Trump’s Elon Musk Appointment Raises Questions About Conflicts of Interest [Video]

Elon Musk’s role in President-elect Donald Trump‘s efforts to downsize the federal government could expose “enormous and multiple conflicts of interest,” a public policy expert has told Newsweek.

Trump announced on Monday that the billionaire founder of Tesla and SpaceX would lead what he called the “Department of Government Efficiency,” along with entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, to “dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.”

No such department exists and the president-elect didn’t offer many details about how it would operate or how it would be staffed, if at all. Trump’s statement said DOGE “will provide advice and guidance from outside of Government, and will partner with the White House and Office of Management & Budget.”

The DOGE acronym is an intentional nod to the popular cryptocurrency Dogecoin, that originated as a joke internet meme in 2013, but has since grown into a widely recognized digital asset. Musk is a fan.