Elon Musk Accused of Doxxing After Reposting Judge John McConnell’s Daughter’s Job on X

Tech billionaire and X (formerly Twitter) CEO Elon Musk's role in the Trump Administration has shifted since he became President Donald Trump's political adviser during his second run for office, which he won in November 2024. Since Trump's win, he appointed Elon to run his Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE. He was also named Trump's "special government employee" in February 2025.

Elon's loyalty to his administration was further made known to users of his platform, X (formerly Twitter). Amid his and Trump's efforts to cut federal spending by proposing to end Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion nationally and funding for the Department of Education, Elon used his influence against Judge John McConnell following the judge's decision to unfreeze the department's federal grants.

Here's what to know.

Elon seemingly took action against McConnell's decision by making his daughter a target. On Feb. 10, 2025, the billionaire reposted an X post from journalist Laura Loomer. In her post, Laura shared screenshots that proved McConnell's daughter, Catherine McConnell, works at the Department of Education. The post included his daughter's LinkedIn profile photo and bio, where she wrote she's the Senior Advisor for the department. It also showed a screenshot of one of Catherine's financial disclosure forms from the department.

"The reason why Judge McConnell, a Democrat donor and activist, wants Trump to restore funding is because his daughter, Catherine McConnell is currently employed by the same Department of Education that President Trump and @elonmusk want to audit and DEFUND," Laura wrote on X. "Joe Biden appointed her. Now her Dad is abusing his power to protect her paycheck."

Laura added that she felt Judge McConnell's daughter working for the Department of Education was a "conflict of interest" that the judge "should have recused himself over, but he chose not to." Elon reposted the X user's proof that McConnell has ties to the Department of Education by adding an eyebrow-raised emoji.

His repost resulted in McConnell's daughter's information being shared by all of Elon's 217.4 million followers. The doxxing act caused multiple social media users to defend his act, while other users pointed out the invasion of Catherine's privacy.

"Elon Musk: “You can’t reveal the names of DOGE employees! That’s against Twitter’s TOS!” one X user wrote, addressing Musk's initiative to reduce federal spending. "Also Elon Musk: “I’m triggered so I’m going to doxx Judge McConnell’s daughter to 217M users on Twitter!”

"Musk is working on freezing fraudulent funds," another X user argued. "If we as Americans don’t do this, America will go bankrupt soon and we won’t be able to pay anything, even the valid ones. I hope you all understand this."

McConnell hasn't addressed Elon's decision to share his daughter's job and financial records online. However, the judge's order to halt Trump's funding freeze of the Department of Education was reaffirmed on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. Additionally, the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston agreed the day before to decline Trump's proposal to overturn McConnell's temporary restraining order against him, per NBC affiliate Turn to 10.

The Rhode Island judge filed a temporary restraining order against Trump in January, days after the sitting president was sworn in on Jan. 20. In addition to the TRO delaying the freeze, McConnell also ruled to deny the Trump administration’s request to continue withholding “FEMA and other funding."

Elon has yet to remove his repost of McConnell's daughter.