Members of Elon Musk’s non-public safety staff have been deputized as federal brokers final yr despite the fact that among the billionaire’s guards lacked the required coaching and legislation enforcement expertise, in accordance with newly launched authorities emails.
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The emails shed new gentle on how the U.S. Marshals Service responded to Musk’s entourage throughout his five-month stint within the second Trump administration. The company in February 2025 permitted a request that it mentioned got here from the White Home to deputize Musk’s bodyguards, a choice that allowed them to hold weapons in some federal buildings and proceed defending him.
Musk, the world’s wealthiest individual, was a senior adviser to President Donald Trump and oversaw the Division of Authorities Effectivity from January of final yr till his rocky exit in Might.
The Marshals Service launched the emails and associated paperwork in response to a request below the Freedom of Data Act filed by Democracy Ahead, a progressive advocacy group that has been investigating Musk’s tenure within the Trump administration. The group, which filed a lawsuit final yr to get the information, shared them with NBC Information.
The Marshals Service first thought-about deputizing Musk’s safety element in the course of the first week of February, in accordance with the emails, as Musk was immersed in attempting to dismantle federal companies such because the U.S. Company for Worldwide Improvement.
However there was a possible hiccup: Musk’s safety element didn’t meet what the Marshals Service thought-about to be the fundamental necessities to be deputized as federal legislation enforcement.
Specifically, at the very least some members of his element wanted waivers as a result of that they had not efficiently accomplished a “primary legislation enforcement coaching program” or didn’t possess at the very least one yr of legislation enforcement expertise with an company that had basic arrest authority, in accordance with an e mail on Feb. 10. The title of the one that despatched the e-mail was redacted.
Three days later, Wealthy Kelly, the Marshals Service’s affiliate director for operations, approved the waivers, granting the bodyguards an exception to the standard eligibility necessities. A profession official, Kelly was the company’s third-in-command. He retired in September and didn’t reply to requests for remark.
The Marshals Service’s use of particular deputations was already below scrutiny. Simply months earlier, in a September 2024 audit report, the Justice Division’s inspector basic discovered that the service had deputized individuals who have been ineligible and had deputized others for questionable functions. In response, the service pledged to replace its procedures to make sure it was complying with federal guidelines.
In late February 2025, Musk was requested about his safety throughout an onstage interview on the Conservative Political Motion Convention. The interviewer, Newsmax host Rob Schmitt, mentioned Musk appeared to have an “monumental” safety element and that he was a “wished man.” Musk replied about his safety employees: “Perhaps it ought to be greater.”
“I don’t even have a loss of life want, I believe,” he mentioned.
It’s not clear when the Marshals Service ended the particular deputation of Musk’s safety element or whether or not it has accomplished so. The paperwork point out that the deputation, which was formally granted the second week of February 2025, was scheduled to final two years.
The company mentioned Thursday it was not instantly in a position to reply questions concerning the deputations.
Musk didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Ahead, mentioned the emails are emblematic of Musk’s time in authorities.
“These paperwork — uncovered after months of labor by our staff — underscore the lawlessness with which Elon Musk was allowed to run round Washington, wreaking havoc and abusing authorities assets,” she mentioned in a press release.
The paperwork are a window into the behind-the-scenes discussions that occurred as Musk and his employees took over components of the federal authorities. In February 2025, Musk was waging a marketing campaign to slash authorities spending that he disapproved of, together with efforts to get rid of companies wholesale with out congressional approval, though DOGE finally did not curtail general spending ranges.
Musk’s tenure was criticized by labor unions, authorities workers and Democrats for bypassing legal guidelines and rules. Final Might, a federal choose dominated that DOGE’s takeover of the U.S. Institute of Peace was illegal.
DOGE workers turned to the Marshals Service for help at different key factors early final yr, together with by threatening to name the federal marshals to realize entry to techniques at USAID. Federal marshals additionally escorted DOGE officers into the U.S. African Improvement Basis in March 2025, in accordance with The New York Occasions.
A memo from Feb. 7, 2025, included within the FOIA response says that the Marshals Service deliberate to deputize Musk’s non-public safety element “in gentle of great and credible threats” in opposition to him. Musk is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX — titles he saved even whereas working for Trump — and was serving on the time as a “particular authorities worker,” a class of non permanent federal employee.
The request was uncommon. Though the Marshals Service grants particular deputations to 1000’s of individuals a yr, it says it typically does so to assist particular investigations or operations corresponding to when a neighborhood police officer joins a short lived federal activity pressure.
It’s not clear what {qualifications} Musk’s safety element had. Their names and expertise are redacted from the emails and different paperwork launched below FOIA.
On the time, the Marshals Service mentioned publicly that it was not giving Musk’s safety element full freedom to behave as legislation enforcement. The deputized guards’ authority was restricted to “private safety” and didn’t give them the flexibility to make arrests, in accordance with the company.
The memo and different paperwork referred to Musk a number of occasions as the top of DOGE, though different components of the federal government have been asserting that very same month that Musk was not the individual answerable for the division.
The choice by the Marshals Service to deputize Musk’s safety element prompted quick scrutiny. After information of the choice broke, a lawyer for Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Unwell., emailed the Marshals Service expressing unease and asking “what sort of legal responsibility publicity USMS will face if one thing goes awry?” The lawyer’s e mail was included within the FOIA response however with their title redacted. The FOIA response doesn’t embody a response from the company to the senator.
Among the emails obtained by Democracy Ahead additionally cope with the Marshals Service’s preparations for the discharge of Jan. 6 defendants, and present vital coordination earlier than Trump took workplace, with conferences happening in early December 2024.
People linked to Musk have been concerned in pushing for the discharge of Jan. 6 defendants. Hours after Trump pardoned about 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants in his first few hours again in workplace, Musk reposted an X put up by conservative activist Charlie Kirk that referred to Jan. 6 defendants as hostages, with Musk telling households of Jan. 6 defendants to “tell us for those who encounter any difficulties with launch of your family members.”
The subsequent day, an official with the Marshals Service circulated an e mail titled “AWARENESS ITEM: Musk tweets about J6 releases,” which flagged Musk’s put up.
“All,” he wrote, “please see the tweet under amplified by a outstanding citizen.”
