But President Trump's hatchet man is facing increasing scrutiny himself as Elon Musk hacks away at the federal workforce with what appears to be no oversight.

Democrats are demanding accountability.

Behind the scenes, Trump aides have had to remind Musk that he is in fact an employee, not the boss, and reports to the White House.

But that hasn't slowed down the downsizing.

The CIA is the latest agency offering buyouts to employees.

And at the U.S.

Agency for International Development, a key target of Trump's recent cutbacks, almost all staffers are being placed on administrative leave.

Joining us now, senior political correspondent for The Hill, Amy Parnes, along with two MSNBC political analysts, Republican strategist Susan DelPercio and Democratic strategist Basil Smykle.

Good to see all of you.

So much to discuss.

Where do you begin, really?

Amy, as we're learning, our NBC team is reporting that 20,000 plus government employees have already indicated they're going to accept the buyout.

What are you hearing from people inside Washington about how they're looking at this right now?

It's chaotic.

I mean, I'm hearing from people inside these institutions.

There's chaos.

No one knows what's happening, if they'll have a job, if they're going to be pushed out.

There's nervousness among Democrats.

There's more nervousness even among Republicans.

They know that Trump came in to clear the swamp again, but they didn't know just how far he would go.

And I'm hearing that Republicans are getting a little bit nervous about how this is playing out, how Elon Musk is sort of dictating the terms.

And this is problematic, I think.

And that's why you're seeing a lot of pushback.

You're starting to see a little more pushback from the White House and from Susie Wiles and other people, you know, basically saying he is not the boss.

He's here to help.

He's here to help clear the swamp, but he's not in charge of it.

You said the CIA cutbacks in particular, the buyouts for all these CIA agents is particularly alarming.

It is alarming because it came right on the same day as this announcement the president made about Gaza.

And so I'm hearing from people inside that institution, and they're saying, what is happening?

You can't put a price tag on institutional knowledge.

And the fact that all this chaos is brewing inside that institution is really problematic right at this moment.

Susan, Republicans fashion themselves as the party of national security, back in the blue, for example.

But they do seem to be looking the other way to a degree when it comes to what we're seeing at the CIA or within the FBI, the purge there.

And of course, can't forget the blanket pardons of all the January 6th convicted people.

So are you surprised that this is how the GOP is reacting?

No, because I think they're trying to follow it as much as anyone else, and they don't know which way to step is the bigger concern for them.

So the buyout, that's different than the purges and the administrative leaves.

The buyout is simply to federal employees.

You can get paid through September.

If you announce your intentions by this week.

Now, of course, if I was an employee, I would very much wonder, how are you going to pay me through September?

I wouldn't take the buyout because I don't think Trump can deliver on it.

I don't think they will get paid.

That being aside, putting the purge and the CIA issues or employees at issue, bigger concern is what's not getting done.

To me, it's not just the institutional knowledge, which is critical, but that means you don't have agents on the ground.

You know how long it takes to be a well-trained CIA agent?

I don't know, but I can imagine it takes a lot of experience. You just don't put them through the academy for three months.

Same with the FBI.

So what violent crimes aren't being tracked by the FBI?

What work is not getting done?

That is the public safety risk that I see with a lot of that, on top of the uncertainty of a workforce that doesn't know if they're coming or going.

And frankly, I don't think the administration knows if they're coming or going, because they have to reverse themselves left and right.

And that's when you take a look at somebody like Marco Rubio, who's now the Secretary of State.

He was confirmed unanimously to that position.

He's now overseeing the dismantling of USAID.

And that's become the face, it seems, of the government purges that Democrats are saying are unconstitutional, by the way.

Did Democrats get played?

No, I don't think Democrats got played.

In fact, we talked about this.

If you remember, throughout last year, there was a lot of conversation on the left about being mindful of the impact of Project 2025.

Because it's not a 10-year plan.

It's not a one-term plan.

It is a 180-day plan.

Guess what?

It started.

And what you're seeing is the impact of not just disruptive politics, but destructive governance.

That's what I think a lot of Republicans, particularly in the Senate, don't want to have to deal with, because they can't answer questions from their constituents about what's happening tomorrow.

And you have someone like an Elon Musk, who is perhaps appointed, whatever that term means to Donald Trump, to be able to go in and do this.

In another country, this would be called a coup.

He is unaccountable.

And he's going through with a team of people who are also not accountable into people's emails, into payment systems, without care and concern, seemingly, for the impact, the short- and long-term impact of this.

But doing so, probably for his benefit.

Where has this ever really happened in our history?

And if I'm a Republican right now, particularly in the House, that has the second slimmest, the Republicans have the second slimmest majority in the history of this country, I'd be really concerned.

Well, yet, at the same time, the Republicans are probably thinking, oh, you have blame it on Elon Musk cutting things.

They're getting part of their agenda done, and they don't have to do it through legislation, which means they don't have to take bad votes.

It's just a different way.

And I think my point was that somebody like Marco Rubio, who they all thought would kind of hold the line and be more traditional in his role, is going along with what the Trump administration wants hook, line, and sinker, it seems.

Democrats are expressing frustration, though, Amy.

Here's some fiery remarks from their protests yesterday outside the Treasury Department.

This is the most corrupt bargain we've ever seen in American history.

We have got to tell Elon Musk, nobody elected your ass.

We don't pledge allegiance to Elon Musk.

We don't pledge allegiance to the creepy 22-year-olds working for Elon Musk.

We are gonna be in your face, we are gonna be on your asses, and we are gonna make sure...

We are gonna make sure you understand what democracy looks like.

Okay, so, Justin, as we're watching these comments, this is what's happening on Capitol Hill.

The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee called to subpoena Elon Musk, and now they're debating on it.

They're gonna vote here.

Amy, do voters want their leaders to be doing more to fight back?

Yes, but it's tricky, because we saw what happened in November.

And so I'm hearing from a lot of Democrats that what they have been doing is not good enough.

Having Senator Schumer out there essentially saying, we will not rest, and having all of these lawmakers out there is not good enough.

They need action, but they need a plan.

I think that's what they need more of.

They don't need to be screaming in the streets.

They need to show voters what they are doing.

And so Democrats are kind of expressing that right now.

They are frustrated, but they want their party leaders to be doing more.

They want to take the fight to the streets, but they need to be doing more, and they have to be doing that right now.

And so that's why I think they're going to have to change.

A lot of people want people to burn the party down and build anew.

And so I think that you're gonna start seeing a lot of that coming up.

That's what we hear Democrats saying.

Elon Musk is acting as president, but we have reporting that, at least quietly behind the scenes, he's being reminded that he still reports to the chief of staff, Susie Wiles.

Do you see her being able to rein him in?

No, I'm sorry.

Yeah, no, I don't see that at all.

Because number one, can she even rein in her boss?

Probably not.

And so I don't think you can.

Now that Elon Musk sort of has the keys to government, I don't really see anybody being able to rein him in in the short term.

Maybe down the road after a lot of damage is already done, perhaps that actually happens.

But I will say, just going back to something that Amy said, when you see Democrats out there standing in front of Treasury or protesting and such, those young members that are emerging as real stars right now, not only AOC, but Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett from Texas, Chris Murphy, who's already been very, very active.

I think what's gonna happen is you're going to see this kind of new movement of younger Democrats in DC, but also sort of out in the communities and in the states really trying to hold both sides, Democrats and Republicans accountable.

And perhaps that sort of signals to Donald Trump and to the administration that, hey, we've got to turn the fire down a little bit, but I don't know that that happens in the short term.

I know you want to get in there, Susan.

Let me just really quick say, we're monitoring what's happening right now in that House Oversight Committee.

And again, a top Democrat on that committee, calling to subpoena Elon Musk.

The debate is still underway.

I want to play with some key Senate Republicans have told us about Musk's recent actions.

He's basically doing an audit.

So I hope that he'll soon be doing a thorough report to Congress and the public.

Do you have concern at all about the White House through Elon Musk or others seeking to cut off already congressionally appropriated funds?

Well, I assume that's going to be the subject of some litigation and further discussion.

He's throwing out big ideas.

And if anybody thinks that all of these big ideas are going to be implemented to conclusion, they don't understand the process of disruption.

Everybody's acting like Congress doesn't exist anymore.

Do you and the other senators know what you're talking about?

Will it require congressional approval to actually structurally change them?

Susan, these aren't hypotheticals.

It's happening.

So when are they going to then step in?

It is happening.

And I think the biggest mistake Democrats are making is making it all about Elon Musk.

Say Donald Trump is doing this.

Donald Trump is purging the FBI.

Donald Trump is cutting aid.

Donald Trump is preventing packages, I know it reversed, from China to come in.

But Elon Musk, by doing that, he is unelected.

He is operating.

He takes all of the fire away from Donald Trump's feet.

Stop it.

Call out the president and say the president is doing presidential overreach.

Then put those Republicans on the line like Von Hilliard did.

And he said, if you notice his words, Elon Musk threw the administration.

Hold the White House accountable.

Right now, they're giddy that all the attention is everywhere else.

And I'll just say very quickly, you showed John Cornyn from Texas.

He's got a primary coming up.

And so that's one of the things that might come out of this is that you're going to start seeing more factions within the Republican Party and challenging each other and holding current members' feet to the fire.

Not sure what the end result is, but primaries force people back.