Inside the conservative hunt for partisans in the federal government before Trump takes over
CNN
In mid-September, as tech billionaire Elon Musk intensified his efforts to elect Donald Trump as president, a wave of letters arrived at the Department of Transportation, asking the agency to turn over any emails and text messages that federal workers sent about the world’s wealthiest man and his sprawling technology empire.
In mid-September, as tech billionaire Elon Musk intensified his efforts to elect Donald Trump as president, a wave of letters arrived at the Department of Transportation, asking the agency to turn over any emails and text messages that federal workers sent about the world’s wealthiest man and his sprawling technology empire. The requests were like thousands of others sent in the past two years by Trump-allied groups seeking to identify perceived partisans within the federal government. Some have focused on diversity, equity and inclusion programs, others on employees who shared “off the record” information with reporters and on emails referencing “climate change.” It’s a massive fishing expedition that has already sent a chill through federal agencies bracing for Trump’s second term. With Trump set to return to the White House with a promise to shrink the federal government and eliminate civil servants seen as obstacles to his agenda, the groundwork laid by these groups could serve as a road map for a mass purging of personnel. Unclear is whether the incoming Trump administration intends to utilize the work of these groups as the president-elect pursues a long-standing goal of eliminating disloyal career bureaucrats. A spokesperson for his transition team did not respond to a request for comment. “We have a pretty good handle on where the problem sectors are, who the problematic individuals are and what the problematic tactics are,” said Mike Howell, executive director of the Heritage Foundation Oversight Project, which is responsible for a substantial share of the requests. “We’ve been planning for some time what to do if there’s turnover in the administration.”
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