What Elon Musk did to New York City’s bank account is akin to highway robbery, and Chris Hayes can’t keep calm.
Ever since Donald Trump took over the presidency, he has been giving more and more power to Elon Musk and his DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency). Where the MAGA world seems thrilled with it, the rest of the country is worried that Elon will misuse his newfound power.
And then that’s exactly what he did. Last week, $80 million in funds were deposited into New Your City’s bank account, which was approved by Joe Biden. However, this week, Elon Musk, in the name of government watchfulness and under the guise of FEMA, poached the money from the bank account.
New City Comptroller Brad Lander called this a highway robbery. Elon Musk wrongly accused Democrats of putting thousands of immigrants in high-end hotels and clawed back the money from the account.
This money was not for one-time expenditure, and no one was getting into high-end hotels, as Lander clarified. Money was funded to provide blankets, basic clothing, and hygiene products for the migrants during the cold weather. The migrants do get placed in hotels, but they are not provided with 5-star services if that’s what Elon Musk was implying, said Lander.
At the beginning of the interview, Brad Lander told Chris Hayes that $80 million had been taken from the city’s account, and they thought it was the government that had taken the money back.
Today, it was my @NYCComptroller office that discovered that $80 MILLION in already authorized, allocated, and paid federal aid was WIPED from the City’s bank account.
Let’s be crystal clear: This is highway robbery. Elon Musk, with no legal authority, illegally seized federal… pic.twitter.com/Y8RVyablcb
— Brad Lander (@bradlander) February 12, 2025
When Hayes asked if the government could do that, Lander was sure they could not. This was unprecedented. He also said that they had sent the proper expense sheet and invoices to the government, and nothing was being spent without the knowledge of the government and its authority.
Funding by the government, if to be taken back, is done within 5 days of dispersal. The bank had already transferred the money to other bank accounts. Once the government, or more precisely Elon Musk, took the money back, it showed a massive overdraft of $79.50 million.
Lander called this a highway robbery, and Chris Hayes could not stop himself from laughing, so he almost fell off the chair.
Chris Hayes Bursts Out Laughing When He Learns Trump Caused NYC Bank Account to Overdraft by $79.5 Million https://t.co/967CHKObzK
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) February 14, 2025
Lander added that this clawing back of the funds caused overdraft issues with CitiBank. He also told how Citibank charged the city an overdraft fee of $15,000. Thankfully, Lander could talk to the bank to waive the overdraft fees.
This whole saga reminds everyone that there is too much power in Elon Musk’s hand, and basically, all the governmental money is his to play with.
Has Donald Trump made the richest man in the world richer? Is billionaire Musk now a trillionaire? Our assumption may be true about the way Donald Trump and Elon Musk are handling DOGE with unlimited power.
