FEC Chairman Sean Cooksey argued that the agency’s actions amounted to efforts “to intimidate and frighten private citizens and organizations into campaigning on behalf of President Trump” and attempted to influence the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. letter Wednesday to DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz.

The FEC chief also asked Horowitz and the DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility to open an investigation into the matter and “hold accountable any person responsible for any violation of federal law or department policies.”

The Washington Examiner reached out to the DOJ for comment outside normal business hours, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Cooksey’s words mark the FEC’s official reaction to a letter The DOJ subpoenaed Musk’s pro-Trump political action committee just weeks before Election Day.

The letter, which was first reported by New York Timeswarned Musk’s America PAC that the $1 million donation it was offering to voters who signed his organization’s petition in support of constitutional freedom could violate the law.

While Musk defended the giveaways by noting that participants “do not have to register as Republicans or vote in the Nov. 5 election,” the news sparked a media firestorm, with Democrats criticizing it. USING the DOJ letter to claim that Musk is making “a mockery of democracy.”

“The motivation behind this stunt is obvious,” Cooksey said after comparing the DOJ warning letter to the Watergate scandal of 1972. “President Biden’s Justice Department staff wanted to stop an independent political committee from campaigning for President Trump in key states right before Election Day.”

Cooksey also accused the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section of immediately leaking the letter he sent Musk to New York Times and said the move violated the department’s media policies.

“Writing such a letter and then leaking it also violates the department’s longstanding policy against identifying unindicted parties and disclosing prejudicial information,” he wrote.

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Musk is a longtime Democrat who supported former President Barack Obama before he said he began switching to the GOP in recent years. Tesla and SpaceX founder Musk backed Trump following the first assassination attempt on the president-elect in July. He was appointed this week, along with entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, will lead the Department of Government Efficiency for the incoming Trump administration.

“Together, these two great Americans will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, reduce excessive regulation, reduce wasteful spending and restructure federal agencies — essential to the Save America movement,” Trump said Tuesday.