Elon Musk's team faces scrutiny over US data access scandal
Elon Musk's team working with DOGE should not have access to the sensitive personal data of millions of Americans. They easily obtain it because our security measures are inadequate, admitted Donald Trump. According to Wired, one of Musk's employees was dismissed from his previous job for stealing company data.
Trump responded in this way to the media and opposition's outrage over Musk's associates gaining access to the Department of Treasury's payment systems containing sensitive personal data of almost all US citizens and federal employees. The President acknowledged that the young employees of DOGE do not require such access, "but they get it very easily."
"Well, it doesn't, but they get it very easily, I mean we don't have very good security in our country," said Trump during a press conference after meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
Intervention at the Treasury
According to "The Washington Post," initially, Treasury Department employees were reluctant to grant access to Musk's team, but they eventually conceded following interventions by the billionaire himself.
Trump suggested that Musk's team operates under his direction, investigating, among other things, spending by the Pentagon and the Department of Education.
"They’re doing it at my insistence. It would be a lot easier not to do it, but we have to take some of these things apart to find the corruption and we’ve found tremendous corruption. They know what they’re doing. They’ll ask questions, and they’ll see immediately as somebody gets tongue-tied that they’re either crooked or don’t know what they’re doing. We have very smart people going," Trump recounted.
Trump on fraud at USAID
The President stated that Musk's team uncovers numerous frauds and abuses, particularly at the USAID agency. Trump ordered the closure of this agency, a move that sparked controversy and led to legal action.
The activities of Musk's team have been controversial since Trump took office. On Friday, Wired reported that one of the DOGE employees, 19-year-old programmer Edward Coristine, was dismissed from his last job for passing company data to its competitors.
The previous day, another of Musk's associates, 25-year-old Marko Elez, who had access to the Treasury's central payment system, resigned from his position due to openly racist posts discovered by the "Wall Street Journal."
Elon Musk and Vice President JD Vance supported Elez, organising a poll on his reinstatement. Trump backed the Vice President's stance, though he did not know the details of the case.
