Washington – the Department of Government Efficiency, Led by President Donald Trump and CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, has gained access to sensitive treasury data, including social security and Medicare paying systems for customers, according to two people who are familiar with the situation.
The move by Doge, a Task Force from Trump administration that has been assigned to find ways Federal employees dismissCut programs and oblique federal regulations means that it can, among other things, have a wide leeway to gain access to important tax deferred data.
The New York Times first reported the news about the entrance of the group of the huge federal payment system. The two people who spoke with the Associated Press spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
The highest Democrat in the Senate Finance Committee, Ron Wyden of Oregon, sent a letter to Trump’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday who expressed concern that “civil servants associated with Musk, possibly aimed at these payment systems for illegal payments to some lagging behind Every number of programs. “
“To say the bone, these payment systems simply cannot fail, and any politically motivated involvement with them risks serious damage to our country and the economy,” said Wyden.
The news also comes after Treasurries acting deputy secretary David Lebryk abandoned his position in Treasury after more than 30 years of service. The Washington Post reported on Friday that Lebryk resigned after Musk and his Doge organization had requested access to sensitive Treasury data.
“The tax service fulfills some of the most vital positions in the government,” Lebryk said in a letter to Treasury employees who were broadcast on Friday. “Our work can be unknown most of the public, but that does not mean that it is not exceptionally important. I am grateful that I was able to work together with some of the best and most talented operating staff of the nation. “
The letter has not mentioned a request request to gain access to Treasury payments.
Musk responded on Saturday to a message on his social media platform X about the departure of Lebryk: “The @doge team discovered, among other things, that payment approval officers at Treasury were always instructed to approve payments, even for well -known fraudulent or terrorist groups. They have literally never refused a payment in their entire career. Not even once. “
He has not provided any proof of this claim.
Doge was originally led by Musk and the former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who jointly promised to cut billions from the federal budget and “massive staff reductions in federal bureaucracy.”
RamasWamy has had since then Doge left while he is approaching a run for the Governor of Ohio.
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