Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mt., speaks during a hearing at the Capitol in Washington, May 2, 2023.
Andrew Harnik/Associated Press
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Andrew Harnik/Associated Press
Tech companies are expecting a wave of scrutiny from Democrats over the industry’s ties to the Trump administration when they take over Congress in January. In anticipation, many are hiring former Democratic lawmakers and aides to make their case to the new House and Senate majorities.
Among the latest to make this move is Palantir, which hired former Sen. Jon Tester, a colorful Democrat from Montana who is also an organic farmer.
“My agreement with Palantir is advisory in nature, it’s not lobbying,” Tester, who lost his Senate reelection bid in 2024, told NPR in an interview.
The secretive American software and artificial intelligence company angered Democrats in Congress during President Trump’s second term. Palantir — named by billionaire founder Peter Theil after the mythical “seeing stone” in JRR Tolkien’s book Lord of the Rings – has been accused of encouraging mass surveillance of Americans and immigrants.
“Perception is reality in Washington, D.C. and in politics in general,” Tester said. “But the thing is, I think Palantir has a good story to tell, and they need to tell it. And I hope people are receptive to it.”
Palantir has long denied allegations that it contributes to mass surveillance of the American public – saying it does not collect or manipulate data, but rather creates tools for government agencies and private companies to organize and optimize their own information. The company said it was committed to “protecting privacy and upholding liberal democratic values.”
Earlier this year, while in the minority, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and 30 other Democratic lawmakers demanded answers about Palantir’s contracts with the Department of Homeland Security and whether its tools were part of the federal government’s efforts to surveil Americans. Palantir denied the accusation and said it “does not conduct or enable mass surveillance of American citizens,” but Wyden is not entirely satisfied with its response, according to his Senate office.
“Senator Wyden has a number of questions about Palantir’s work to facilitate the Trump-Vance abuse of government data that he intends to ask again as Chairman of the Finance Committee,” Wyden’s team wrote in a statement to NPR. “If Palantir does not respond next year, mandatory proceedings will be on the table.”
It’s no coincidence that tech companies are turning to Democrats to help repair their reputations, said Aya Ibrahim, a senior fellow at the AI Now Institute and a former State Department official.
“I think at the end of the day these companies have an inordinate amount of money and they will try to invest it where they can in order to avoid any real liability,” Ibrahim said.
During Trump’s second term, Palantir CEO and co-founder Alex Karp – a self-described liberal – was highly critical of Democrats on issues such as immigration and AI.
“I would say to my Democratic friends, of which I still have, I hope there are many of them,” Karp said in an interview with Axios in 2025, specifically referring to his support for much more restrictive immigration policies. “You have to grow a backbone because a lot of these people agree with me privately.”
During his 18 years in the Senate, Tester was an outspoken critic of the PATRIOT Act passed shortly after the September 11 attacks, which expanded the Justice Department’s surveillance powers. When asked if his concerns about government surveillance persisted and if he had the same concerns with his new employer, Tester said Palantir was different and that the company didn’t build “big databases” or exchange private data.
“I wanted to eliminate the Patriot Act because it was about privacy,” Tester said. “It was about making sure that no one was watching me, including Big Brother. And by the way, I talked to a lot of people within Palantir. They believe the same as I do. This is an organization that believes in privacy.”
Last year, more than a dozen former Palantir employees criticized the company over its $30 million contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to create a tool providing “near real-time visibility” into migrant movements. The former employees argued that the company violated its own code of conduct by working with the Trump administration on such products.
Valued at more than $350 billion, Palantir currently holds federal contracts worth $2 billion, according to government records. The lion’s share goes to the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and State, but the software company also works with the Departments of Agriculture, Veterans Affairs and Health and Human Services.
Tester said he would focus on the government services side of Palantir’s work.
The former Montana senator called the midterm election results a blue “tidal wave” after two years of a Congress that gave him a “great disappointment.”
“It’s going to make a difference in terms of what policies are advocated,” Tester said of the next Congress. “I don’t think you’re going to see the kind of aggressive tactics adopted by ICE in the future.”
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