Vivek Ramaswamy, the co-chair of the proposed Department of Government Efficiency alongside billionaire Elon Musk, has a lengthy history of attacking his partner’s ties to China, frequently referring to Musk as a “circus monkey” and a puppet for the Chinese Communist Party.

According to recordings and social media posts obtained by CNN’s K-File, Ramswamy once described Musk, the Tesla billionaire who is now his co-director at the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), as a puppet of the Chinese government.

Vivek Ramaswamy repeatedly accused Elon Musk of kowtowing to China in the years before the pair were tapped to take on President-elect Donald Trump’s federal cost cutting venture as part of the proposed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

From electric cars to solar panels, Mr. Musk has built businesses in high-tech manufacturing sectors now targeted by Beijing for Chinese dominance.

Vivek Ramaswamy, tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to lead a commission to slash government spending alongside Elon Musk, excoriated his new partner as a pupped of China’s governing Communist Party.

CNN’s KFile dug into Ramaswamy’s long history of attacking Musk, calling him a “circus monkey,” saying his company Tesla is “beholden” to the communist state, and that “Tesla and SpaceX quite likely would not exist as successful businesses if it were not for the use of public funding.

The partnership between tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and billionaire Elon Musk as they begin working for Donald Trump's proposed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) may be off to an awkward start after CNN dug up some attacks Ramaswamy made about his partner in rooting out what they believe to be government inefficiency.