One of many individuals working with billionaire Elon Musk in his efforts to overtake the U.S. authorities is a Berkeley-educated laptop scientist who has boosted white supremacists and misogynists on-line.
Gavin Kliger lists his job on LinkedIn as “Particular Advisor to the Director” on the Workplace of Personnel Administration, which has been spearheading Musk’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce. His USAID e mail deal with was copied on a message reviewed by Reuters that was despatched to staffers on the worldwide help company on Monday. It urged them to remain house whereas the company was being shut down.
He graduated in 2020 from the College of California, Berkeley with a 3.95 grade level common and levels in Electrical Engineering and Laptop Science, in keeping with his LinkedIn profile. Reuters confirmed his attendance at Berkeley, however was unable to confirm different particulars in his profile.
Kliger is considered one of a couple of dozen males recognized by Reuters and different information retailers who’ve been recruited by Musk and his DOGE workplace to reshape the federal authorities. Reuters couldn’t decide the significance of Kliger’s position at OPM.
In social media posts between October 2024 and January, Kliger has voiced controversial views and reposted content material from white supremacist Nick Fuentes and self-described misogynist Andrew Tate.
An OPM spokeswoman declined to touch upon Kliger’s posts. Kliger didn’t reply to a number of requests for remark by way of e mail and textual content. Following Reuters’ request for touch upon Thursday night, public entry to Kliger’s X account was blocked.
In response to a submit about New York Mayor Eric Adams probably shutting down a migrant shelter in November, Kliger wrote: “Simply go away them be for a couple of extra months. Can be far more handy to deport all of them if they’re in a single spot.”
Kliger has reposted feedback from white supremacist Fuentes, who has at occasions been banned from social media platforms together with Fb, YouTube and Twitter for hate speech.
Kliger shared a December 4 submit from Fuentes’ X account. Kliger has since unshared the submit, however Reuters examined a replica of the unique repost by way of the Web Archive.
Within the submit on X, Fuentes mocks a submit praising a photograph of an apparently white couple pictured with two light-skinned youngsters and a dark-skinned child. In his submit Fuentes referred to “adopted Black children”, denigrating the obvious interracial adoption. He additionally used the phrase “huzz”, a pejorative time period for ladies. Reuters couldn’t instantly set up the id or ethnicity of the individuals depicted. Fuentes didn’t reply to a request for touch upon the submit by e mail.
Kliger has additionally reposted social media influencer and self-described misogynist Andrew Tate.
The British-American former kickboxer is being investigated by Romanian prosecutors for human trafficking, trafficking of minors, sexual activity with a minor and cash laundering and has since based a nativist British political occasion. Tate has denied wrongdoing.
The submit, shared by Kliger, exhorts foreigners to “respect British tradition, requirements of hygiene and social norms. You use inside our parameters … Downside? go away … A number of complaints of the opposite? Visa revoked.”
One other Division of Authorities Effectivity staffer, Marko Elez, stop on Thursday amid questions from the Wall Road Journal about hyperlinks to a deleted social-media account that advocated for racism and eugenics, in keeping with the Journal’s subsequently revealed story. Reuters couldn’t decide how Elez, Kliger, or any of the people working with Musk to slash authorities and staffing, had been chosen for his or her jobs.
Trump and Vice President JD Vance on Friday mentioned Elez ought to get his job again.
Additionally on Friday, the ex-employer of Edward Coristine, one other member of the DOGE crew, disclosed that Coristine had been fired from a earlier job amid a leak investigation.
In a press release in a response to a question from Reuters on Coristine’s employment, Arizona-based community monitoring firm Path Community mentioned it may verify that Coristine’s “transient contract” had been “terminated after the conclusion of an inside investigation into the leaking of proprietary firm info that coincided together with his tenure.”
Coristine did not instantly reply to a request looking for remark. His dismissal from Path was first reported by Bloomberg.
A White Home official advised Reuters on Wednesday that Musk and his engineers have acceptable safety clearances and are working in “full compliance with federal regulation, acceptable safety clearances, and as staff of the related businesses, not as outdoors advisors or entities.”
