Watchdogs ask to join DOGE

By Robin Bravender | 01/13/2025 04:29 PM EST

Public Citizen’s co-presidents are asking for appointments to the panel President-elect Donald Trump says will help restructure the government.

Photo collage of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy

Elon Musk (left) and Vivek Ramaswamy have been tapped to lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. Illustration by Claudine Hellmuth/POLITICO (source images via Francis Chung/POLITICO and Getty)

The leaders of the nonprofit watchdog group Public Citizen want to join President-elect Donald Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

Public Citizen co-Presidents Robert Weissman and Lisa Gilbert on Monday sent a letter to the Trump transition team asking for appointments to the DOGE operation, which is set to be led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

The heads of the watchdog group are concerned about financial interest concerns posed by wealthy businessmen Musk and Ramaswamy leading a government downsizing operation, Weissman and Gilbert wrote. They would help balance the effort, they told Trump’s team.

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The watchdogs want to join DOGE “as voices for the interests of consumers and the public who are the beneficiaries of federal regulatory and spending programs,” they wrote to Trump transition co-Chairs Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon.

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