Senate Democrats including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass), ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Finance, and other committee members asked Deputy Treasury Inspector General Loren Sciurba and Acting Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration Heather Hill for an independent investigation into reports that Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent gave Elon Musk and his surrogates unprecedented and potentially illegal access to the federal government’s payment systems.
“It is critically important to understand what systems were involved, who granted access to them, what type of access was permitted, exactly who gained the ability to get into the systems, and the reason they were allowed to access such sensitive information,” they wrote. “We also ask that you determine whether this unprecedented access represents a threat to the economy and our national security, given this system’s role in preventing the federal government from defaulting on the federal debt, and whether Secretary Bessent or anyone else in the department has violated any laws, regulations, or policies that govern conflicts of interest or protect the confidentiality and handling of sensitive personal information.”
The Senators were also concerned about the information Musk could obtain about his business competitors.
“Two of Mr. Musk’s companies, Tesla and SpaceX, have received more than $15.4 billion over the past decade. Mr. Musk could benefit from access to this system by obtaining payment information on competitors and theoretically having ‘control over whom the government does business with,’” they wrote.
“No individual can effectively and objectively police themselves, and it would be irresponsible of the department to allow any individual access to these critical systems without proper oversight,” wrote the senators. “Given the threats to the economy and national security, and the potential violation of laws protecting Americans’ privacy and tax data posed by Mr. Musk and his team’s reported access to critical federal payment systems … we request that you use your authorities to investigate this matter further.”
The Senators said they asked for the investigation because they were not satisfied with Bessent’s answers to their questions about the situation.
“Earlier this week, I wrote to you seeking answers about public reports indicating that you personally allowed Elon Musk and people associated with his so-called ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ (DOGE) to access the information on [the Treasury’s payment systems],” Warren wrote to Bessent. “The department’s response did nothing to alleviate our concerns and raised more questions than it answered. In some cases, you deflected and avoided key questions. In others, you provided information that appears to be flatly contradicted by new public reports.
“Because of your failure to provide meaningful answers to our questions, I am also writing to the department’s deputy inspector general and the acting Treasury inspector general for tax administration to request an independent investigation into the allegations of your troubling mismanagement. I ask that you allow them to do their jobs and conduct their investigations independently, without interference from you or other administration officials.”