Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is facing accusations of dishonesty from three Senate Democrats over the extent of access Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E) had to critical US payment systems.
In a letter sent on Wednesday, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden, and Jack Reed claimed Bessent provided “inaccurate or incomplete information” regarding D.O.G.E’s involvement, contradicting prior assurances from the Treasury Department.
This is like a bank robber getting to fire the cops and disable the alarms just before he strolls into the bank lobby. pic.twitter.com/ownisJRPiL
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) February 12, 2025
“Despite Treasury’s denials, D.O.G.E personnel had the ability to modify system coding and were planning to use the Treasury systems to help pause payments by other agencies,” the letter stated. The senators are demanding a full, transparent, and public accounting of who accessed the systems, what they did, and why they did it.
D.O.G.E’s Treasury access triggers legal and political firestorm
The controversy began last month when D.O.G.E obtained access to the Treasury’s payment infrastructure, which triggered immediate opposition, with a senior Treasury official—who attempted to block the access—abruptly resigning.
Additionally, 19 state attorneys general and three major labor unions filed lawsuits in an attempt to prevent D.O.G.E from handling sensitive government financial systems.
Bessent, in an interview with Bloomberg last week, denied that D.O.G.E operatives were making changes to the system. “These are highly trained professionals. This is not some roving band running around doing things. This is methodical, and it is going to yield big savings,” he said.
The Democratic senators are challenging those claims. They pointed to a Feb. 4 letter from the Treasury to Senator Wyden, in which officials said that D.O.G.E had “read-only” access and was conducting a routine “operational efficiency assessment,” similar to past audits.
According to Warren, Wyden, and Reed, newly revealed documents from the lawsuits prove those statements were false.
The legal filings allege that a 25-year-old software engineer, Marko Elez, not Tom Krause—the supposed lead on the project—was given direct access to Treasury’s payment system. Elez allegedly received a government-issued laptop with a connection to the source code repository, contradicting previous claims that the department had no ability to alter the system.
Further complicating the matter, a sworn statement from a Treasury official shared that Krause and Elez were developing a payment plan to assist federal agencies in complying with an executive order to pause foreign aid-related payments.
The document also said that D.O.G.E personnel planned to flag payment files related to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Elez resigned from D.O.G.E last week after reports surfaced linking him to controversial online comments on racism and eugenics, though Elon later announced that Elez would be reinstated.
Trump, D.O.G.E target legacy media over government payments
President Donald Trump and Elon’s team have turned their attention to legacy media. Early Thursday morning, Trump took to Truth Social, calling out major publications over their alleged financial ties to the government.
“D.O.G.E: Looks like Radical Left Reuters was paid $9,000,000 by the Department of Defense to study ‘large scale social deception,’” Trump posted. “GIVE BACK THE MONEY, NOW!”
He then fired at Politico and The New York Times, accusing them of benefiting from taxpayer-funded subsidies. “D.O.G.E: Why was Politico paid Millions of Dollars for NOTHING? Buying the press??? PAY BACK THE MONEY TO THE TAXPAYERS! How much has the Failing New York Times paid? Is this the money that is keeping it open??? THEY ARE BUYING THE PRESS!” he wrote.
The claims follow comments from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt last week, in which she confirmed that over $8 million in taxpayer dollars had been used to subsidize Politico subscriptions for government agencies. “The D.O.G.E team is working on canceling those payments now,” Leavitt stated.
Trump is expected to address the controversy further during a press conference scheduled for 1 p.m. ET on Thursday. “TODAY IS THE BIG ONE: RECIPROCAL TARIFFS!!!” he wrote in another Truth Social post.
According to a CNBC report, the tariffs will not take effect immediately but are expected to roll out in the coming months, specifically around April. They will follow previous trade measures imposed on China, Canada, and Mexico. Trump’s tariffs on Canada and Mexico, currently paused, were originally placed as part of negotiations over border security and drug trafficking enforcement.
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