Following a court victory on Tuesday, Elon Musk and his team at the Department of Government Efficiency have gained access to critical financial data for numerous other federal agencies. Meanwhile, a member of the DOGE team is getting ready to receive data on Internal Revenue Service operations.
As a senior adviser to the acting commissioner, the I.R.S. is getting ready to grant sensitive taxpayer data to Gavin Kliger, a young software engineer employed by [DOGE]. The terms of his assignment are still being worked out by the I.R.S., according to The New York Times.
Such measures, according to critics, would give Musk and his operation previously unheard-of oversight. During the Biden administration, Lily Batchelder, a Treasury Department official, wrote on X that she could not remember political appointees ever having access to the IRS database, the outlet added.
The possibility of using this access to target political rivals or expose the personal information of private citizens is a serious concern. Batchelder cautioned that this action might be against federal laws that forbid the executive branch from interfering with taxpayer audits. The Times also noted that Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Ron Wyden of Oregon have called for more information regarding the scope of access allowed.
The Times report did mention that it actually happened recently — to Musk — even though Democrats and their allies in the legacy media are still claiming, without any proof, that Musk and his DOGE team will be “accessing sensitive taxpayer information” and may leak it. In 2021, an IRS official leaked his 2014–2018 tax returns to the news organization ProPublica, along with those of other billionaires who are disliked by the left.
Musk was appointed to his position by President Donald Trump, who is still totally committed to the goals of the multibillionaire founder of SpaceX and Tesla.
“For far too long, waste, fraud, and abuse have been deeply ingrained in our broken system,” said White House spokesperson Harrison Fields in a statement. “To find and fix it, direct access to the system is required.”
A request by 14 Democratic state attorneys general to immediately impose extensive restrictions on Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was denied by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Tuesday.
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The coalition of states, led by New Mexico, contends that Musk’s broad role at DOGE is unconstitutional due to the fact that the Senate did not confirm him. According to The Hill, they had attempted to prevent DOGE from gaining access to seven federal agencies.
At this point in the case, Chutkan rejected their request, claiming they had not provided the required evidence of irreparable harm.
“In her decision, Chutkan wrote, “Plaintiffs rightfully question what seems to be the unchecked authority of an unelected individual and an entity that was not created by Congress and over which it has no oversight.”
“It must be undeniable under these circumstances that this court acts within the scope of its authority,” she added. Therefore, without concrete proof of impending, irreversible harm to these Plaintiffs, it cannot grant a TRO [temporary restraining order], particularly one as broad as the Plaintiffs’ request. That criterion is not met by the current record.
The judge implied in a footnote that the Justice Department might have overstated the degree of DOGE’s control over personnel matters in court documents. Chutkan wrote, “Defense attorneys are reminded of their duty to make truthful representations to the court.”
Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has already prompted legal challenges, has acted quickly since Trump’s inauguration to place staff in federal agencies in an effort to cut trillions of dollars in government spending.
Chutkan, an Obama appointee, is at the center of yet another legal dispute involving the president as a result of the swift overhaul. Chutkan previously oversaw the criminal case against the former president that was dismissed on January 6.
