PoliticsFormer Clinton Adviser Slams Elon Musk and His Teenage DOGE Staffers: 'Who the H--- Voted for Big Balls?'
Elon Musk was ridiculed by a panelist on CNN.
Paul Begala, a former political adviser for President Bill Clinton, ridiculed Tesla billionaire Elon Musk and one of his young Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffers.
During a recent segment on CNN, Begala called out Musk for appointing Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old known online as "Big Balls," to be a senior adviser at the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Technology.
Elon Musk hired someone known online as 'Big Balls.'
“Who the h--- voted for Mr. Musk?” Begala asked during the heated discussion on The Source with host Kaitlan Collins. “Who the h--- voted for — excuse the phrase — a guy who calls himself ‘Big Balls,’ a 19-year-old kid going in there and trying to fire cancer researchers and scientists and teachers and agricultural specialists? It's appalling.”
The former Clinton advisor, who appeared on CNN alongside Republican strategist Brad Todd, said earlier in the segment that he agreed with DOGE’s mission to cut federal spending, but not the way Musk team is going about it.
“I have a pro tip for President Trump: If you want to reduce the federal workforce, maybe a good idea, try going the constitutional route,” Begala said.
Many of the DOGE staffers have been scrutinized by critics due to their lack of experience or proximity to Musk’s other businesses. It’s also unclear if any of them have been vetted.
Coristine previously dropped out from Northeastern University to work in Silicon Valley and went on to intern at Musk's brain implant company, Neuralink. He is now one of seven relatively young men identified by Wired as part of Musk's incursion into the federal government with reported access to millions of Americans’ personal financial and medical information.
According to his former bosses, Coristine was also fired from an internship after leaking information to a rival firm.
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Donald Trump supports Elon Musk's team.
Despite the controversy surrounding the young DOGE advisors, including Coristine, President Donald Trump has shown his support for Musk, his appointees and the initiative.
The president commended the group of young individuals for their work in dismantling what he perceives as corruption within federal agencies, emphasizing the importance of their contribution under his administration.
Elon Musk is the head of DOGE.
Later in the segment, Begala said that the Clinton administration reduced the federal workforce by passing the Workforce Restructuring Act of 1994 in the Senate, which he said resulted in the lowest headcount of "any president since Eisenhower."
"We still took care of special needs kids and our veterans and created 30 million new jobs," he explained. "So you can do this, but you've got to follow the Constitution."
