Nineteen states, led by Democratic attorneys general from New York, California, and others, just declared war on President Donald Trump and his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
On Friday, they filed a lawsuit in a New York federal court, accusing the administration of illegally giving Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E) access to highly sensitive personal data and financial systems managed by the US Treasury.
This lawsuit is of course the result of Trump’s executive order creating D.O.G.E, a temporary unit designed to cut wasteful spending and modernize government tech. What sounds simple on paper has turned into legal chaos and a political disaster.
Democrats don’t trust Elon’s intentions
The lawsuit claims Trump and Scott let Elon and his D.O.G.E crew have unrestricted access to the Treasury’s Bureau of Fiscal Services (BFS), which is responsible for managing billions of dollars in federal payments, from Social Security and Medicare to critical state funding.
According to the states, no one authorized this decision publicly, and no security measures were put in place. “Bessent’s implementation of Treasury’s new broader access policy, allowing Elon and his D.O.G.E team to access BFS’s payment systems, was adopted without any public announcement or explanation,” the states’ legal filing said.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, who’s leading the charge, blasted the decision as reckless in her statement. “The President does not have the power to give away our private information to anyone he chooses,” James said. She warned that Elon’s team is attempting to control or halt the flow of federal money to essential programs.
The states want the court to issue a permanent restraining order to block D.O.G.E from accessing Treasury data. They’re also demanding stricter vetting for anyone granted access, including mandatory background checks and security clearances, according to the filing.
The White House isn’t taking the lawsuit seriously. Harrison Fields, the principal deputy press secretary, called it a desperate attempt by Democrats to stay relevant after their November election defeat. “Instead of working on policies that reflect the will of the people, Democrats are busy gaslighting over the widely supported mission of D.O.G.E,” Fields said in a statement. “Slashing waste, fraud, and abuse is not a crime, no matter how hard they try to spin it.”
But legal experts believe Trump and Scott may have overstepped their authority. The states’ lawsuit accuses them of making decisions that were “arbitrary and capricious” under the Administrative Procedures Act, which could give the courts enough reason to block Elon’s access indefinitely.
Earlier this week, Wyden and other Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee demanded answers from White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. They want to know exactly how Elon’s team was vetted before being granted access to Treasury systems. “Did they run background checks? Did they review security risks?” Wyden asked. “Or did they just hand over the keys to the kingdom and hope for the best?”
National outrage breaks over D.O.G.E
Democrats in Congress have been sounding the alarm for weeks. Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon said the entire operation is an “unprecedented insider threat” to US national security.
“Elon’s team is digging through the government’s payment systems without oversight,” Wyden warned. He claims the Treasury Department deliberately misled Congress about how much power Elon and his crew really have. His warning aligns with an intelligence bulletin from government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton.
According to a Bloomberg report, the bulletin raised concerns that D.O.G.E’s access could compromise the integrity of BFS’s payment portal, which Wyden described as the government’s “financial heartbeat.”
But, “this is strictly read-only access,” Scott Bessent said in an interview on Thursday. He insists that the staffers are only there to review spending and identify inefficiencies. “There’s been no tinkering,” he said, dismissing the critics as alarmists.
But last week, unions representing federal workers filed their own lawsuit accusing Scott of illegally sharing workers’ personal information with D.O.G.E without their consent, so a federal judge temporarily limited Elon’s team’s access while that case moves forward.
The Coristine scandal
Adding to the drama of course is Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old member of Elon’s D.O.G.E squad, who was previously fired from his internship at cybersecurity firm Path Network for allegedly leaking sensitive internal data to a competitor, according to the Bloomberg report.
Path Network confirmed his firing after an internal investigation found that Coristine retained unauthorized access to their systems after being let go. In messages shared on Discord, Coristine admitted he could have wiped Path’s servers if he’d wanted to, though he did claim he never acted on the opportunity.
“This is exactly why you don’t hand out access without proper vetting,” said Wyden, calling Coristine’s involvement another reason why the entire D.O.G.E program should be suspended immediately. “Every day, new disturbing details come to light about just how unqualified these people are,” he added.
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