizens’ private data.
Similarly, Crockett blasted Attorney General Pam Bondi for her public threats against Crockett after she spoke to “Tesla Takedown” protesters in March.
“The fact that there are other sitting members that have received letters of threat from this new DOJ tells me that they are about retribution, and they are not about following the law,” she said.
Crockett then called out the Trump administration’s protection of Musk.
“I don’t like Elon Musk. I’m gonna say it 50,000 times. I think that he’s a crook because somehow the rest of us can’t sit around and get whatever federal contracts we want. … The rest of us can’t get our dealerships protected by the federal government,” she said.
Bondi has taken Trump’s threat to punish criticism of Musk to the extreme, repeatedly going on television to terrorize activists who have peacefully protested outside of Tesla factories and storefronts with severe consequences.
Meanwhile, Republicans are reeling after Tuesday’s elections in Wisconsin and Florida revealed a robust dissatisfaction with the GOP’s leadership. And Democrats seem to have begun coalescing around a strong message, with Elon Musk among the top villains.
Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey gave a record-breaking 25-hour-and-5-minute speech on the Senate floor, which has garnered praise on the left. And Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez’s “Fighting Oligarchy” tour has had record turnout in swing districts, signaling a unified push for progressive change in the face of Trump’s attempt to destroy U.S. democracy.
How the GOP will perform among voters going forward isn’t clear, but one thing is for sure: Protecting billionaire Musk isn’t going to win them any favor.
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