There is no shortage of hugely concerning developments stemming from the White House, but Donald Trump’s ties to Russia are inarguably among the most unsettling.
We already know all about Trump’s own Russian ties, after years of investigation into Russian interference in our elections — not to mention Trump’s apparent confusion about who launched the Russian invasion — but it’s the people he surrounds himself with that are on the receiving end of scrutiny. Tulsi Gabbard’s alleged Russian ties have been a frequent talking point over the last few weeks, and now yet another tie to Vladimir Putin has allegedly been unearthed.
This one doesn’t relate to the new director of national intelligence, but rather to a fringe non-government employee hired by fringe non-government employee Elon Musk . The youngest member of Musk’s team over at the Department of Government Efficiency ( DOGE ) might have his own ties to Mother Russia, according to fresh reporting.
19-year-old Edward Coristine is facing down accusations of familial ties to Russia, after a report emerged connecting the DOGE employee’s grandfather to the KGB. It was bad enough that Musk was allowed to bring a bunch of 20-something internet trolls into his new pseudo-government department, but as rumors of the KGB connection swirl, optics are only getting worse.
The KGB served as the primary security agency of the Soviet Union for several decades, leading up to the early ’90s. It earned a reputation as the Soviet Union’s boogyman, engaged as it was in mass surveillance, espionage, and various covert operations. Think of it like the Soviet Union’s CIA. Notably, Vladimir Putin was a KGB functionary, serving as a foreign intelligence officer for 16 years.
It’s been disbanded for decades now, but any mention of the KGB still elicits concern, which is why the American public reacted in alarm when alleged connections between the 19-year-old DOGE staffer best known as “Big Balls” and the agency were revealed. Independent reporter Jacob Silverman first made the claim on Feb. 21 via an article on his site titled “Prominent DOGE Staffer Is Grandson Of Turncoat KGB Spy.”
That article claims that Coristine is the grandson of KGB spy Valery Martynov, who was embroiled in a captivating cat and mouse scheme in the 1980s, after he turned on the Soviet Union and joined the FBI as a turncoat. Its a fascinating read, but a lengthy one, and that’s the most vital claim made across it — and one that’s worming its way into voters’ brains and sticking.
Look, even if Coristine is the grandson of a KGB agent, that doesn’t make him some Russian spy. But fresh details seem to emerge every minute on the tech bro cronies Musk has drummed up, and more ties to Russia — or the Soviet Union — is not what this government needs .
More important than his alleged grandfather’s history is Coristine’s own, which is peppered with typically disqualifying actions. Over just 19 years on this Earth, the young DOGE staffer has already made a thoroughly negative reputation for himself, between the reported selling of company secrets to competitors and those alleged ties to a cybercriminal organization known as the Com.
And he’s joined by Elon “awkward gesture” Musk and racist tweet-machine Marko Elez on a team that’s increasingly shirking the law in favor of pursuing its own aims. We’re literal weeks into this administration and DOGE has increasingly become the thing that goes bump in the night — and each new revelation about its members deepens anxiety over what DOGE will do next.