Trump ally, whose team has reportedly gained access to sensitive data, accused of \u2018desecrating our constitution\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hundreds of protesters and a contingent of Democratic lawmakers rallied outside the Department of the Treasury in Washington on Tuesday, denouncing what they called Elon Musk\u2019s \u201chostile takeover\u201d of federal financial systems, as demonstrations spilled on to, and took over, the street outside the building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The protests targeted reports of the \u201cdepartment of government efficiency\u201d (Doge) team\u2019s reported access to sensitive government financial data<\/a>, including information related to social security payments, Medicare reimbursements, and tax refunds \u2013 systems that process trillions of dollars in annual transactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe has access to all our information, our social security numbers, the federal payment system,\u201d Representative Maxwell Frost told the crowd. \u201cWhat\u2019s going to stop him from stealing taxpayer money?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n About a dozen members of Congress, including Maxine Waters, Al Green, Ayanna Pressley, and senators Chuck Schumer, Jeff Merkley and Richard Blumenthal, joined the condemnations. Jasmine Crockett\u2019s voice boomed across the crowd: \u201cWe are not going to sit around while you go and desecrate our constitution. We are going to be in your face and on your asses!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minutes earlier, a handful of lawmakers, including Crockett, Pressley, Frost and Jamie Raskin, had attempted to get inside the treasury department before being rebuffed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Near the tail-end of the demonstration, news broke that the treasury said Musk\u2019s team had been granted \u201cread-only\u201d access to \u201ccoded data\u201d of the government\u2019s payments system, according to Bloomberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a letter to Senator Ron Wyden, Jonathan Blum, the treasury\u2019s principal deputy assistant secretary for legislative affairs, wrote that the system remains \u201crobust and effective\u201d and that no valid payment requests from government agencies had been rejected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But that did little to quell protesters\u2019 concerns about Musk\u2019s involvement with systems in the first place, including many who were former federal contractors, such as Alexa Fraser, who worked in public health research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat protections did he turn off to get in there? Who has he sold it to?\u201d she told the Guardian. \u201cWe have no reason to think his security situation is better now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dave Stoakley, who drove more than two hours from central Virginia to protest, saw the situation as part of a larger pattern. \u201cI think it\u2019s an intentional dismantling of the government,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re throwing out the good with<\/em> the bad.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Blumenthal captured the crowd\u2019s fears in stark terms: \u201cEvery American\u2019s information is at risk. What does Elon Musk do with everything he touches? He makes money!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n