Hillary Clinton has called out Elon Musk for allegedly gaining access to secure government data. However, the move has backfired as people on the internet started taking a jab at her. Why? She didn’t bother remembering her infamous email scandal in the past before berating Musk! What exactly led to this situation? The former Secretary of State took to social media on Tuesday and claimed that Musk was orchestrating a “blitzkrieg-style administrative coup” by accessing critical government systems like Social Security and taxpayer information.
“Elon Musk is mounting a blitzkrieg-style administrative coup of the US government, accessing and editing critical systems that manage everything from Social Security payments to private taxpayer information,” Clinton wrote on X and Instagram. Her outrage, however, quickly resulted in heavy backslash. Critics didn’t hold back from reminding her of her own history with classified data. Clinton was at the center of a major scandal in 2016. At that time, she was found to have used a private email server for official government business. That act violated security protocols. She later deleted more than 30,000 emails to avoid scrutiny.
Elon Musk is mounting a blitzkrieg-style administrative coup of the US government, accessing & editing critical systems that manage everything from Social Security payments to private taxpayer info. Join @IndivisibleTeam in DC today to demand a stop to it: https://t.co/VJuKsBKRPj
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 4, 2025
Social media erupted with mockery because they were in disbelief at Clinton’s sudden display of concern for government transparency. “You are the expert at deleting incriminating evidence,” one user wrote sarcastically. “But her emails… right?” another chimed in. Even Trump supporters weighed in. One tweet read: “Hillary Clinton and the Democrats said private servers were fine for government business. Carry on, Elon Musk!”
Despite the uproar at her action, Clinton didn’t step back from standing her ground against Elon Musk. She rather doubled down on her criticism and urged Americans to boycott government-run platforms in response to Musk’s actions. However, her attempt to position herself as a champion of democracy and data security didn’t stand out to be convincing to many. Especially after previous proofs, when once the FBI described her handling of classified material as “extremely careless.”
With all that uproar going on, Musk hasn’t paid any heed to Clinton’s attacks. He had rather focused on his work with the government. His involvement with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—a Trump-backed initiative, which is aimed at reducing bureaucracy, has raised concerns among Democrats. Some have started speculating that access to Treasury data could result in financial manipulation. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) even suggested that “Musk’s people may have intended to access these payment systems to illegally withhold funds from government programs.”
However, no evidence of wrongdoing is brought to light yet. On that ground, Clinton’s accusations seem more like political theater than a real concern. The debate is raging on at this moment. The internet is not letting Clinton forget about her scandal. Rather, her attempt to call out Musk has only dug a hole of her own past. And from all of these, one thing is clear. That, in politics, old scandals never truly come to a close!
