Unloading real estate

Another close Musk adviser—Nicole Hollander—is driving the initiative to unload the government's real estate. Her husband, Steve Davis, is acting as the de facto leader of the Musk-inspired Department of Government Efficiency.

Hollander, who studied business and real estate at George Washington University, is a licensed property manager in Washington, according to LinkedIn. Her profile also lists her as an employee of X since 2023.

In early March, the GSA real estate division released a list of hundreds of government-owned or leased properties it sought to sell in a frenzied rush. The list drew sharp criticism from Democrats and civil society groups because it proposed the sale of the Justice Department headquarters and included at least one undisclosed Central Intelligence Agency facility. GSA quickly withdrew the list.

That did not stall DOGE's fire sale. In the presentation viewed by the AP, Ehikian said the agency has cancelled more than 680 leases, listed or sold at least 32 properties worth $185 million and cut more than $50 billion in contracts.

Hollander has mostly operated behind the scenes. She rarely appears in Zoom meetings, according to employees. Documents obtained by the AP show spreadsheets she creates are stripped of her name and replaced with a more generic "GSA leadership."

The AP also obtained copies of some event invitations on Hollander's calendar. They showed Hollander had several meetings with commercial real estate and services firms, including a brokerage firm and a real estate consulting company that helps companies economize their space. She also took meetings with a consortium of Washington technology companies.

Hollander did not respond to a request for comment sent over LinkedIn or through a GSA spokesperson.

It's not the first time that Hollander has led a cost-cutting campaign for Musk. A lawsuit brought by fired Twitter employees in 2023 alleged that Hollander and Davis were part of a "cadre of sycophants" who were particularly zealous in implementing Musk's mandate overhaul of the social media company.

The suit claimed the pair, following their boss' orders, circumvented San Francisco building and safety codes, ignored their obligation to pay vendors and landlords and downsized without regard to the turmoil it caused employees or customers.

The couple, the lawsuit alleged, also lived at Twitter headquarters with their month-old child, mirroring Musk, who has a reputation for living at his company offices. That pattern appears to be repeating at GSA: Hollander has installed cots on the agency's sixth floor, according to employees.

Attorneys for Musk and X have moved to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that the Delaware federal court lacks jurisdiction and the lawsuit is legally groundless.

'Move Fast and Make Changes'

Another employee installed by the Trump administration at GSA worked for Musk at Tesla.

Shortly after taking over GSA's technology unit, Thomas Shedd told his workforce the goal was to "move fast and make changes," according to a transcript of the February meeting obtained by the AP. That's a variation on Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's motto of moving fast and breaking things.

Shedd soon began demanding access to sensitive systems that enable the public to communicate or interact with government services, according to staffers who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they feared reprisal.

Shedd's request prompted pushback from existing GSA staff.

One employee resigned rather than give Shedd access, according to 404 Media. He also told staff he wanted to consolidate all the government contracts in a centralized database to more easily figure out which ones to eliminate, according to a transcript of the meeting. It's not clear if he accomplished that goal.

Shedd did not reply to emails seeking comment. He and other GSA officials have also sought to rely more heavily on artificial intelligence.

In March, employees were given a demo of a new internal AI chatbot that is designed to more speedily identify contracts and real estate that can be jettisoned. Government agencies like GSA have been hesitant to deploy AI in such ways due to data-security and privacy concerns, according to current and former officials.

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