Lawmakers set to 'pitch a fit' as DOGE uncovers corruption involving their wives: GOPer

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) has an eyebrow-raising theory about the real reason some lawmakers are skeptical of tech billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency task force, which has controversially pushed layoffs of thousands of civil servants and seized control of vital government systems containing sensitive taxpayer information.

Burchett, a far-right Trump devotee who recently compared Musk and his gang of young software engineers infiltrating government systems to the American soldiers who liberated Europe from the Nazis, pushed forward this new theory in an interview on Fox Business on Monday.

DOGE, said Burchett, "shows that every department is corrupt and you're going to see the money where it flows back to, and it goes right out of the American taxpayer's pocket into the back pocket of politicians in Washington."

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"You're going to see congressmen ... that's who will start pitching a fit," Burchett continued. "You'll pay these guys in these committees start because they have a wife and or girlfriend that works for one of these companies or groups that is funded through one of these other government agencies. And they're going to pitch a fit. We found them in the past, they've been funneling money into campaigns and things like that."

Members of Congress giving no-work government jobs to romantic partners is not without precedent.

Last year, former Rep. Anthony D'Esposito (R-NY) lost re-election after reports emerged he added his mistress to congressional payroll, where she drew a $2,000-a-month salary in likely violation of House ethics rules.

Nonetheless, for the time being, DOGE — while ostensibly set up to expose waste, fraud, and abuse in the government — has not revealed evidence of newly uncovered fraud, and has instead mostly announced the shutdown of various government agencies and grants that were lawfully and transparently passed, but that Trump or Musk ideologically disagree with.