In an eight-page order released on Tuesday, US District Judge Theodore Chuang rejected a request from Musk and officials linked to the Department of Government Efficiency to forgo a deposition. It ordered him, along with former acting USAID director Peter Marocco and Department of State official Jeremy Lewin, to be deposed. Musk's legal team had tried to use the "apex doctrine" to avoid the deposition, a rule that allows high-ranking government officials to avoid depositions in some situations.
A protester holds a sign behind Ghislaine Maxwell's Miami defense attorney David O. Markus outside the federal courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida, on Friday, July 25, 2025. Markus is representing Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence in Tallahassee after being convicted for recruiting underage girls to engage in illegal sex acts with Jeffrey Epstein. Maxwell was deposed on Thursday and Friday by Todd Blanche, a top Justice Department official. USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Dr. Kevin O'Connor exited a deposition after citing federally protected doctor-patient privilege and pleading the Fifth Amendment, declining to discuss Biden's health.