The acting chair, Mark Uyeda, is directing the Securities and Exchange Commission to pause its legal defense of a rule requiring companies to make climate disclosures.

Government investigations into Mr. Musk’s companies are stalling amid President Trump’s firings and Biden administration resignations.

The president-elect and his family have a direct and potentially lucrative stake in the sale of a cryptocurrency product that surged in value in the hours after going on sale, days before his inauguration.

Regulators filed a lawsuit in federal court stemming from Mr. Musk’s $44 billion purchase of the social media company now called X.