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In late April, my colleague Josh Kaplan and I flew to the tiny West African country of Gambia. We had learned that the Trump administration was working to help Elon Musk win business there. |
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We wanted to learn exactly what that means and what’s been happening on the ground. Josh and I, along with Justin Elliott and Alex Mierjeski, interviewed dozens of people and collected never-before-seen records that showed how senior State Department officials have coordinated with Starlink executives to coax, lobby and browbeat the Gambian government into issuing the company a license to do business there. Then we found out Gambia wasn’t the only country in the billionaire’s sights.
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Starlink did not respond to requests for comment. In response to detailed questions, the State Department issued a statement celebrating Starlink. In a statement, the White House said Musk has nothing to do with deals involving Starlink and that every administration official follows ethical guidelines. |
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Range of the annual salary Chris Young is earning as a political adviser to Elon Musk’s company Europa 100 LLC while also serving in the Department of Government Efficiency, helping to gut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which regulates two of Musk’s biggest companies.
Ethics experts said Young’s dual role likely violates federal conflict-of-interest regulations. As a special government employee, Young can maintain outside employment while serving for a limited amount of time. But such government workers are still required to abide by laws and rules governing conflicts of interest and personal and business relationships. Young, the CFPB, DOGE and the White House did not respond to requests for comment. |
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“I used to think of Pathways as a blessing. Now, I’m done with it.” |
— Luke Seaborn, a 54-year-old from rural Jefferson, Georgia, who was featured in a testimonial video for Pathways to Coverage, Gov. Brian Kemp’s insurance program for impoverished Georgians.
We reported on how the bureaucratic red tape Seaborn encountered illustrates why the program struggles to gain traction even as the state spends millions of dollars to burnish Pathways’ brand. The state’s Medicaid agency did not respond to questions about Seaborn’s experience.
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