DOGE staffer resigns after racist social media posts resurface

Marko Elez, a key staffer on Elon Musk’s federal cost-cutting initiative, resigned Thursday after past racist posts from his social media accounts resurfaced. 

The resignation came after The Wall Street Journal and NPR reported on posts advocating racism, eugenics, and hostility toward Indian software engineers, which had been archived before the account was deleted.

What did the resurfaced posts say?

The backstory:

Elez, who worked inside the Treasury Department as part of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), was linked to a now-deleted X account that made multiple racist and inflammatory statements. The Wall Street Journal reviewed archived posts from the account, including:

• "Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool." (July 2024)
• "You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity." (September 2024)
• "Normalize Indian hate." (September 2024)
• "99% of Indian H1Bs will be replaced by slightly smarter LLMs, they’re going back don’t worry guys." (December 2024)
• "I would not mind at all if Gaza and Israel were both wiped off the face of the Earth." (June 2024)

Elon Musk, who leads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is facing renewed scrutiny after a key staffer resigned over resurfaced racist social media posts.  (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

According to The Wall Street Journal, the deleted X account previously used the handle @marko_elez before switching to @nullllptr, a misspelling of a keyword in the C++ programming language. NPR independently verified some of the deleted posts using the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.

Elez did not respond to requests for comment from The Wall Street Journal or NPR.

Concerns over DOGE’s access to federal systems

The other side:

Elez’s temporary role in the Treasury Department had already raised concerns about outside access to highly sensitive taxpayer data, with critics questioning whether information was being shared with Musk’s White House-based DOGE team.

The situation escalated when two federal employee unions and a retiree advocacy group sued the Treasury Department, alleging violations of federal privacy laws.

RELATED: Judge blocks DOGE access to sensitive Treasury Department payment system records

A Justice Department lawyer told the court that Elez and another DOGE-linked appointee, Tom Krause, had only "read-only" access to the Treasury’s payments system and that no data had been shared externally. However, on Thursday, a U.S. District Court judge ruled that Elez could retain access but with restrictions on data sharing. Elez resigned later that day, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Treasury Secretary defends DOGE staff

What they're saying:

While Elez’s resignation has added more scrutiny to DOGE, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended the broader team’s role in the government overhaul.

"This is not some roving band running around doing things," Bessent told Bloomberg on Thursday. "These are highly trained professionals."

Despite Bessent’s assurances, lawmakers and legal experts continue to question DOGE’s influence and whether Musk’s team has unchecked authority to restructure federal agencies.