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Elon Musk’s unelected staffers are currently stampeding through Washington D.C., gaining access to sensitive computer systems at the U.S. Treasury as well as the Office of Personnel Management and pledging to stop funding for congressionally approved programs at USAID. Musk’s “department,” known as DOGE, is clearly working outside its legal authority. But after the tiniest bit of pushback from Democrats on Monday and the public naming of some people from Musk’s staff, MAGA appears to be circling the wagons to protect the people currently taking a chainsaw to democracy.
Ed Martin, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, tweeted a letter on Monday addressed to Musk promising to “protect DOGE work and DOGE workers.” Martin has even said he’s in contact with the FBI about the matter, but it’s not clear what he plans to prosecute at this point.
“Dear @elon, Please see this important letter. We will not tolerate threats against DOGE workers or law-breaking by the disgruntled,” the tweet reads.
Martin tagged @elon in the tweet, which is not Elon Musk’s handle (it’s @elonmusk), but Musk still saw it, quote-tweeting the post with “Thank you, receipt via 𝕏 acknowledged.”
The letter says that “staff at DOGE has been targeted publicly,” without elaborating on what that means.
“Let me assure you of this: we will pursue any and all legal action against anyone who impedes your work or threatens your people,” the letter says. “We will not act like the previous administration who looked the other way as the Antifa and BLM rioters as well as thugs with guns trashed our capital city. We will protect DOGE and other workers no matter what.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C. even tweeted that it had reviewed evidence and believes the law has been violated by “targeting DOGE employees,” though it’s still not clear what that means.
“We are in contact with FBI and other law-enforcement partners to proceed rapidly. We also have our prosecutors preparing,” the statement reads.
A Statement from U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Edward R. Martin Jr. pic.twitter.com/XlEmzSlbBq
— U.S. Attorney DC (@USAO_DC) February 3, 2025
How have people “targeted” DOGE work and DOGE workers? This could include several things that aren’t actually crimes. A group of Democrats held a press conference Monday to denounce what Musk is doing with such a clearly illegal power grab. It’s entirely possible that Martin is talking about Democrats pushing back on that.
There were also tweets about the people who are working under the DOGE name, something Musk falsely claimed broke the law. Musk appears to have suspended the X accounts of people who had posted the names of people working on DOGE, some of whom are in their late teens and early 20s, according to Wired.
Musk even replied with “you have committed a crime” to one account that had posted the names of the DOGE workers. It is not a crime under U.S. law to name people, especially if they ostensibly work for the federal government.
The DOGE workers were identified as Akash Bobba, Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Gautier Cole Killian, Gavin Kliger, and Ethan Shaotran, and it’s a bizarre mix of young people, to say the least. Coristine, for example, appears to have recently graduated from high school and is a freshman at Northeastern University, according to Wired. Some of the people have also worked at Musk’s various companies, like Farritor, who was an intern at SpaceX and a Thiel Fellow, according to Wired.
Musk taking issue with naming people currently dismantling the federal government is pretty rich, given his long history of naming low-level government employees and scrutinizing their jobs.
Democrats finally seemed to be taking the threat of Musk and his minions seriously on Monday after spending the weekend doing very little. Chuck Schumer had previously been writing about tomato prices if Trump enacted his threatened tariffs against Canada and Mexico but was finally jolted awake on Monday.
“An unelected shadow government is conducting a hostile takeover of the federal government,” Schumer wrote on Bluesky. “DOGE is not a real government agency. DOGE has no authority to make spending decisions. DOGE has no authority to shut programs down or to ignore federal law. DOGE’s conduct cannot be allowed to stand.”
It’s not clear if Ed Martin considers this kind of language to be a “threat” against DOGE workers. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia didn’t respond to an email Monday evening.
