US watchdog to investigate Musk ‘Doge’ team’s access to payment systems

Treasury inspector general to launch audit as judge mulls whether access to sensitive data was unconstitutional

Loren Sciurba,
the treasury’s deputy inspector general,
said the audit would review the past two years of the system’s transactions
to examine Musk’s claim that his team has uncovered evidence of billions of dollars of fraudulent payments.

She said the audit
– launched in response to demands from the Democratic senators Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden
– would begin immediately and
take until August to complete.

Its launch coincided with a judge in Washington considering a legal suit
lodged by Democratic attorneys general from 14 states,
arguing that Doge’s work was illegal on the alleged grounds that Trump violated the US constitution
by creating a federal government department without congressional approval.

The attorneys general argue that Musk has exercised “virtually unchecked power”
by entering government agencies and ordering sweeping cuts without oversight or authorization from Congress.

#USAid, the government foreign assistance agency, has been shuttered on his authority
and its workforce put on leave,
although a judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to temporarily lift the funding freeze it has imposed on the agency’s humanitarian work.

The suit, led by
New Mexico’s justice department,
alleges that Doge has “unraveled federal agencies, accessed sensitive data, and caused widespread disruption for state and local governments, federal employees, and the American people”.

A separate hearing in a court in New York was due
over whether to extend a temporary block on the Doge team entering the #payments #system
that was imposed in an interim ruling last Saturday by Judge #Paul #Englemayer.

Musk called for Englemayer’s impeachment after that ruling,
while JD Vance, the vice-president, wrote in a social media most that judges were not allowed to interfere with a president’s “legitimate power”
– a view contested by most constitutional law experts.

On Friday, Judge #Jeannette #Vargas extended the temporary block, though she said she would not yet rule on whether there should be a longer lasting preliminary injunction prohibiting Doge’s access to the treasury payment system.

Swingeing cuts continued apace despite the plethora of legal challenges.

Federal agency heads were ordered to fire most recent hires who have not completed their probation period – a move likely to affect about 200,000 workers, the Washington Post reported.

The treasury department audit coincided with a call from #Chris #Murphy, Democratic senator for Connecticut,
for an official investigation into the “legality and scope” of Musk’s penetration of the federal bureaucracy.

“Musk and his aides are subject to various conflict of interest statutes which prohibit federal employees from participating in matters that impact their own financial interests,”
Murphy wrote to the US government comptroller general, #Eugene #Dodaro.

He added: “It is imperative the public understands whether Musk and his aides have complied with the law
and whether highly sensitive data could be at risk if accessed by private actors who seek to benefit from the information illegally,
or worse, by foreign adversaries who wish to attack this country.”

Murphy’s letter to Dodaro came as HuffPost reported that Doge had publicly #posted #classified #information about the size and staff of a US intelligence agency – the National Reconnaissance Office – on its new website.

The exposure reportedly left some “scrambling to check if their info has been accessed”,
according to one Defense Intelligence Agency employee who spoke with HuffPost.

Despite the rising resistance to its activities,
the US #armed #services were preparing a list of weapons systems to be cut
in preparation for Doge casting its gaze over the #Pentagon, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Members of Musk’s team were expected to visit the Pentagon on Friday.

“People are offering up things sacrificially, hoping that will prevent more cuts,” a defence official told the Journal.

The army was said to be volunteering cutting outdated drones and vehicles,
while the navy is proposing cuts to frigates and littoral combat ships.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/14/musk-doge-payment-system-investigation?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other