GOP thwarts effort by House Democrats to subpoena Elon Musk

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee attempted to subpoena Elon Musk Wednesday morning while some GOP members of the panel were absent, but were ultimately defeated by a 20-19 vote along party lines.

Musk has been leading a sudden and sweeping takeover of federal agencies, locking government workers out of computer systems with little notice and forcing access into sensitive databases, including lists of every American's Social Security information. Legal scholars and Democratic critics have described the foreign billionaire's efforts, including the dismantling of USAID, as an affront to the Constitution,

On Wednesday, just after 10:30 a.m., Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., posted on Bluesky that Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., the top Democrat on the oversight panel, had called for a vote to subpoena Musk. According to Frost, the actual timing of the vote offered the best chance to get "transparency and answers" since many Republicans, who have uniformly supported Musk's efforts, were absent from the committee's room.

But Republicans still outnumbered Democrats in the end and managed to shield Musk from the panel's glare. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., the lone Democrat to not vote, said he did not make it to the vote on time because he was discussing President Donald Trump's "terrible" tariffs with the Ambassador of Mexico and only received word that the vote would happen on short notice.

"I would have voted yes. They called a procedural vote without notice & I like 8 others didn’t make it there on time. Musk’s attacks on our institutions are unconstitutional. He should be subpoenaed & answer to our committee. They should call the vote again with notice," he posted on X.

Democrats have been stepping up their response to what critics say is an unconstitutional "coup" by Musk, with several lawmakers leading a rally outside USAID's offices Monday. But other items of Trump's agenda, including his cabinet nominees, continue to receive support from swing-state Democrats like Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., as well as those from safer states like Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. The junior senator from New York voted with 15 other Democrats in favor of treasury secretary Scott Bessent, who gave Musk access to his department's offices and systems.

Progressive organizations such as Indivisible are urging Democrats to stop all business in the Senate so long as Musk is leading what they cast as a de facto shadow government.