Elon Musk Puts Out Call for ‘Caring' Applicants to Slash Government Spending
The Elon Musk-led DOGE said in an X post that it is 'looking for world-class talent to work long hours identifying/eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse.' It added that the vacancies are for 'full-time, salaried positions for software engineers, InfoSec engineers, financial analysts, HR professionals, and, in general, all competent/caring people.'
The post included a link to an application page where candidates are invited to provide details of their 'exceptional ability.' The page also includes a disclaimer explaining that applicants are applying for an 'in-office, full-time opportunity' based in Washington, D.C., and that only U.S. citizens are eligible for consideration.
X users responding to the post variously questioned why the jobs are only open to citizens, asked about what pay they can expect in return for working long hours, and argued that allowing staffers to work remotely would be more efficient.
The latest recruitment post comes after DOGE said in November that it was seeking 'super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting,' enticing candidates with the promise that 'Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants.'
That would be Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the former Republican presidential candidate who has since dropped out of co-leading the venture ahead of an expected run for governor of Ohio. His departure from DOGE came after a 'deep philosophical rift' developed between Ramaswamy and Musk about how the group should operate, according to The Washington Post.
The organization—which shares its name with a cryptocurrency created as a joke and subsequently championed by Musk—was formally announced by Trump in November. The president said it would 'pave the way' for his administration to 'dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies.'
Musk also confidently asserted during Trump's campaign that DOGE would lead to 'at least $2 trillion' in cuts from the federal budget, though he later tempered his claim by calling that a 'best-case outcome.'
Trump established DOGE in an executive order last week that renamed the U.S. Digital Service as the 'U.S. DOGE Service.' It also did not mention dramatic cuts to federal spending, instead tasking the group with 'modernizing federal technology and software.'
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26 minutes ago
- New York Times
South Korea Jockeys for a Deal With Trump at Least as Good as Japan's
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39 minutes ago
European leaders press demands on trade at scaled-back summit in Beijing
BEIJING -- European leaders demanded a more balanced relationship with China at a summit with President Xi Jinping in the Chinese capital on Thursday. Focusing their opening remarks on trade, they called for concrete progress to address Europe's yawning trade deficit with China. 'As our cooperation has deepened, so have the imbalances,' European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. 'We have reached an inflection point. Rebalancing our bilateral relation is essential. Because to be sustainable, relations need to be mutually beneficial.' Expectations were low for the talks, initially supposed to last two days but scaled back to one. They come amid financial uncertainty around the world, wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, and the threat of U.S. tariffs. Neither the EU nor China is likely to budge on key issues dividing the two economic juggernauts. European Council President António Costa called on China to use its influence over Russia to bring an end to the war in Ukraine — a long-running plea from European leaders that is likely to fall on deaf ears. He signaled a possible agreement on climate, saying he looks forward to 'a strong joint political message' from the summit ahead of annual U.N. climate talks in November in Brazil. That could follow their talks with China's Premier Li Qiang later Thursday. Xi called on China and Europe to deepen cooperation and mutual trust to provide stability in an increasingly complex international environment, China's state broadcaster CCTV reported online. They should set aside differences and seek common ground, he said, a phrase he often uses in relationships like the one with the EU. Besides the trade imbalance and the Ukraine war, Von der Leyen and Costa were expected to raise concerns about Chinese cyberattacks and espionage, its restrictions on the export of rare earth minerals and its human rights record in Tibet, Hong Kong and Xinjiang. The EU, meanwhile, has concerns about a looming trade battle with the United States. 'Europe is being very careful not to antagonize President Trump even further by looking maybe too close to China, so all of that doesn't make this summit easier,' said Fabian Zuleeg, chief economist of the European Policy Center. "It will be very hard to achieve something concrete.' China's stance has hardened on the EU, despite a few olive branches, like the suspension of sanctions on European lawmakers who criticized Beijing's human rights record in Xinjiang, a region in northwestern China home to the Uyghurs. China believes it has successfully weathered the U.S. tariffs storm because of its aggressive posture, said Noah Barkin, an analyst at the Rhodium Group think tank. Barkin said that Beijing's bold tactics that worked with Washington should work with other Western powers. "China has come away emboldened from its trade confrontation with Trump. That has reduced its appetite for making concessions to the EU," he said. 'Now that Trump has backed down, China sees less of a need to woo Europe.' China is the EU's second-largest trading partner in goods, after the United States, with about 30% of global trade flowing between them. Both China and the EU want to use their economies ties to stabilize the global economy, and they share some climate goals. But deep disagreements run through those overlapping interests. China and the EU have multiple trade disputes across a range of industries, but no disagreement is as sharp as their enormous trade imbalance. Like the U.S., the 27-nation bloc runs a massive trade deficit with China — around 300 billion euros ($350 million) last year. It relies heavily on China for critical minerals, which are also used to make magnets for cars and appliances. When China curtailed the export of those minerals in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs, European automakers cried foul. The EU has tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles in order to support its own carmakers by balancing out Beijing's own heavy auto subsidies. China would like those tariffs to be revoked. The rapid growth in China's market share in Europe has sparked concern that Chinese cars will eventually threaten the EU's ability to produce its own green technology to combat climate change. Business groups and unions also fear that the jobs of 2.5 million auto industry workers could be put in jeopardy, as well those of 10.3 million more people whose employment depends indirectly on EV production. China has also launched investigations into European pork and dairy products, and placed tariffs on French cognac and armagnac. They have criticized new EU regulations of medical equipment sales, and fear upcoming legislation that could further target Chinese industries, said Alicia García-Herrero, a China analyst at the Bruegel think tank. In June, the EU announced that Chinese medical equipment companies were to be excluded from any government purchases of more than 5 million euros (nearly $6 million). The measure seeks to incentivize China to cease its discrimination against EU firms, the bloc said, accusing China of erecting 'significant and recurring legal and administrative barriers to its procurement market.' European companies are largely seeing declining profitability in China. But the EU has leverage because China still needs to sell goods to the bloc, García-Herrero said. 'The EU remains China's largest export market, so China has every intention to keep it this way, especially given the pressure coming from the U.S.,' she said. It was unclear why the initial plan for the summit of two days was curtailed to just one in Beijing. The clear majority of Europeans favor increasing aid to Ukraine and more sanctions on Russia. The latest sanctions package on Russia also listed Chinese firms, including two large banks that the EU accused of being linked to Russia's war industry. China's commerce ministry said that it was 'strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposed to" the listing and vowed to respond with 'necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises and financial institutions.' Xi and Putin have had a close relationship, which is also reflected in the countries' ties. China has become a major customer for Russian oil and gas, and a source of key technologies following sweeping Western sanctions on Moscow. In May, Xi attended a Victor Day celebration alongside Putin in Moscow, but didn't attend a similar EU event in Brussels celebrating the end of World War II. Von der Leyen and Costa will press Xi and Li to slash their support of Russia, but with likely little effect. Buffeted between a combative Washington and a hard-line Beijing, the EU has more publicly sought new alliances elsewhere, inking a trade pact with Indonesia, heaping praise on Japan and drafting trade deals with South America and Mexico. 'We also know that 87% of global trade is with other countries — many of them looking for stability and opportunity. That is why I am here for this visit to Japan to deepen our ties,' Von der Leyen said in Tokyo during an EU-Japan summit on her way to Beijing. 'Both Europe and Japan see a world around us where protectionist instincts grow, weaknesses get weaponized, and every dependency exploited. So it is normal that two like-minded partners come together to make each other stronger." Promoting ties with Europe is one third of Japan's new 2025 military doctrine, after sustaining defense links with the U.S. and investing in capabilities at home like missiles, satellites, warships, and drones.
40 minutes ago
Texas AG claimed three homes as primary residence. Democrats are being probed for similar issue
WASHINGTON -- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his wife, Angela, are longtime owners of a $1.5 million house in a gated community outside Dallas. In 2015, they snapped up a second home in Austin. Then another. The problem: Mortgages signed by the Paxtons contained inaccurate statements declaring that each of those three houses was their primary residence, enabling the now-estranged couple to improperly lock in low interest rates, according to an Associated Press review of public records. The lower rates will save the Paxtons tens of thousands of dollars in payments over the life of the loan, legal experts say. The records also revealed that the Paxtons collected an impermissible homestead tax break on two of those homes, and they have routinely flouted lending agreements on some of their other properties. It is a federal and state crime to knowingly make false statements on mortgage documents. It's also against the law in Texas to collect a homestead tax break on two separate properties. Violating the terms of a mortgage could allow lenders recourse to seek full payment of a loan, according to legal experts. The mortgage revelations are likely to become fodder in the Republican primary for a U.S. Senate seat in which Paxton is seeking to topple the incumbent, John Cornyn. The situation is further complicated by the Trump administration's criminal pursuit of Democrats over similar issues. President Donald Trump has accused two of his political foes — Sen. Adam Schiff of California and New York Attorney General Letitia James — of committing mortgage fraud, though legal experts say the circumstances are less serious. The Democrats have long been objects of Trump's ire for having led various investigations into his conduct as president and as a business executive. Paxton, himself, has weighed in on the investigation of James, saying he hoped authorities would look into her conduct. 'I hope that if she's done something wrong, I hope that she's actually held accountable,' he told supporters last month. The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation of James, FBI director Kash Patel told Fox News in May. The department received a criminal referral for Schiff last week from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, its director William Pulte confirmed in a social media post. Neither the Justice Department nor the FHFA responded to an inquiry about whether they may investigate Paxton, too. James' attorney, Abbe Lowell, urged the Trump administration to investigate Paxton instead. 'If this administration was genuinely interested in rooting out fraud, it appears they should stop wasting their time on the baseless and discredited allegations against the New York Attorney General James and turn their attention to Texas,' said Lowell, a prominent Washington attorney whose past clients include Hunter Biden, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. In a statement, Marisol Samayoa, a Schiff spokeswoman, blasted the criminal referral as 'a transparent attempt' by Trump 'to punish a perceived political foe who is committed to holding him to account.' She added that Schiff disclosed to his lenders that he owned another home that was a principal residence and sought guidance from an attorney. It is unlikely that Paxton, a staunch Trump ally, will face the same federal scrutiny as James and Schiff. It's equally doubtful that Paxton will face much legal trouble in Texas: His office is one of the primary agencies tasked with investigating allegations of mortgage fraud. Ken Paxton and his spokesman did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Angela Paxton, who is a state senator in Texas, did not respond to requests made through her office. Documents reviewed by the AP show the Paxtons hold mortgages on three homes — one in suburban Dallas, two in Austin — that are each listed as their primary residence. The designation comes with a considerable financial upside. Interest rates on primary homes are significantly lower than those for mortgages on secondary homes or investment properties, saving buyers tens of thousands of dollars — if not more — over the life of a loan. Making a case against Paxton would require "establishing both that Paxton was aware of the contents of the mortgage document, and also that he was actively aware at the time that he signed it that this was not going to be a primary residence,' said Jennifer E. Laurin, a professor at the University of Texas Law School in Austin. Legal experts say it is possible that the Paxtons' lenders prepared the documents and that the couple did not carefully review them before signing. Even if that were the case, some legal experts say that Paxton, as an attorney and Texas' top law enforcement officer, ought to have known better. 'If he filled out lender documents knowing that they were false, then that is a false statement to obtain a mortgage on favorable terms. That would be actionable,' said Arif Lawji, a veteran Texas real estate attorney. 'He's the chief enforcement officer. You have to be accountable for stuff you do that's wrong.' Low interest rates are not the only perk the Paxtons secured, records show. In 2018, they simultaneously collected homestead property tax breaks on their family's home in suburban Dallas, as well as on a $1.1 million home in Austin, property records and tax statements show. A homestead tax break is a property tax reduction that a homeowner is only eligible to collect on one property that is also their primary home. The suburban Dallas home is where the Paxtons' family has long resided. It's where Ken and Angela Paxton are registered to vote. It is located in the state Senate district that Angela Paxton represents in the Legislature, which Ken Paxton held before his election in 2014 to be attorney general. It's also where Ken Paxton's Senate campaign website until recently said he lived. Lawji said the Paxtons' simultaneous collection of two homestead tax breaks appears to be a more clearcut violation. That is because one must obtain a form and submit it to taxing authorities to receive such a tax break, making it an 'intentional act,' he said. The tax break was worth several thousand dollars, a fact that confounded real estate lawyers. 'Why would you try to do all of this,' Lawji said, 'when you are the attorney general? That's a bigger question to me than the money, when you are AG and have to enforce this law.' Separately, land records indicate the Paxtons may have violated the terms of at least two mortgages on other houses they own. The mortgage on a home in College Station, Texas, says the property is for the Paxtons' exclusive use and cannot be rented out. Doing so would be grounds for terminating the mortgage, the document states. The home has been listed for rent on real estate websites on-and-off since at least 2022. Ken Paxton also holds a $1.2 million mortgage on a '5 bedroom luxury cabin' in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, that is for rent on Airbnb and other short-term rental sites, records show. The property's mortgage stipulates that it cannot be rented out. Representatives for Stifel Bank, Cornerstone Home Lending and Benchmark Mortgage, which issued the mortgages in question, did not respond to requests for comment. Paxton's real estate dealings are in many ways distinct from those of James and Schiff, the Democrats targeted by the Trump administration. The investigation of James centers on forms she signed in 2023 while helping a niece buy a home in Virginia. One form stated that James intended to occupy the home as her 'principal residence.' But in other documents, the New York attorney general made clear she had no intention of living there. An email to the mortgage loan broker two weeks before she signed the documents stated the property 'WILL NOT be my primary residence.' 'As I've said from the beginning, if prosecutors want to know that truth about Attorney General James' mortgage applications, we are ready and waiting with the facts,' said Lowell, James' attorney. For over a decade, Schiff owned homes in Maryland and California, the state he represents, that were both designated as his primary residence. In 2020, then a congressman, Schiff designated his Maryland property as a second home — a step Paxton has not taken. Paxton's real estate dealings are not the first time he has drawn scrutiny for his conduct while in office. Before his election as attorney general, Paxton, then a state senator, admitted in 2014 to violating Texas securities law and paid a fine. He spent roughly 10 years under state indictment on securities charges while serving as attorney general. The charges were eventually dropped in 2024. Other alleged misdeeds in office led to his impeachment by Texas' GOP-controlled House in 2023. He was acquitted in a trial by the Senate. Angela Paxton did not cast a vote in his impeachment trial and recently filed for divorce, citing Ken Paxton's infidelity and other 'recent discoveries.' She did not elaborate. What ultimately unleashed the impeachment push was Paxton's relationship with Austin real estate developer Nate Paul, who pleaded guilty this year to one count of making a false statement to a financial institution. In 2020, eight top aides in Paxton's office told the FBI they were concerned the state's top law enforcement official was misusing his office to help Paul over the developer's unproven claims about an elaborate conspiracy to steal $200 million of his properties. The House impeachment managers accused Paxton of attempting to interfere in foreclosure lawsuits and issuing legal opinions to benefit Paul. They also alleged that Paul employed a woman with whom Paxton had an affair in exchange for legal help and that the developer paid for expensive renovations to the attorney general's home in Austin. That would be the same house that he declared in mortgage documents was his third primary residence.
