DOGE Staffer: 'I Was Racist Before It Was Cool'

A staffer at Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has resigned after racist X posts came to light. Marko Elez, 25, who was reportedly granted administrator-level privileges to read and write code in the Treasury Department's payments systems, resigned Thursday after the Wall Street Journal asked the White House about his connection to posts self-identifying as a racist and advocating for eugenics. A July tweet from @nullllptr, an account that formerly had the username @marko_elez, stated, "I was racist before it was cool." The user also called to "normalize Indian hate" and stated "you could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity."

The X account was deleted in December, though the Journal was able to view hundreds of archived posts, describing them as "brash" and showing "a special dislike for Indian software engineers." The user also claimed to be an employee of SpaceX and Starlink. Elez, who now uses the account @marko_elez, majored in computer science at Rutgers University before going to work for Musk at SpaceX, where he had a role with Starlink, and later at X.

In December, Musk had urged people to apply to DOGE by sending a direct message to the department's X account and "some of those who answered the call appear to be young Musk loyalists, steeped in internet culture, who share his worldview," per the Journal. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended DOGE employees assigned to the Treasury Department on Thursday, calling them "highly trained professionals" who would "yield big savings," per Bloomberg. Questions have been raised about other DOGE hires, including a 19-year-old engineer who went by "Big Balls" online. (More Department of Government Efficiency stories.)