House Oversight and Accountability Committee ranking member Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) requested an investigation into Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s comments urging Americans to buy Tesla stock as the company’s shares dip due to mass firings and reform efforts overseen by CEO Elon Musk.
“This is just the latest example of the Trump Administration using taxpayer resources to enrich the President’s inner circle,” Connolly wrote in a Thursday letter to John K. Guenther, acting general counsel for the Department of Commerce.
His inquiry comes two months after President Trump dismissed dozens of independent agency watchdogs without Congressional approval. Regulatory agencies, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, are also set to undergo layoffs amid concerns about Musk’s involvement in government proceedings while earning billions from the private sector.
Lutnick urged Americans to take advantage of the 34.6 percent drop in Tesla stock to “the best leader of any set of companies in America working for America.”
“I think, if you want to learn something on this show tonight: Buy Tesla,” he said during an appearance on Fox News’s “Jesse Watters Primetime.”
“It’s unbelievable that this guy’s stock is this cheap. It’ll never be this cheap again.”
Connolly said the comments violate the Standards of Ethical Conduct, alleging the Trump administration is using taxpayer resources to “enrich the President’s inner circle.”
The Virginia lawmaker requested financial disclosures from Lutnick and his Deputy Secretary in addition to all political appointees, plus a copy of their electronic communications with the White House and correspondence between the White House Counsel, Office of Government Ethics, or Office of the Special Counsel and the Department of Commerce prior to his Fox interview.
Connolly requested that Guenther present the information by April 3.
“The present circumstances differ in that Tesla is owned by an individual who has been given license by the President to slash and burn his way through the federal government, indiscriminately and lawlessly terminating federal workers and eliminating the services they provide to the American people, while lining his own pockets with billions of taxpayer dollars,” he wrote.
“These ongoing violations of law require a response befitting of the level abuse to deter further lawlessness and to ensure the American people that members of this Administration seek to serve all people rather than to enrich a select few.”
The Hill has reached out to the Department of Commerce and the White House for comment.
