‘Leakers are patriots’: Federal employees defend sharing details about Musk regardless of his threats | EUROtoday

Federal employees stood by their determination to leak details about Elon Musk to the media following his threats to prosecute whistleblowers.

Their defiance follows Musk’s stark warning that Pentagon officers who leak could be prosecuted after stories that he was scheduled to obtain a briefing Friday in regards to the U.S. army’s top-secret conflict plans for China.

The DOGE mogul claimed that the data was “false” and derided the media for allegedly disseminating “propaganda” earlier than issuing a thinly veiled risk to Pentagon officers.

His threats haven’t deterred everybody. Pushing again, federal employees advised Politico that they’re talking out due to the billionaire’s “move fast and break things” strategy by way of the Department of Government Efficiency.

“Leakers are patriots,” one Agriculture Department worker advised the outlet and mentioned that they have been motivated by “a desire for greater transparency” – the identical aim Musk claims via DOGE.

“We are public servants, not Elon’s servants,” a Food and Drug Administration staffer advised Politico. “The public deserves to know how dysfunctional, destructive, and deceptive all of this has been and continues to be.”

open picture in gallery

“If the Biden administration or Obama had acted like this, no one would have tolerated it,” one other staffer advised the outlet. “The Trump administration doesn’t get a pass.”

However some federal staffers are nervous in regards to the repercussions of speaking to the press.

“We’re taking more conversations in-person, out of the office completely. Putting phones on airplane mode or going to the basement,” an worker on the National Institutes of Health advised Politico. “I don’t take my phone when I’m talking to coworkers anymore. I assume there are cameras and listening devices everywhere.”

Musk’s threats adopted a New York Times report Thursday that army officers would present him a slideshow of how the U.S. would interact in a battle with China. The briefing reportedly consisted of 20 to 30 slides outlining the U.S.’s technique if conflict broke out with the adversary within the Far East.

Sources mentioned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was knowledgeable of the plans on Wednesday.

open picture in gallery

“The New York Times is pure propaganda. Also, I look forward to the prosecutions of those at the Pentagon who are leaking maliciously false information to NYT,” Musk posted on X Friday, sharing a Truth Social Post from President Donald Trump denying the claims.

“They will be found,” Musk added.

“The Fake News is at it again, this time the Failing New York Times. They said, incorrectly, that Elon Musk is going to the Pentagon tomorrow to be briefed on any potential ‘war with China,’” Trump mentioned within the Truth Social submit. “How ridiculous?’ China will not even be mentioned or discussed. How disgraceful it is that the discredited media can make up such lies. Anyway, the story is completely untrue!!!”

The president later mentioned within the Oval Office that Musk was on the Pentagon for “DOGE, not there for China.”