Grassley Releases Email Showing FBI Agent Pushed to Criminally Investigate Musk Over DOGE 'Five Things' Memo

An FBI agent tried to talk his bosses into criminally investigating Elon Musk over an email asking federal workers what they did that week.

A February 22, 2025 email shows this, according to records Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) released on September 15, 2026, one day before FBI Director Kash Patel's second annual oversight hearing before the committee.

Then-Special Agent Kevin Gounaud wrote to FBI Supervisory Special Agent Steven T. Dunn proposing what he called a "criminal 58 matter" against whoever at the Office of Personnel Management approved sending the message, plus Musk himself, who was then a special government employee running the Department of Government Efficiency.

What Musk's Email Actually Said

On February 22, 2025, Musk posted on X that federal employees would shortly get an email asking them to list roughly five things they accomplished the previous week, and that failure to respond would be treated as a resignation, according to the post itself as cited by Julie Kelly on X. The actual OPM email asked employees to reply with bullet points and copy their managers, and explicitly instructed them not to include classified information, links, or attachments, according to the Denver Gazette. Musk and OPM later clarified that responding was voluntary and that a non-response would not trigger termination, according to London Times Live.

The Agent's Case

Gounaud argued the email wasted "a colossal amount of official time" and pushed thousands of employees to violate government-wide security policy by transmitting sensitive information outside a strict need-to-know, according to the email as quoted by the Daily Signal. He argued Musk used a "non-government system"—he still called X "Twitter"—to conduct what was allegedly official business, and that because Musk profited from X's advertising and monetization, he personally benefited from the arrangement.

Gounaud then drew a comparison to Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server as secretary of state, per the Epoch Times and NTD. The FBI investigated Clinton and declined to bring charges because it found she lacked criminal intent, according to those outlets. Gounaud also argued Musk may have violated a federal conflict-of-interest law barring executive branch employees from acting on matters affecting their own financial interests.

"Happy to write the case opening and find a prosecutor (or at least try)," Gounaud wrote, adding, "And no, I'm not kidding," according to all seven sources reviewing the email.

What Actually Happened Next

Nothing, as far as the released records show. The Daily Signal reported it "appears nothing came of the matter." No investigation of Musk has been confirmed as opened, and Musk has not been charged with anything related to DOGE, the Epoch Times reported. The FBI and Musk did not respond to requests for comment from the Epoch Times or NTD by publication.

Gounaud left the FBI in February 2026 after roughly two decades with the bureau and has since started a private security firm, according to his LinkedIn profile as cited by multiple outlets. He could not be reached for comment.

Grassley's Broader Argument

Grassley used the email, along with other records, to argue that FBI agents pick and choose which cases to pursue based on politics, telling the committee it "undercut public statements by former FBI officials that agents don't get to pick their cases." Grassley's office also pointed to the bureau's decision not to investigate Huma Abedin over her simultaneous work for the State Department and the Clinton Foundation, framing the Musk episode as a double standard, according to the Denver Gazette. That comparison is Grassley's office's characterization, not an independent finding.

Grassley separately released 2017 emails showing former Special Agent Walter Giardina asked at least seven times over four weeks to join the Crossfire Hurricane investigation into Trump-Russia ties, according to the Denver Gazette and Daily Signal. Patel confirmed under questioning from Sen. John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) that he fired Giardina, saying he "violated the FBI standards and code of conduct." Giardina is among several former agents now suing the FBI, alleging their terminations were politically motivated, the Daily Signal reported—a dispute that remains unresolved in court.

The Fair Read

A reasonable defender of the bureau's rank and file would note that one agent floating a bad legal theory in an internal email, which his supervisors apparently never acted on, does not constitute proof of an organized weaponization campaign. Agents raising internal concerns, even weak ones, is a normal part of how a large investigative agency vets potential cases, and the fact that Gounaud's pitch went nowhere could be read as the system working as designed.

Patel, when asked about ongoing weaponization concerns during the same hearing, told senators only that "there are a number of ongoing investigations regarding this illegal conduct," without naming which agents or cases, according to the Epoch Times and NTD. Grassley's office did not respond to a follow-up inquiry about whether it has obtained any response Gounaud received to his pitch, leaving open whether the matter was formally reviewed, quietly shelved, or discussed further up the chain.