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Judge blocks DOGE access to Treasury data after NY AG Letitia James leads blue states in lawsuit

February 8, 2025 | | Print Article

Nineteen Democrat attorneys general led by wildly leftist New York Attorney General Letitia James sued the Trump administration on Friday demanding the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) be denied access to Treasury Department records.

U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer, an Obama appointee, was quick to act on the lawsuit, blocking DOGE early Saturday from accessing Treasury records that contain sensitive personal data such as Social Security and bank account numbers for millions of Americans, NPR reported.

The suit was filed specifically by the Democrat AGs of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

“President Trump does not have the power to give away Americans’ private information to anyone he chooses, and he cannot cut federal payments approved by Congress,” James said in a statement. “Musk and DOGE have no authority to access Americans’ private information and some of our country’s most sensitive data.”

The suit claims that the Trump administration “illegally” provided DOGE access to the Treasury Department’s central processing system, which contains the sensitive personal information of millions of Americans.

“With this lawsuit, Attorney General James and the coalition of attorneys general are seeking to stop the Trump administration’s new policy that illegally grants DOGE, Musk, and others access to Americans’ confidential information and the U.S. Treasury’s payment systems,” a press release from James’ office reads.

“This expanded access could allow Musk and his team to block federal funds to states and programs providing health care, childcare, and other critical services,” it continues.

And there it is. The second sentence accidentally gives up Democrats’ real intention, which is to prevent DOGE from cutting off spending to the left’s favored slush funds.

As previously reported, a deep investigation by DOGE has found that the federal government, particularly agencies like USAID, have for years been paying out huge sums of money to the left’s slush funds.

“The Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) oversight … revealed deep financial links between the federal government and left-wing journalism outlets that repeatedly push narratives supporting Democrats and progressive causes while demonizing Republicans and their objectives,” Just The News reported.

“It further found hundreds of millions of dollars going to seemingly ridiculous projects such as an Iraqi version of Sesame Street and a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)-themed musical in Ireland. While such projects may seem absurd, they play a critical role in shaping social narratives globally and manufacturing support for progressive reforms,” the reporting continued.

Despite the suit’s nefarious intent, U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued a preliminary injunction Saturday morning blocking DOGE from access to the Treasury Department’s computer system and ordering DOGE staffers to “destroy any and all copies of material downloaded from the Treasury Department’s records and systems.”

Engelmayor, an Obama appointee, alleged in his ruling that the suing states would “face irreparable” harm without immediate relief.

“That is both because of 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,” he wrote.

The next hearing in this case is scheduled for Feb. 14th.

Responding on Twitter/X to James’ hyperbolic rhetoric about DOGE, critics slammed her into smithereens for trying to stop the newfound agency from auditing the government’s spending.

Look:

Vivek Saxena
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