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"It is important that we continue to signal to one another what we believe, because if we get quiet... then everyone around us is going to think that everyone has given up," said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a recent livestream.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York took to social media on Sunday to denounce billionaire Elon Musk, who has been tasked with leading the new administration's effort to slash federal spending and bureaucracy, and is currently working to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development.
In response to reporting that U.S. President Donald Trump's administration placed two security chiefs at USAID on leave after their refusal to hand over classified materials to Musk's "government-inspection teams," perThe Associated Press, Ocasio-Cortez on Sunday wrote: "This is a five alarm fire. The people elected Donald Trump to be president—not Elon Musk."
"Having an unelected billionaire, with his own foreign debts and motives, raiding U.S. classified information is a grave threat to national security," she continued.
Her remarks were reposted by the venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya, who wrote that Ocasio-Cortez is "wrong" and that the real five alarm fire will happen after Musk's team reveals government waste and fraud.
Ocasio-Cortez hit back, casting doubt on the legitimacy of Musk's efforts and writing: "This is a plutocratic coup. If you want the power, run for office and be chosen by the people." The entire exchange took place on the Musk-owned social media platform X.
Musk, a billionaire and GOP megadonor, established himself as a major power player in Trump's orbit even before Trump was inaugurated. In December, Musk sank a bipartisan spending bill, leaving Congress to scramble to come up with a new spending agreement to avert a government shutdown.
But since Trump's return to the White House, Musk's power has only grown as he's moved swiftly to exert influence over levers of power within government. In a day one executive order, Trump established his Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, by repurposing an existing entity, the U.S. Digital Service, an agency conceived to help improve the federal government's services through better technology and design. Now called the U.S. DOGE Service, the move "will give centibillionaire Elon Musk and his allies seemingly unprecedented insight across the government, and access to troves of federal data," according to WIRED.
Musk's influence now extends to the General Services Administration as well as the Office of Personnel Management. Representatives from DOGE were also granted access to a sensitive Treasury Department payment system that contains the personal information of every American who receives tax refunds, Medicare, Social Security, and other payments from the government.
Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez has been one of the most vocal members of Congress speaking out about Musk and the Trump administration's actions.
In a livestream on social media shortly after Trump's inauguration, Ocasio-Cortez implored her audience not to take the Trump administration's actions quietly.
"It is important that we continue to signal to one another what we believe, because if we get quiet... then everyone around us is going to think that everyone has given up," said the New York Democrat.
"I want you all to know that you're going to be hearing more from me," she explained. "My responsibility is in trying to explain to you all what is going on as best as I can and leaning into our ability to collectively organize."
The incident came the day after a similar struggle in the Treasury Department, in which a top official resigned after refusing to grant DOGE access to a vital payment system.
The Trump administration put two U.S. Agency for International Development security officials on administrative leave late Saturday after they refused to grant employees from Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency access to classified files, in the latest example of DOGE's attempt to impose its will on the federal government.
The DOGE members were ultimately able to see the files, which were located in a restricted area and included intelligence reports, a former U.S. official toldThe Associated Press on Sunday.
Matt Hopson, who was appointed by Trump as USAID's chief of staff, resigned after the security officials were put on leave, sources familiar with the situation toldReuters.
The incident at USAID came the day after a similar struggle in the Treasury Department, in which a top official resigned after refusing to grant DOGE access to the payment system that disburses Social Security, Medicare, and other government funds. DOGE was then able to access that system as well.
CNN described the Saturday night tussle at USAID:
According to sources, personnel from the Musk-created office physically tried to access the USAID headquarters in Washington, D.C. and were stopped. The DOGE personnel demanded to be let in and threatened to call U.S. Marshals to be allowed access, two of the sources said.
The DOGE personnel wanted to gain access to USAID security systems and personnel files, three sources said. Two of those sources also said the DOGE personnel wanted access to classified information, which only those with security clearances and a specific need to know are able to access.
A former and a current U.S. official told AP that the security officers were required by law to block the DOGE team's access because its members lacked the proper security clearance. The officials were identified as USAID Director of Security John Voorhees and his deputy Brian McGill.
Following the incident, Musk lashed out at USAID on social media several times on Sunday, calling it a "criminal organization" and saying it was "time for it to die."
The Washington Post reported that "by Sunday afternoon, USAID's X account had been taken down, with a message saying the account 'doesn't exist.'"
USAID has been in the crosshairs of the Trump administration and Musk's attempts to cut government spending since President Donald Trump took office in January. On his first day, Trump issued an executive order pausing foreign aid spending for 90 days, which was followed by a January 24 State Department directive mandating that the government not provide any assistance through USAID without department approval.
The administration then placed dozens of senior USAID officials on leave, arguing without proof that they were violating the spending freeze. Further, it forced Nicholas Gottlieb, director of employee and labor relations at USAID, on administrative leave after he refused to carry out a rash of firings demanded by the administration and DOGE, which he deemed "illegal."
On Sunday morning, nearly 30 USAID Legislative and Public Affairs employees discovered they had lost email access, according to Reuters, raising the total number of USAID employees put on administrative leave to almost 100.
CNN recounted reports that the administration wants to close USAID and bring it under the fold of the State Department. Its website stopped working on Saturday.
However, USAID is not the only government agency that has been targeted by Musk's DOGE, which has also locked career civil servants out of a database of federal employees at the Office of Personnel Management. Musk's allies have reportedly taken control of the agency.
"I can think of no good reason why political operators who have demonstrated a blatant disregard for the law would need access to these sensitive, mission-critical systems," Sen. Ron Wyden said.
Elon Musk and his team at the Department of Government Efficiency—or DOGE—have been granted access to a sensitive Treasury Department payment system that contains the personal information of every American who receives tax refunds, Medicare, Social Security, and other payments from the government.
Newly approved Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave Musk surrogates access to the system late on Friday, five people familiar with the situation toldThe New York Times. Bessent's decision came the same day as news that David Lebryk, a career Treasury official who was acting secretary before Bessent's confirmation, would step down after arguing with DOGE members over access to the system run by the Bureau of Fiscal Service that pays out over $6 trillion a year.
"Sources tell my office that Treasury Secretary Bessent has granted DOGE *full* access to this system," Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) wrote on social media on Saturday. "Social Security and Medicare benefits, grants, payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Musk's own companies. All of it."
"Americans don't want an unelected and unaccountable billionaire dictating what working families can and cannot afford."
Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich also responded with shock to the news: "An unelected billionaire, with no actual congressional authority or governmentt experience, now has access to Treasury payment systems and sensitive information about millions of Americans who receive Social Security checks, tax refunds, and other payments. What could go wrong?"
The news heightens fears that Musk and the Trump administration are attempting to gain authoritarian control over the federal government by ousting or sidelining career civil servants and undermining Congress, which has the constitutional authority to decide how the government should spend its money.
DOGE gained access to the Treasury payment system on the same day that an official at the Office of Personnel Management said that Musk allies had locked career civil servants out of a computer system containing the personal information of federal employees. The news also capped a week in which the Trump administration attempted to freeze all federal grants and loans, a move that has been temporarily blocked by two judges.
Wyden, the ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, sent a letter demanding answers from Bessent on Friday when reports first emerged that Musk's team had tried to gain access to the system.
"To put it bluntly, these payment systems simply cannot fail, and any politically motivated meddling in them risks severe damage to our country and the economy," Wyden wrote. "I am deeply concerned that following the federal grant and loan freeze earlier this week, these officials associated with Musk may have intended to access these payment systems to illegally withhold payments to any number of programs. I can think of no good reason why political operators who have demonstrated a blatant disregard for the law would need access to these sensitive, mission-critical systems."
Other Democratic lawmakers also voiced concerns on social media about the news.
"Elon Musk, the richest man on Earth, is rooting around in Social Security and Medicare payment systems. He's reaching his hands into our pockets and firing anyone who tries to stop him. This reeks of corruption—it must stop," Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D.-Wash.) wrote.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called the news "alarming' and said that Congress must investigate.
People familiar with the situation told The New York Times that no payments had yet been blocked and that the stated mission of the DOGE team was to review payments, not to stop them. Musk suggested in a social media post on Friday that he was looking for inapropriate expenditures, but also that blocking funds might be appropriate.
"The DOGE team discovered, among other things, that payment approval officers at Treasury were instructed always to approve payments, even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups," he wrote on social media on Friday. "They literally never denied a payment in their entire career. Not even once."
Former Treasury officials told the Times that funds are dispersed by a comparatively small staff who rely on the agencies that earmark the funds to vet them. Don Hammond, who ran the system at the turn of the millennium, also toldThe Wall Street Journal that, while there were certain automatic safeguards in place, it was not the role of Treasury to approve or reject specific payments.
"Legally, if you want to stop a payment from taking place, the place to do that is at the agency level," Hammond said.
Responding to the article on social media on Sunday, Groundwork Collaborative executive director Lindsay Owens wrote: "The Treasury system makes the payments (cuts checks). It doesn't decide who to pay or how much. A little like an employer using a payroll processor. Musk has infiltrated the system to stop payments. It's a coup."
In an op-ed published by MSNBC on Saturday, Owens went into greater detail about her concerns, outlining three reasons why Musk might want access to the Treasury payment system.
Owens noted hat Musk wasn't "chasing these cuts for their own sake. He's helping congressional Republicans attempt to pay for a new round of tax breaks for corporations and the ultrawealthy—including Musk himself."
"It's nice to believe in a fantasy in which Musk and DOGE work alongside civil servants to improve technology and services for Americans and save a few bucks along the way. But all evidence points to the contrary," Owens continued. "The richest man in the world, whom no one elected to any government position, is seeking unprecedented access to confidential information, including information pertaining to his own business interests, and seems hell-bent on cutting off as much funding as possible for the programs that matter to the rest of us."
Owens pointed to a recent poll finding that only around one-third of Americans approve of DOGE, and that 52% disapprove of Musk.
"Americans don't want an unelected and unaccountable billionaire dictating what working families can and cannot afford," she concluded. "If Musk is going to continue running the government like one of his failed businesses, perhaps someone should force his 'resignation' too."