Zombie State Department Social Account Now Relaying Musk Propaganda
The former DOGE staffer who gutted USAID is now allowing a State Department social media account to promote corporate communications for Elon Musk's X, in its conflict with the French government.
The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, a former unit within the U.S. Department of State, was recently eliminated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio's mass restructuring. The bureau, which was tasked with promoting democracy, human rights, and combatting antisemitism, was closed on July 11th. Its website (formerly located here) is now offline.
But the bureau's account on X, the social network site majority-owned by Elon Musk, remains active. And on Saturday that account, @StateDRL, chose to amplify a lengthy message from X's “Global Government Affairs” account railing against French prosecutors who have accused the company of “fraudulent data extraction” and classified the firm as an “organized gang.”
The zombie account indicated that the United States was siding with X, stating, “Democratic governments should allow all voices to be heard, not silence speech they dislike. The United States will defend the free speech of all Americans against acts of foreign censorship.”
The post was initially shared with @StateDRL's over 59 thousand followers. Mr. Musk then personally amplified the post to his 223 million followers — giving his massive global audience the impression that the U.S. State Department was officially aligned with X in its conflict with French prosecutors.
The New York Times reported on July 11th that Rubio insisted that the “the closure of divisions like the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor does not mean that their functions will cease to exist — only that they will be integrated into existing regional bureaus to better coordinate country-specific policies.”
However, the elimination of the bureau's website does suggest that the entity itself was dissolved, raising obvious questions about why its account on X has not only remained online, but put to such a purpose.
All Roads Lead to DOGE
Under Rubio's reorganization plan, the now-defunct bureau which previously was under the office of the Under Secretary for Civilian Security has transferred its functions to the office of the Under Secretary for Foreign Assistance, Humanitarian Affairs and Religious Freedom.
That office is now held by 28-year-old Jeremy P. Lewin, a former DOGE staffer, and it seems he is responsible for the @StateDRL account at the present time. According to a report by journalist Jacqueline Sweet, Lewin “recently worked at Usha Vance’s former law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP—the same firm that has represented Musk’s Tesla in several high-profile cases.” He also apparently “attended Harvard Law School where he served as a research assistant for famed legal scholar and vocal Musk and Trump critic Laurence Tribe.”
According to Sweet, Lewin was part of a team of DOGE henchmen that quickly routed the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Consumer Federal Protection Bureau (CFPB). Lewin then spent a month dismantling the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) before he was appointed as its acting head, overseeing all State Department foreign assistance. Lewin now seems to be fully embedded in the State Department.
The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor was formed by legislation passed in 1977 creating a Coordinator of Human Rights in the Department of State. That position was later upgraded to Assistant Secretary, and the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor was created in 1994 to better address those interlocking issues.
Musk's Influence Is Still Active in Government
Despite the spectacle surrounding Musk's late-May “departure” from government, the placement of DOGE staffers and other Musk allies into multiple prominent roles across government underscores his ongoing influence and long-term strategy to shape and capture government agencies that may serve his interests.
It appears that Mr. Lewin is organizationally, if not personally, responsible for the @StateDRL account's pro-Musk posting. The French government should know that this State Department account is under the control of a Musk acolyte. Marco Rubio should know that there is a zombie, checkmark-verified account posting and laundering corporate propaganda for X — expressing direct governmental and diplomatic support in a corporate conflict with the government of France.
And as one EU analyst in Brussels told us, “If Twitter wants to operate in the French market, they must follow French law.” America 2.0 has reached out to the State Department and to the office of Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau for comment. ◼
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