CNN
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A federal judge, citing a risk of “irreparable harm,” has temporarily restricted Elon Musk’s government efficiency team from accessing a critical Treasury Department payment system.
The judge’s order, issued Saturday, temporarily halts access to a sensitive payment system that distributes Americans’ tax returns, Social Security benefits, disability payments and federal employees’ salaries.
US District Judge Paul Engelmayer ordered the destruction of any downloaded information from the payment system by anyone given access to it since January 20, citing “the risk that the new policy presents of the disclosure of sensitive and confidential information and the heightened risk that the systems in question will be more vulnerable than before to hacking.”
A hearing on the matter was set for February 14.
Engelmayer’s order came in response to a suit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James and 18 other state attorneys general against the Trump administration.
The suit alleges the team led by Musk and staffed by young associates categorized as “special government employees” have been unlawfully granted access to the Treasury system that previously was restricted to specific government employees.
The effort by what the Trump administration calls the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, is intended to cut government costs drastically but has sought access to critical computer systems, including the Treasury payment system, at the objection of others in the agencies, as CNN previously reported.
DOGE’s actions have ignited a tense political debate and emergency court proceedings over its access to the system and the administration’s potential interest in using it to turn off payments as it chooses.
“The conduct of Doge members presents a unique security risk to the States and State residents whose data is held,” the lawsuit said.
The payment system offers services for more than 250 federal agencies and is the conduit for an extraordinary swath of critical individual payments. It is central to the operations of the US government and the lives of millions of Americans.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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