Top Democrat Demands Answers on Treasury 'Cover-Up' of Musk Team's Access to Key System

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden on Friday demanded answers from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent after reporting contradicted the department's narrative about the level of payment system access granted to lieutenants of unelected billionaire Elon Musk.

In a letter to Bessent, Wyden (D-Ore.) pointed to a Thursday Wired story revealing that a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) operative had "write access" to critical Treasury payment systems, despite the Treasury Department and Trump White House's insistence to the contrary.

According to Wired, 25-year-old Marko Elez—who resigned from his position Thursday after The Wall Street Journal inquired into his racist social media posts—"was granted privileges including the ability to not just read but write code on two of the most sensitive systems in the U.S. government: the Payment Automation Manager (PAM) and Secure Payment System (SPS) at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS)."

"Reporting from Talking Points Memo confirmed that Treasury employees were concerned that Elez had already made 'extensive changes' to code within the Treasury system," Wired added. "The payments processed by BFS include federal tax returns, Social Security benefits, Supplemental Security Income benefits, and veterans' pay."

"These mission-critical systems are not to be manipulated or subject to the whims of unelected billionaires or software engineers with fantasies of destroying the federal government from within."

Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, wrote Friday that "if Wired's reporting is accurate, the Treasury Department deliberately misled or outright lied to Congress to cover up DOGE's handling of the nation's most sensitive financial system."

"Treasury's refusal to provide straight answers about DOGE's actions, as well as its refusal to provide a briefing requested by several Senate committees, only heightens my suspicions," Wyden added. "It now appears Mr. Elez has resigned his position, not due to the flimsy and transparent cover-up of his ability to alter Treasury Department payment system code, but due to his links to a social media account that advocated racism and eugenics."

In a February 4 letter to Wyden, the Treasury Department claimed that DOGE staffers would "have read-only access to the coded data of the Fiscal Service's payment systems in order to continue this operational efficiency assessment."

Wyden demanded Friday that the Treasury Department identify any officials other than Elez who were given "read-write" access to the Treasury payment system. The senator also specifically demanded to know whether Musk himself has been granted access to the system's data.

"Reports make clear that Musk and his DOGE functionaries have sought access to the payments system not for an audit, but instead to manipulate the system in order to enact a political agenda," Wyden wrote. "The Treasury Department's payment systems facilitate nearly 90% of all federal payments and more than $6 trillion annually. These mission-critical systems are not to be manipulated or subject to the whims of unelected billionaires or software engineers with fantasies of destroying the federal government from within."