Raw Story: 'Dude, seriously?' MSNBC's Michael Steele rips into latest Elon Musk DOGE dodge

[Dennis Donovan]

Raw Story - 'Dude, seriously?' MSNBC's Michael Steele rips into latest Elon Musk DOGE dodge

Tom Boggioni
March 1, 2025 10:46AM ET

Addressing comments made by billionaire Elon Musk about his staffers at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), MSNBC host Michael Steele bluntly stated, "He's full of crap."

On Saturday morning, the MSNBC "The Weekend," co-host ran a clip of Donald Trump's chief adviser protesting attacks on his DOGE hires by claiming the sensitive and private data his people have been accessing is available to "thousands" of federal workers.

During his appearance on Friday with podcaster Joe Rogan, Musk said, "Tens of thousands of federal employees that have access already to the system. Anyone from DOGE has to go through the same vetting process that those federal employees went through, so there's not like some unvetted random situation."

"Okay, I'll say it, he's full of crap because there is –– everything he just said is a lie because it is random, it is not vetted," Steele told his MSNBC panel. "You're not vetting the 19-year-old who's sitting atop of the system right now making these decisions and all those, you know, tens of thousands of federal employees that have access already to the system? Dude, seriously?"

"But even if they did, if that number were a real number, they were vetted," he elaborated. "They filled out all the federal paperwork, the FBI checked their background. You just don't randomly give access to the system to just somebody to somebody because they have a federal I.D. That's the problem."

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[BOSSHOG]

1. I got "vetted" as an 18 year old when I joined the Navy

I got a Secret Security Clearance. There is also the “need to know” caveat. You can’t see every Secret document because you have a secret clearance. You must have a need to know the contents of certain documents. There is nothing above board with DOGE. It is a horrible Trump Musk scam. And a reflection of Republican Values. Waiting for the first conservative “patriot” to grow a spine and do the right thing

[BrianTheEVGuy]

2. I had federal low level clearance at one point to work with a civilian agency as a consultant

Elon Musk, as a pot and ketamine user, would be automatically disqualified and denied clearance.

And this was for Fannie Mae, not stuff touching national security.

The clearance process is rigorous and examines both personal history AND pee/blood. Any THC or other substances and you’re out. Any history of public drug use and you’re out.