Basic controls are needed at the U.S. Treasury, Elon Musk said on Tuesday (February 11), after a U.S. district judge on Saturday (February 08) blocked Musk's Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Treasury's payment systems.
Musk takes reins of US Treasury payments, sparking alarm
Musk, speaking alongside President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, told reporters that members of the federal bureaucracy were getting wealthier at taxpayers' expense, and the public's elected representatives should decide on agency actions rather than the large unelected bureaucracy.
“There are quite a few people in the bureaucracy who have ostensibly a salary of a few hundred thousand dollars, but somehow managed to accrue tens of millions of dollars in net worth while they are in that position, which is, you know, what happened at USAID. We're just curious as to where it came from,” Musk said.
“I think the reality is that they're getting wealthy at taxpayer expense. That's the honest truth of it.”
A U.S. judge clarified on Tuesday that an order restricting billionaire Elon Musk's government cost-cutting effort from accessing the Treasury Department's payment systems does not apply to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
US judge blocks Musk's team from accessing Treasury data on Americans