Fox News host Jessica Tarlov knocked billionaire Elon Musk over what she said is a lack of transparency he is displaying amid efforts to make widespread changes to the size of the federal government on President Trump’s behalf.
“But the real issue here is that he’s talking a big game about transparency, but he’s not being transparent himself,” Tarlov said during Martha MacCallum’s newscast Wednesday. “This idea that Elon Musk shouldn’t have to do financial disclosures like everybody else who’s working in the government is ludicrous. … And President Trump said yesterday, ‘Oh, well, he doesn’t need to do it.'”
Tarlov’s comments were first highlighted by Mediaite.
Some have voiced concerns that Musk’s efforts to reform the federal government through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) could benefit his businesses, raising conflict of interest issues.
“He has tens of billions of dollars in government contracts,” Tarlov said. “If you are the DOGE master, then open up your own books.”
Musk on Tuesday defended the work he is doing with DOGE, noting his team is posting the work he is doing on the department’s website and its account on Musk’s social platform X.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt reiterated that point during a briefing with reporters Wednesday and said Musk has Trump’s full support.
Musk’s efforts have sparked widespread pushback from Democrats and government watchdogs while Trump has praised the billionaire’s promise to rid the federal government of “waste fraud and abuse.”
Tarlov is a co-host of Fox’s top-rated show “The Five” and regularly appears elsewhere across the network.
