Treasury Department sued over DOGE takeover

Feb 04, 2025 09:07 AM - 5 days ago 6103

President Donald Trump’s management is being sued complete Elon Musk’s alleged “massive and unprecedented” intrusion into the American government’s costs systems. The suit, revenge successful a Washington, DC national tribunal Monday evening by the defense group Public Citizen, calls for the tribunal to extremity the “unlawful, ongoing, systematic, and continuous disclosure of individual and financial accusation … to Elon Musk and different members of the alleged ‘Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), aliases to immoderate different person.”

Public Citizen filed the suit against the Treasury Department connected behalf of the Alliance for Retired Americans, American Federation of Government Employees, and the Service Employees International Union days aft reports emerged that Musk and DOGE had gained entree to national costs systems — and to millions of Americans’ Social Security numbers. The suit claims that the Treasury Department, led by precocious appointed Secretary Scott Bessent, violated the Privacy Act of 1974 and the Internal Revenue Code’s regulations surrounding payer accusation by letting Musk and DOGE entree these systems.

“People who must stock accusation pinch the national authorities should not beryllium forced to stock accusation pinch Elon Musk aliases his ‘DOGE,’” the title sounds . “And national rule says they do not person to.”

Lawmakers person besides called for investigations into Musk’s evident takeover of the Treasury Department. Over the weekend, Sens. Ron Wyden (D-WA) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) wrote to Bessent demanding to cognize whether he had fixed Musk “full access” to the national government’s costs systems.

“To put it bluntly, these costs systems simply cannot fail, and immoderate politically-motivated meddling successful them risks terrible harm to our state and the economy,” wrote Wyden, the ranking personnel of the Senate Committee connected Finance. “I tin deliberation of nary bully logic why governmental operators who person demonstrated a blatant disregard for the rule would request entree to these sensitive, mission-critical systems.”

Wyden’s missive ended pinch a database of questions for Bessent, including whether officials associated pinch Musk aliases DOGE person requested aliases been granted entree to the Fiscal Service’s costs systems. Wyden besides asked astir what accusation information measures were taken to guarantee that Musk and DOGE’s entree to authorities costs systems “does not consequence successful hackers and overseas spies breaching aliases different gaining entree to the Fiscal Service’s costs systems.”

In a abstracted letter, Warren asked what safeguards are successful spot to guarantee entree to these systems isn’t abused, arsenic good arsenic what measures are being taken to protect Americans’ delicate data, including Social Security numbers. Warren asked that Bessent respond to her questions by February 7th, while Wyden requested a consequence by February 12th. Neither missive specifies what happens if Bessent refuses to respond.

Bradley Moss, a nationalist information lawyer, told The Verge that the management could look different ineligible challenges to DOGE’s attempts to gut the national bureaucracy. Organizations whose backing is trim owed to the frost successful USAID payments could sue, arsenic could national labor who get purged by DOGE. Congress, too, could situation DOGE’s efforts to “impound costs that Congress appropriated to peculiar agencies, contracts, aliases programs,” Moss said.

“President Trump is intelligibly successful a ‘just do it and beryllium legends’ phase,” Moss said. “He is pushing each the boundaries to spot what he tin execute earlier anyone tin legally extremity him, if ever. It remains to beryllium seen if the courts will cheque his authoritarian actions, arsenic it is clear Republican majorities successful Congress will not.”

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