Democrat Asks Trump If Elon Musk Was On Drugs In The White House
WASHINGTON — Democrats want to know if US President Donald Trump ever noticed his former adviser Elon Musk using drugs while working in the White House.
Representative Stephen Lynch (Massachusetts), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, asked Trump in a letter on Wednesday about recent reporting that Musk used ketamine, ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms during the 2024 presidential campaign.
“The drastic and erratic nature of Mr Musk’s decisions and actions as a government employee, coupled with the reports of his drug use, begs the question whether Mr Musk was under the influence of illicit substances while working in your White House,” Lynch wrote in his letter.
“The American people deserve to know whether Mr Musk was under the influence while he gleefully took a ‘chainsaw’ to our federal government,” Lynch wrote.
Musk served as a special government employee heading up Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, an initiative aimed at tackling wasteful spending. Musk and his team identified a tiny fraction of the $2 trillion of allegedly wasteful spending he once boasted he’d eliminate.
Many of the DOGE team’s efforts, including mass firings, allegedly improper access of sensitive data systems, and the wholesale elimination of federal agencies, have been tied up in courts. In February, Musk gleefully wielded a chainsaw onstage at a political conference, describing it as a symbol of his efforts to destroy the federal bureaucracy.
Lynch first pressed the White House for Musk’s national security questionnaire form, which includes questions about illicit drug use, after The New York Times reported last week that Musk’s drug habit “went well beyond occasional use.” The story did not detail drug use by Musk while working in the White House.
“Given his prominent role in the Trump Administration, the American people deserve to know the history and extent of Mr Musk’s drug use and any influence illicit drugs may have had on his efforts to illegally and recklessly dismantle our government,” Lynch wrote. “If Mr Musk is struggling with substance abuse, it is our hope he gets the assistance and treatment he needs.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a HuffPost request for comment.
Musk has denied being a drug user and claimed the Times was lying. He said he had once been prescribed ketamine a few years ago, something he’s previously been open about. “It helps for getting out of dark mental holes, but haven’t taken it since then,” Musk wrote on social media.
Musk left his position, which was limited to 130 days, after that deadline passed last week. This week, in a stunning turn, he harshly criticised the legislation Republicans are moving on Capitol Hill to enact Trump’s domestic policy agenda. Musk called the bill a “disgusting abomination.”
Democrats have cheered Musk’s turn against the bill, which combines tax and Medicaid cuts and would widen federal budget deficits, contrary to DOGE’s mission of improving the government’s finances.
“Now even someone on ketamine, mushrooms and Ecstasy can see it,” Representative Jamie Raskin (Democrat, Maryland) said online.
Lynch is serving as the top Democrat on the Republican-led Oversight Committee on a temporary basis after the death of Representative Gerry Connolly (Democrat, Virginia). Lynch is one of several Democrats vying for the “ranking member” position that will be decided by an internal party election later this month.