Vice President JD Vance said Friday he supports rehiring of Doge staff who resigned after it was discovered he had previously made racist comments online.
Marco Erez, 25, resigned from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on Thursday after reporting that the Wall Street Journal made comments online, including supporting racism and eugenics. The White House confirmed with NBC News that Erez has resigned.
Vance commented on X and reposted a vote from Doge Head Elon Musk to ask if they should bring staff home.
“I obviously disagree with some of Erez’s posts, but I don’t think stupid social media activities should ruin a child’s life,” Vance wrote. “We shouldn’t reward journalists who try to destroy people. To date.”
“So I say I’ll bring him back,” Vance continued. “If he’s a bad guy or a terrible member of the team, fire him for that.”
When asked about Vance’s reaction at a press conference, President Donald Trump said, “I’m with the Vice President.”
A Vance spokesman declined to elaborate on the post.
The Wall Street Journal reviews posts archived from deleted X accounts used by Erez, with messages such as “Just for the record, I was racist before it turned cool.” I have posted this. My ethnicity. “Normalizes India’s hatred,” he wrote in another post. NBC News has not seen or reviewed these posts.
The journal reported that the post was created by the account @nullllptr. This is @nullllptr that @marko_elez previously did and says the account is an employee of SpaceX and Starlink and is consistent with Elez’s experience posted on his personal website.
Text messages and calls to numbers related to Elez were not immediately returned, and he did not comment in the journal.
Vance’s comment is as Musk’s Doge embarked on a wide range of efforts to significantly reduce the government’s workforce. The Trump administration also sought to eliminate a role focused on social justice initiatives.
Erez is one of the young Musk employers who joined Doji as part of what Musk said, an effort aimed at “dismantling the radical left shadow government.” This includes personnel focused on technology that has no government experience, some of which have a significant social media footprint.
Another Doge staff member, Gavin Kliger, was reportedly previously reposted content by Rolling Stone for Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist who dined with President Donald Trump.
Kliger did not immediately respond to requests for comments sent via LinkedIn and email.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) asked Vance if he would apologise to Erez for his anti-Indian posts. Vance’s wife, Usha, is the daughter of an Indian immigrant.
