Musk promises to reinstate DOGE staffer linked to racist account

Marko Elez, the 25-year-old staffer Department of Government Efficiency staffer linked to a societal media floor plan pinch racist posts, “will beryllium brought back,” shortly aft he resigned, Elon Musk announced connected X.

Elez resigned from his domiciled wherever he reportedly had the expertise to rewrite code successful delicate payments systems astatine the US Treasury, erstwhile The Wall Street Journal inquired astir his relationship to a deleted account. That account, which the Journal recovered antecedently had the username “@marko_elez,” called for reinstating a “eugenic migration policy,” repealing the Civil Rights Act, and said that “99% of Indian H1Bs will beryllium replaced by somewhat smarter LLMs.”

Musk posted a canvass connected X Friday asking if the DOGE staffer who “made inappropriate statements via a now deleted pseudonym” should beryllium brought back. As of that afternoon, 78 percent of astir 400,000 respondents voted “yes.”

Vice President JD Vance weighed successful to opportunity that while he “obviously disagree[s] pinch immoderate of Elez’s posts,” he doesn’t judge that “stupid societal media activity should ruin a kid’s life.” Musk apparently agrees — he responded to Vance successful a station Friday afternoon, saying, “He will beryllium brought back. To err is human, to forgive divine.”

Elez isn’t the only DOGE staffer drafting scrutiny. 19-year-old Edward Coristine was fired from an internship astatine a cybersecurity institution successful 2022 wherever he was accused of leaking soul accusation to rivals, Bloomberg reports. Bloomberg besides recovered a Discord relationship it linked to Coristine wherever he claimed to still person entree to the company’s computers, but claimed he “never exploited it because it’s conscionable not me.”