A federal judge early Saturday morning temporarily blocked Elon Musk's government efficiency team from accessing U.S. government systems used to process trillions of dollars worth of payments, citing the risk that sensitive information could be improperly disclosed.
U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan issued the order after a coalition of Democratic attorneys general from 19 U.S. states filed a lawsuit late Friday night alleging that Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) lacks legal authority to access U.S. Treasury Department systems.
A few hours after it was released, Musk, in a post on social network X he described as "completely insane!"
The billionaire said that the Treasury Department and DOGE have agreed to require all outgoing government payments to include a justification in the form of a comment and to have a categorization code. Musk also stated that these changes are being made by government employees and not someone from DOGE.
Friday's lawsuit pointed out that DOGE's access to the system "poses a huge risk to cybersecurity, putting a huge amount of funding at risk for states and their citizens".
State attorneys general have also criticized Musk and his team for disrupting federal funding for health clinics, preschools, climate initiatives and other programs, and expressed concern that Trump could use the information to advance his political agenda.
Engelmayer, a Democratic appointee of former President Barack Obama, said the states' claims are "particularly strong" and warrant him acting on their request for extraordinary relief pending another hearing before a different judge on Feb. 14.
His order prohibits political appointees, special government employees, and officials detailed from agencies outside the Treasury Department from accessing Treasury's payment and data systems.
The judge also ordered anyone he ordered banned from accessing those systems to immediately destroy any materials copied or downloaded.
What has DOGE done in 20 days?
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on January 20, Inauguration Day, formally establishing the DOGE to expose fraud and waste in government. The DOGE team aims to cut $500 billion in annual government spending, streamline the bureaucracy and reduce federal agencies.
The day after DOGE was founded, Musk announced the dissolution of its first agency: the Executive Committee of Chief Diversity Officers (CDOEC), the shuttering of its website, and the end of its role in advancing diversity strategies in government.
Next, DOGE targeted the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). On February 1, USAID's official website and social media accounts were shut down and its foreign aid programs were frozen. Two days later, the Trump administration closed USAID's Washington headquarters and put tens of thousands of employees on forced leave, preserving only 294 jobs. Musk called USAID a "criminal organization" and accused it of "funding leftist projects" and "financial abuse."
Shortly thereafter, DOGE began reviewing payment data from several federal departments, including the Departments of Treasury, Education, Defense, Health and Human Services, and Labor.
Musk's aggressive moves have alarmed Democrats and advocacy groups who say he is overstepping his authority by shutting down key government agencies and instituting mass layoffs of federal employees.
DOGE's actions have faced intense scrutiny of legality, internal controversy and widespread public outcry. More than 20 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday called on government oversight bodies to investigate the potential national security threats posed by the DOGE team.
Protests have erupted across the United States against Trump's foreign aid freeze and Musk's aggressive measures to shrink government. On Saturday, employees of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau protested Musk's attack on the agency, expressing concerns about his access to federal data and the billionaire's potential conflicts of interest. The bureau's website has been down since late Friday night, around the time Musk on X posted A message: "CFPB RIP."
CMG/ gnews - RoZ
PHOTO - X Elon Musk
English 
Czech 
Spanish 
French 
Italian 
German 
Russian 
Chinese