WASHINGTON — Maryland Rep. Andy Harris, in a fiery telephone town hall attracting about 10,000 participants, sharply defended Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and billionaire Elon Musk after one caller questioned Hegseth’s commitment to national security and another called Musk’s government cost-cutters “idiots.”

Harris, a Republican, answered all questions — many from frustrated or angry constituents — for an hour. He kept calm during the session, although he cut off a woman from Wicomico County who asked why Harris was “constantly defending” Musk and asked, “What are you doing to protect all your constituents’ data?”

Harris defended the release of limited personal data to Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which Harris and many other Republicans say is properly uncovering waste, fraud and abuse. For example, Harris said of waste in government programs: “How are they going to find out the fraud if they don’t know what birth date is associated with a name?”

Last week, Maryland-based U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander temporarily barred DOGE from accessing Social Security Administration data on millions of Americans. “The DOGE Team is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion,” the judge wrote.

Harris, the only Republican in Maryland’s congressional delegation, represents Harford County, the Eastern Shore and a portion of Baltimore County. He chairs the House Freedom Caucus, a conservative group in the chamber.

Many Republican lawmakers have avoided holding town halls in person during a volatile period when the Trump administration has significantly scaled down the federal government, slashed many programs, and sought to end diversity, equity, and inclusion hiring practices.

Harris said he didn’t hold Tuesday’s town hall in person because the audience — which he said was around 10,000 — was “far more than we could do in any other venue.” Most of the telephone town hall callers seemed motivated by their frustrations, with few positive comments shared.

Harris defended Hegseth, who has been criticized along with other Trump administration officials for texting plans for military strikes in Yemen to a group chat in a secure messaging app that included the editor of The Atlantic magazine.

“How can you support these types of people running this country?” a caller asked, referring to Hegseth and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who some have blamed for measles cases in the Southwest.

Harris suggested it was unfair to blame Kennedy, who has sometimes been skeptical of vaccines, “for a measles outbreak, when he came into office two weeks ago.”

Harris said Hegseth was not to blame for the editor’s inclusion in Monday’s chat, which some members of Congress — including Republicans — have described as a security breach.

“Look, the guy wore the uniform. He deserves to be secretary of Defense,” the congressman said.

Many of Tuesday’s questioners homed in on Musk, a longtime ally of Republican President Donald Trump who Democrats say is overstepping his authority as a non-elected bureaucrat.

“Anthony Fauci was not an elected official either,” Harris said to one caller, referring to the former federal health official during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Did you believe him?”

Of Musk, Harris said: “I actually think President Trump is fortunate to have somebody of the caliber of Elon Musk.” Harris credited Musk, who has led Tesla, which makes electric vehicles, and the aerospace company SpaceX, with scientific and business breakthroughs.

One aggrieved caller told Harris that “Trump has sent his idiots from the Department of Government Elimination into our fundamental medical research. Congressman Harris, wake up. This is important,” he said.

The caller referred to a new National Institutes of Health directive that would end hundreds of millions of dollars of assistance to pay indirect costs of medical research into Alzheimer’s and other diseases.

“We should not be in the business of funding exorbitant indirect costs,” Harris replied.

“Calling Elon Musk an idiot?” Harris said. “You might disagree with him,” he continued, but added that Musk has fueled some “incredible” scientific advances.

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