The seven techies barely out of college helping Musk to slash billions from federal government

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Among them is a recent high school graduate and a Matt Gaetz defender who claims he quit a “seven-figure salary” to join DOGE and “save America.” The group has little to no experience working in government, and yet some of them have been given central roles within Musk’s DOGE, including access to the U.S. Treasury’s internal payments system, according to WIRED. Kliger referred to Gaetz as a victim “of the deep state” and described Hegseth as “the warrior Washington doesn’t want but desperately need.” open image in gallery One of Musk’s employees, Gavin Kliger, referred to failed attorney general nominee Matt Gaetz as a victim of ‘the deep state’ on his Substack Edward Coristine, 19 The youngest of Musk’s crew, Coristine, is still in college, according to reports, and is the heir to his father’s popcorn brand Lesser Evil. So this feels like a hostile takeover of the machinery of governments by the richest man in the world.” Musk responded to the backlash by posting on X: “Media reports saying that @DOGE has some of world’s best software engineers are in fact true.” open image in gallery Senior Democrats, academics, economists, and political commentators have sounded the alarm over the unconventional hires at DOGE under Musk The billionaire also shared a post by an account that said “judging an engineer by age is BS.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is one of the many Democrats calling for Congress to take action over DOGE. DOGE has no authority to make spending decisions.” Musk said Schumer’s response was “hysterical.” Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren also wrote a furious letter to Treasury secretary Scott Bessent on Monday where she accused him of handing over access to the system “to an unelected billionaire and an unknown number of his unqualified flunkies.” “It is extraordinarily dangerous to meddle with the critical systems that process trillions of dollars of transactions each year,” Warren warned.