‘Irreparable harm’: Judge halts Elon Musk’s DOGE team’s infiltration of US Treasury
Washington: A federal judge has temporarily barred Elon Musk’s team of financial inquisitors from accessing the US Treasury’s payments system, the latest in a line of legal obstacles to confront the Trump administration as it attempts to shrink the public service.
Meanwhile, Musk revealed that his team was making changes inside the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which was responsible for billions in disaster relief and prevention payments.
“Potentially illegal payments will now be paused for review,” Musk told followers.
Billionaire Tesla and Space X founder Elon Musk has become the preferred target of Democrats as they begin to fight back against the Trump administration.Credit: AP
President Donald Trump and his cabinet have given Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, extraordinary access and power to audit government departments for wasteful spending. Democrats have seized on the Treasury case, raising questions about Musk’s access to personal data, bank account details and the like.
Nineteen state attorneys-general led by Letitia James of New York won an injunction on Saturday when judge Paul A Engelmeyer agreed the states could face “irreparable harm” from DOGE’s access to Treasury’s systems.
“That is both because of the risk that the new policy presents of the disclosure of sensitive and confidential information and the heightened risk that the systems in question will be more vulnerable than before to hacking,” Engelmeyer wrote in an emergency order. The case will next be heard on February 14.
The temporary order also directed anyone from Musk’s team who accessed such information to destroy the material they had already downloaded.
Musk immediately went on the offensive, branding Engelmeyer “an activist posing as a judge” and reposting unverified claims that the Treasury Department was uniquely beleaguered by fraud and waste.
“This ruling is absolutely insane!” Musk said on his social media platform X. “How on earth are we supposed to stop fraud and waste of taxpayer money without looking at how money is spent? That’s literally impossible! Something super shady is going to protect scammers.”
It was not immediately clear whether Musk, his team and the administration intended to comply with the court’s order. In a separate legal challenge, a judge had already ruled that DOGE’s access to the system should be limited to two staffers – one of whom was, on the same day, forced to resign for racist posts.
After Vice President J.D. Vance said the staffer should be reinstated, arguing everybody makes mistakes, Trump was asked for his view on the matter. “I don’t know about the particular thing but if the vice president said that ... I’m with the vice president,” Trump said.
Musk quickly announced the 25-year-old staff member would be brought back. “To err is human, to forgive divine,” he said.
President Donald Trump has tasked Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency with reducing the size and cost of the bureaucracy.Credit: Bloomberg
Separately, a court in Massachusetts paused the Trump administration’s offer to buy out federal employees by promising to pay them until the end of September if they resigned by February 6. About 60,000 workers had signed up for the deal, US media reported, quoting administration officials.
The White House greeted the pause optimistically, saying it was grateful to the judge for extending the deadline. Senior Trump aide Stephen Miller indicated the administration’s next move would involve forced sackings from the bureaucracy, starting with those who wanted to work from home.
“Of course, if people refuse to come back to the office, they’re going to be laid off,” he told Fox News. “Why would federal taxpayers be subsidising Netflix-watching at home for so-called federal workers? How can you call yourself a federal worker if you never show up at the office?”
Miller also brushed off criticism from Democrats that Musk, an unelected billionaire with vast and complex business interests, had been given unfettered power with no accountability.
Musk was an employee who served the elected president, Miller said, implementing an agenda for which the American people voted in November.
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