Elon Musk operatives access US payment system, aid
The Trump administration has given Musk's team access to the Treasury payment system, allowing him to track and control government spending


What happened
Members of Elon Musk's "Department of Government Efficiency" over the weekend gained access to a Treasury Department system that pays out more than $6 trillion a year in Social Security and Medicare benefits, tax refunds and federal salaries, among other items, according to several news organizations. And the Trump administration put the top security officials at the U.S. Agency for International Development on leave after they tried to block a DOGE team from a secure area of USAID headquarters.
Who said what
Acting Deputy Treasury Secretary David Lebryk, a longtime nonpolitical official, was "ousted" after refusing to "turn over access" to the tightly controlled, sensitive payment system to "Musk's surrogates," The Washington Post said. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had approved access for Musk's team Friday.
Musk spent the weekend "expressing fury" at USAID and "voicing conspiracy theories about it," The New York Times said, and foreign policy veterans "struggled to understand" his "seeming animus" to an agency that distributes billions in humanitarian, medical and pro-democracy aid worldwide yet makes up less than 1% of the federal budget. "USAID is a criminal organization," Musk posted on X Sunday. "Time for it to die."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Musk's "lackeys," who had "already taken control" of the federal human resources and property management offices, include a "coterie of engineers" age 19 to 24 with ties to Musk's companies, Wired said. These "aren't really accountable public officials" and we have "very little eyes" on what they are doing with the "most sensitive data in government," Don Moynihan, a public policy professor at the University of Michigan, said to the outlet. "So this feels like a hostile takeover of the machinery of governments by the richest man in the world."
What next?
"Confusion over who will be granted access to Treasury's payments rails — as well as whether their responsibilities could allow them to cut off payments — has opened a new front in the political fight" over Musk's DOGE, Politico said.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Can Trump bully Netanyahu into Gaza peace?
Today's Big Question The Israeli leader was ‘strong-armed’ into new peace deal
-
Court allows Trump’s Texas troops to head to Chicago
Speed Read Trump is ‘using our service members as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation’s cities,’ said Gov. J.B. Pritzker
-
The GOP: Merging flag and cross
Feature Donald Trump has launched a task force to pursue “anti-Christian policies”
-
Five key questions about the Gaza peace deal
The Explainer Many ‘unresolved hurdles’ remain before Donald Trump’s 20-point plan can get the go-ahead
-
Judge bars Trump’s National Guard moves in Oregon
Speed Read In an emergency hearing, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops into Portland
-
Russia: already at war with Europe?
Talking Point As Kremlin begins ‘cranking up attacks’ on Ukraine’s European allies, questions about future action remain unanswered
-
Museum head ousted after Trump sword gift denial
Speed Read Todd Arrington, who led the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, denied the Trump administration a sword from the collection as a gift for King Charles
-
Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartels
speed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats