The Big Story 

The tech industrialist may be the most divisive man in Washington and in President Trump’s White House.

© Kevin Lamarque and Mark Schiefelbein, Associated Press

In one camp stand Trump allies who see it as a matter of time before the president tires personally and professionally of Elon Musk, who has been inescapable for the past week as he and staff for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have sought to seize control of various agencies.

The critics see a tech titan who is not accountable to anyone but Trump and stirs controversy, even with some Republicans.

In the other camp are Trump advisers who see Musk as helping to deliver on exactly what the president promised as a candidate.

“This is what President Trump campaigned on,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday. “Elon Musk is a highly respected, once-in-a-generation business leader who is volunteering his time to help make our federal government more efficient.”

Musk’s shadow looms over the White House’s day-to-day business.

Trump has been publicly supportive of Musk, and his advisers chafe at the suggestion that the tech titan is anything resembling a co-president. 

“Elon can’t do, and won’t do, anything without our approval,” Trump told reporters Monday. “And we’ll give him the approval where appropriate, where not appropriate we won’t. … But he does have a good natural instinct, he’s got a team of very talented people. We’re trying to shrink government, and he can probably shrink it as well as anyone else, if not better.”

After Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) posted on the social platform X that Musk “is a terrible president,” White House communications director Steven Cheung responded: “Tim Walz is a cuck.”

Musk has been at the center of Trump’s hacksaw to the federal government this week:

• He has been the main cheerleader for gutting USAID.
  
  
• His team has been pushing for access to the Treasury Department’s payment system.
  
  
• DOGE staff has been involved at the Small Business Administration and the Government Services Administration.

“This Elon thing is going to be over in like three months. Both of these guys want to be the center of attention,” one Republican donor who requested anonymity to speak freely told The Hill.

 The Hill's Brett Samuels has more here. 

Welcome to The Hill’s Technology newsletter, we're Julia Shapero and Miranda Nazzaro — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley.

Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.

Essential Reads 

How policy will be impacting the tech sector now and in the future:

Musk’s expansive portfolio divides Trump World

Texas Republican: ‘I express my regret for voting to ban TikTok’

Warren finds common ground with Trump over debanking concerns

Crypto Corner 

Debanking takes center stage in Congress

© Allison Robbert

Crypto Corner is a new feature in The Hill's Technology newsletter focused on digital currency and its outlook in Washington.

Debanking is the talk of the town in crypto world this week, as both chambers of Congress are set to delve into allegations that banks have shut certain people and industries — namely the crypto industry — out of the financial system.

The Senate Banking Committee kicked off discussions with a hearing Wednesday, and the House Financial Services Committee is set to follow suit on Thursday.

"We're here to address an issue that strikes at the core of what it means to live in a free and fair society — access to financial services," Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said.

"Every federally legal business and law-abiding citizen deserves to be treated equally, regardless of political views or ideological leans," he continued.

While both Republicans and Democrats on the panel seemed keen to address debanking concerns, a clear divide emerged over what each side views as the source of the problem.

For Democrats, the blame falls on big banks. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) emphasized that more than half of complaints filed with the CFPB were lodged against four major banks.

Republicans point the finger at federal regulators. They cited a newly released tranche of documents from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) that they argue shows the regulator discouraged banks from working with crypto.

The Refresh 

News we've flagged from the intersection of tech and other topics:

In Other News 

Branch out with other reads on The Hill:

Google removes weapons development, surveillance pledges from AI ethics policy

Google has updated its ethical policies on artificial intelligence, eliminating a pledge to not use AI technology for weapons development and surveillance. According to a now-archived version of Google’s AI principles seen on the Wayback Machine, the section titled “Applications we will not pursue” included weapons and other technology aimed at injuring people, along with technologies that “gather or …

DeepSeek’s rise raises data privacy, national security concerns

The emergence of a newly popular artificial intelligence (AI) model from Chinese startup DeepSeek is raising national security and data privacy concerns for the U.S., not unlike those that spurred a ban on TikTok last month.    While the Chinese AI model’s rise has investors worried about the necessity of American AI companies’ massive infrastructure spending, it has experts concerned for other reasons …

What Others are Reading 

Two key stories on The Hill right now:

DOGE officials home in on Medicare, Medicaid offices

Representatives of billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have turned their focus to the Centers for Medicare and … Read more

Collins: Trump has empowered Musk ‘far beyond’ what is appropriate

Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) says that President Trump has empowered billionaire businessman Elon Musk “far beyond … Read more

What Others are Reading 

Opinions related to tech submitted to The Hill: