Scott Bessent testifies before a Senate Finance Committee hearing on his nomination to be secretary of the Treasury, on Capitol Hill, on Jan. 16, 2025. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
The language of the order specifically bars "political appointees, special government employees, and any government employee detailed from an agency outside the Treasury Department access to Treasury Department payment systems or any other data maintained by the Treasury Department containing personally identifiable information." Trump, Secretary Scott Bessent and the U.S. Treasury are named as defendants in the case.
Elon Musk and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (Getty Images)
Bessent sent a letter to Congress early last week detailing that DOGE was given "read only" access to the Treasury data, and that the investigation has "not caused payments for obligations such as Social Security and Medicare to be delayed or re-routed."
DOGE, led by Musk, has been on an investigation blitz of the federal government to stamp out government overspending and fraud. Musk reported after Engelmayer's ruling that DOGE had already reportedly uncovered fraud at the national treasury.
"[Friday], I was told that there are currently over $100B/year of entitlements payments to individuals with no SSN or even a temporary ID number. If accurate, this is extremely suspicious," Musk wrote hours after the ruling.
"When I asked if anyone at Treasury had a rough guess for what percentage of that number is unequivocal and obvious fraud, the consensus in the room was about half, so $50B/year or $1B/week!! This is utterly insane and must be addressed immediately."
Vice President JD Vance also weighed in on the order Sunday, slamming it as a judge trying to control "the executive's legitimate power."
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"If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal. If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that's also illegal. Judges aren't allowed to control the executive's legitimate power," he posted to X.
Vice President JD Vance claps at campaign event. (Getty Images)
Musk seethed following the order that Engelmayer should be "impeached."
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"A corrupt judge protecting corruption. He needs to be impeached NOW!" he said in response to another social media post reporting Bessent was reportedly blocked from accessing his own agency's data.
Fox News Digital's Andrea Margolis contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/judges-hopelessly-ambiguous-order-barring-doge-from-treasury-sparks-concern-bessent-may-also-locked-out