During a speech he delivered in Wisconsin, Elon Musk announced that he intends to launch an investigation into the sources of wealth of American congress members who have accumulated vast fortunes, despite an average annual salary of only $174,000.
Musk responded to a question posed by the audience regarding whether USAID funds directed to foreign countries ultimately ended up in the private hands of elected officials. Musk claimed that the government sends money to non-governmental organizations, which channel the funds through many routes before some of it is, eventually, paid privately to politicians.
Although he did not specify names, Musk hinted that some members of Congress hold unexplained wealth:
“They’ll send the money overseas to one NGO, then they’ll go through a bunch of them, and I’m highly confident that a bunch of that money then comes back to the United States and lands in the pockets of politicians. It is a circuitous route. It’s not like it doesn’t go directly.”
Musk noted that the Department of Government Efficiency would investigate the capital sources of U.S. lawmakers and look into whether there is a deliberate leak of foreign aid funds back to politicians.
Among the Congress members who have been in the headlines for their personal wealth are former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose fortune is estimated at about $250 million, and Republican Senator Rick Scott, whose personal worth is estimated at about $552 million.
Other Congress members also hold fortunes of tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars, a phenomenon that raised questions about conflicts of interest and the use of political power to amass wealth.
Musk, who leads a critical line towards the political system in the U.S. and often expresses distrust in government institutions, emphasized that his goal is to reveal the economic mechanisms that allow such great wealth accumulation by public officials.
"There is a massive amount of corruption. Let’s just say that there are a lot of strangely wealthy members of Congress. We’re going to try to figure it out and certainly stop it from happening,”