Judge stops DOGE Access to the Ministry of Finance’s payment systems

A federal judge early Saturday limited temporary access from Elon Musk’s government efficiency program to the Ministry of Finance’s payment and data systems and said there was a risk of “irreparable damage.”

Trump administration’s new policy of allowing politically appointed and “special government employees” Access to these systems that contain very sensitive information, such as banking information, increases the risk of leaks and systems becoming more vulnerable than before to hack, US district judge Paul A. Engelmayer said in an emergency.

Judge Engelmayer ordered any such official who had been given access to the systems since January 20 to “destroy all copies of material downloaded from the Treasury Department’s records and systems.” He also limited the Trump administration from giving access to these categories of officials.

The defendants – President Trump, Finance Minister Scott Bessent and the Ministry of Finance – were to show reason on February 14 for Judge Jeannette A. Vargas, who handles the case permanently, Judge Engelmayer said.

The order came in response to one lawsuit Filed Friday by Latitia James of New York along with 18 other Democratic State Attorney General General, accused that then Mr. Trump had given Mr. Musk that the government’s computer systems had violated the protection that was laid down in the Constitution and “not faithfully executed the laws passed by Congress. “

The Attorney General said that the president had given “practically unbound access” to the federal government’s most sensitive information to young helpers working for Mr. Musk, which runs a program that the administration calls the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE.

While the group was allegedly assigned to reduce costs, “members are trying to access government data to support initiatives to block federal funds from reaching certain adverse recipients,” according to the suit. Mr. Musk has publicly stated that he intended to “carelessly freeze streams of federal funding without warning,” the suit said, pointing to his social media posts in recent days.

In her own Social Media Post On Saturday, Mrs. James repeated that members of the cost -saving team “must destroy all items they have achieved.”

“I have said before, and I will say it again: No one is above the law,” she wrote.

The efforts to reach press staff in the White House did not succeed on Saturday morning.

In a statement on Thursday, after the Attorney General said they would sue, a spokesman for the president said Mr. Musk’s team acted legally. “Cutting waste, fraud and abuse and becoming better managers of the US taxpayer’s hard -earned dollars can be a crime for the Democrats, but it is not a crime in a court,” said spokesman Harrison Fields.

Although the court decision requires an immediate stop for Musk employees’ access to the Ministry of Finance’s payment system, it was not immediately clear when or whether they would fully comply with it.

In a previous case, Ms. James and 22 Attorneys General Mr. Trump’s freezer of federal grants and won a temporary break on January 31 and ordered the administration to stop detention funds. However on Friday, the coalition appealed to the judge againAnd said the money was still detained from states, support recipients and programs.

If the administration does not comply with court decisions, it is unclear how they can be enforced. The Constitution says that a president “must take care that the laws are faithfully performed.”

Mr. Musk has so far been unlimited. When DOGE first approached the Treasury, a top official refused to give members access, which led to a standoff. The official David Lebrik was put on leave before suddenly retiring.

Almost instantly, Mr. Musk’s team access to the government’s most basic computer data, including the US Ministry of Finance’s payment system used to pay funds, including social security services, veteran’s benefits and federal employee salaries.

The system – which channels approx. 90 percent of the US government payments, spending about $ 6.75 trillion last financial year – paying money directly to people in states as well as to state governments, the case said.

Before Mr. Trump joined last month, Accss became a limited number of career employees with security preparations, Suit says. But Mr. Musk’s efforts had interrupted federal funding to health clinics, kindergartens and climate raisives, according to archiving.

The money was already awarded by Congress. The Constitution assigns the legislators the job of deciding public spending.

“President Trump does not have the power to give away Americans’ private information to someone he chooses, and he cannot reduce federal payments approved by Congress,” Ms. James in a statement. “Musk and DOGE have no authority to access Americans’ private information and some of our country’s most sensitive data.”

The trial was filed with the lawyers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin. It is one of many who resist Mr. Trump’s aggressive actions since he took office last month.

Three unions this week sued the US Office of Personnel AdministrationThe Government’s Department of Human Resources, to block effort to persuade about two million federal employees to resign.

Two anonymous sets of FBI agents and staff defendant to prevent Trump administration from releasing the identity of people who worked with investigations of the capitol riots on January 6, 2021. They won an order on Friday that required the administration should keep their names secret.

Ms. James and other lawyers were generally challenged by Mr. Trump’s executive order that tried to quit Birthright -State Citizenship. This week, she warned New York Hospitals that compliance with an executive order in the White House seeking to end gender -affirming medical treatment of young people could violate state legislation.

The actions of DOGE – Bulldozing through the federal government – have been confusing and regarding democratic lawmakers and federal employees.

With license from Mr. Trump sees Mr. Musk’s mandate to be great: His team has tried to close the US Agency for International Development, an important international source of foreign aid. On Friday, a federal judge in Washington ordered a break on an attempt to put 2,200 USAID employees on leave and quickly withdraw employees stationed abroad.

On Friday, Mr. Trump, that Mr. Musk would draw attention to Pentagon, which has billions of dollars in contracts with companies, Mr. Musk Owner.

The heart of the trial filed by Ms. James’s coalition on Friday, was focused on Mr. Musk’s access to the Ministry of Finance. The department’s system is a storage site for some Americans’ most sensitive information, including personal numbers and bank account numbers, as the General Prosecutor said puts residents in their states on personal risk.

In a video message on Friday, Mrs. James said the president “does not have the power to give our private information away to whom he wants.”

“We are suing democratic Attorneys to stop this unprecedented and unauthorized attacks,” she said.

Nathan Willis contributed with reporting.