Elon Musk has a vital ally in Congress as he tries to slash federal paperwork at a break-neck tempo: Rep. Jim Jordan.
The billionaire tech govt and the Ohio conservative hardliner have grown more and more shut since first being launched by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy shortly after Musk’s takeover of Twitter in late 2022. Musk and Jordan, who chairs Home Judiciary, discuss roughly as soon as a month, in line with an individual with information of their relationship granted anonymity to talk candidly. And Jordan has already helped Musk advance a lot of his objectives since they turned acquainted.
Now, the friendship is ready to assist each males additional their private and political agendas in Trump’s Washington.
For Musk, Jordan has a giant say over laws that would pave the best way for extra authorized immigration within the high-skilled work sector, benefitting Musk’s enterprise pursuits — to say nothing of Jordan’s subpoena energy to go after Musk’s enemies. For Jordan, a direct line to Musk is an opportunity to bolster his bonafides with the conservative motion that considers the Tesla founder a hero.
“This man, you can argue, was the only greatest — had the only greatest affect — on saving and defending free speech and the First Modification, for goodness’ sake,” Jordan mentioned in an interview. “God bless Elon Musk.”
Jordan and Musk met at the very least twice post-election, first on Capitol Hill after which at Mar-a-Lago, Jordan mentioned. In Washington, the 2 males mentioned social media platforms, Musk’s so-called Division of Authorities Effectivity and the Judiciary Committee’s work digging into the Biden administration’s Federal Commerce Fee.
The conferences marked early alternatives for Jordan and Musk to discover how their dynamic was about to vary as Republicans took management of Congress and the chief department underneath President Donald Trump. Jordan’s committee has jurisdiction over a lot of Musk’s major political and coverage pursuits, together with immigration, deregulation, antitrust and the policing of social media platforms like X and its opponents.
As Musk focuses on decreasing spending and laws, “We may be useful,” Jordan mentioned.
Jordan is planning to make use of the Judiciary Committee to scrutinize firms and authorities officers which have allegedly suppressed conservative voices, together with in Europe. Jordan final week sent a letter to the European Fee’s chief tech regulator inquiring about the way it plans to implement social media legislation in opposition to American firms, like X.
And regardless of being a hardliner on immigration, Jordan now says he is open to working with Musk on laws paving the best way for extra high-skilled immigrants to reside and work within the nation, though he has mentioned they haven’t but spoken concerning the subject. The talk over increasing “H-1B visas” for this function has lengthy been some extent of friction for conservatives who wish to assist rising tech industries with out being accused of displacing home staff.
“[We’ve] received to safe the border first,” Jordan mentioned in an interview final month. “When you’ve demonstrated that the border is definitely safe, then we are able to entertain questions concerning the different key points … whether or not it’s H1-B visas or different visas.”
Musk didn’t reply to a request for remark nor did a spokesperson for DOGE. Judiciary Committee spokesperson Nadgey Louis-Charles mentioned the panel’s work on free speech points began years in the past.
“The Judiciary Committee’s investigation into censorship, which began within the 117th Congress, is all about defending the First Modification and defending free speech,” she mentioned. “We’re standing up in opposition to any effort to silence Individuals, and we’ve proven conclusively how Democrats colluded with Large Tech to censor Individuals.”
However Jordan’s work has concerned him wielding the gavel in Musk’s protection, comparable to when he referred to as a Justice Division official in 2023 to testify over the federal government’s lawsuit in opposition to SpaceX, considered one of Musk’s firms, for allegedly discriminating in hiring in opposition to refugees and asylum seekers.
Jordan requested the official to testify after SpaceX raised the difficulty with Jordan’s workplace instantly, in line with an individual granted anonymity to debate the connection between Jordan and Musk.
Their collaboration additionally culminated within the shutdown of the International Alliance for Accountable Media. That coalition, which glided by the acronym GARM, was a undertaking of the World Federation of Advertisers that sought to struggle “dangerous” content material on-line within the wake of the 2019 mass taking pictures at New Zealand mosques, which was partially livestreamed on Fb.
GARM caught Musk’s ire when advertisers reportedly pulled again spending on X. Jordan mentioned he’d by no means heard of the group earlier than, however that he launched a Judiciary Committee inquiry after Musk advised him about it.
A July 2024 employees report from the Judiciary Committee, which tailored Musk’s “GARM is Hurt” catchphrase for its title, charged that the coalition had seemingly “anti-democratic views of basic American freedom” and sure coordinated illegally to flout antitrust legal guidelines. Shortly afterward, Musk’s X sued the World Federation of Advertisers over antitrust violations and GARM shortly dissolved, sustaining its innocence however conceding its sources had been drained.
“After they introduced they had been going out of enterprise, I referred to as Elon up and mentioned, ‘It began along with your one sentence — whenever you, Kevin [McCarthy], and I met — and also you advised me, ‘GARM is hurt,’” Jordan mentioned.
Rep. Gerry Connolly, the highest Democrat on the Home Oversight and Authorities Reform Committee who was blocked Wednesday from issuing a subpoena to power Musk to testify on Capitol Hill, mentioned he was alarmed by the Musk-Jordan partnership.
“Elon Musk is an unelected, unaccountable billionaire with completely zero information of how authorities works and rampant conflicts of curiosity,” the Virginia Democrat mentioned in a press release. “He ought to be the topic of congressional investigations, not a beneficiary of politically motivated investigations into his opponents and opponents.”
When requested why Musk’s affect on the Hill was justified, Jordan mentioned Musk deserved to be listened to as a pacesetter on combating censorship — plus, “he’s received the boldness of the president of america.”
“So I believe that’s the important thing factor,” he added. “The man who received elected by 77 million Individuals desires him on this function.”
Jordan and Musk first entered right into a “thoughts meld” — in line with one former affiliate of Musk granted anonymity to speak about their relationship — following Musk’s acquisition of Twitter. McCarthy launched the 2 males, who had a shared curiosity within the alleged suppression of speech on social media platforms.
Jordan had for years been railing in opposition to “Large Tech” and its remedy of conservatives. Musk’s Twitter takeover supplied some momentum for the trigger. Musk appeared significantly enthusiastic about somebody in Congress focusing so carefully on the difficulty, mentioned the previous Musk affiliate.
All indicators point out that Jordan’s efforts to go after Musk’s adversaries will solely proceed to escalate. Jordan has even floated plans to work with the State Division to limit entry into the U.S. by people and entities with observe information of suppressing speech.
Within the meantime, Jordan mentioned he’s glad to return to Musk’s protection.
“What he is completed on … stopping censorship,” mentioned Jordan, “has simply been phenomenal.”
