<p>An FBI agent sought to open a criminal investigation into SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in February 2025 after federal employees were asked by the Department of Government Efficiency to list "five things" they accomplished during the previous week, according to records obtained by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and released on September 15, 2026.</p>
<p>Then-Special Agent Kevin Gounaud urged colleagues to investigate Musk over his DOGE initiative, arguing that it wasted "a colossal amount of official time," violated information security policies, and enriched Musk through his use of his social media platform, X.</p>
<p>Gounaud wrote to colleagues on February 22, 2025, offering to prepare the paperwork needed to open a case and find a prosecutor willing to pursue it, or to refer the matter to an inspector general. The records did not indicate whether an investigation was actually opened.</p>
<p>The email was part of three sets of records released during FBI Director Kash Patel’s second annual oversight hearing before the committee, which aimed to expose instances of apparent weaponization by agents in the bureau. Grassley presented these disclosures as evidence supporting his accusations that some bureau personnel continued to target President Donald Trump and his allies.</p>
<p>Musk promoted the employee productivity request on X on February 22, warning that failure to respond would be treated as a resignation. The Office of Personnel Management email instructed employees to copy their managers and not to submit classified information, links, or attachments. The agency ceased that practice in August 2025.</p>
<p>Gounaud raised concerns about information security and suggested that Musk improperly enriched himself by communicating government information on his social media platform. Musk, who was a special government employee at the time, left the administration in May 2025. Grassley’s office characterized the agents’ discussion of Musk as a double standard, contrasting it with the decision not to investigate Huma Abedin over her simultaneous government and Clinton Foundation work.</p>
<p>Other disclosures released by Grassley included emails showing former Special Agent Walter Giardina requesting to join a case within Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation. Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) questioned Patel about Giardina during the hearing, to which Patel confirmed Giardina's firing for violating FBI standards and code of conduct.</p>
<p>Patel cited public reporting that Giardina was under investigation but did not connect the firing or reported investigation to the disclosures made on September 15, 2026.</p>
<p>A third set of records showed agents monitoring Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro’s media appearances in 2022 during the contempt-of-Congress investigation. Navarro, who has worked in both Trump administrations, was convicted and served four months in prison in 2024 and is appealing his conviction to the Supreme Court.</p>
<p>These records followed Grassley’s earlier release of FBI emails that he characterized as agents planning and celebrating Navarro’s prosecution.</p>