'Why on Earth should we believe that?' Top Dem doubts Musk claim

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04 February

Elon Musk speaks with Donald Trump and guests at a viewing of the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship, in Brownsville, Texas, U.S., November 19, 2024 .

Elon Musk, now serving as a "special government employee," and his associates at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), reportedly have gained access to government computers at multiple federal agencies. Following widespread public outcry, a handful of Senate Republicans spoke with the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury.

Politico reports that Secretary Scott Bessent "privately reassured Republican lawmakers Monday that Elon Musk and his team do not have control over a sensitive government system that manages the flow of trillions of dollars in payments, according to five lawmakers in the room for a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill."

Top Senate Democrats have expressed skepticism, and reports from multiple news outlets provide information that supports their concerns.

The New York Times reported over the weekend that the Treasury Secretary "gave representatives of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency access to the federal payment system late on Friday, according to five people familiar with the change, handing Elon Musk and the team he is leading a powerful tool to monitor and potentially limit government spending."

Politico did not explain what Bessent meant by the word "control," but added that it had "reported Saturday that Bessent signed off on a plan to give 'read-only' access to the payment system to a team led by Tom Krause, the CEO of Cloud Software Group, who is now working for the Treasury Department and serves as a liaison to Musk’s DOGE group that operates out of the United States Digital Service."

But conflicting reports are adding to concerns.

The Washington Post's Jeff Stein writes: "So now we have multiple conflicting reports about what kind of access DOGE staff has to Treasury's payment systems.

He says that The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times "have said DOGE's Treasury access is 'read-only.' (WSJ cited person familiar & NYT cited WH spokeswoman)," but "Wired -- & @NathanTankus today, citing convo w/ staff -- say that's not true, & that they, crucially, have code EDITING privileges as well."

Investigative reporter and tech entrepreneur Dave Troy for years has been writing about Russia, Putin, geopolitics, and information warfare. He scathingly warns: "Even if they only have 'read only' access, that alone is unacceptable, and is the kind of justifying logic rapists use."

Talking Points Memo publisher Josh Marshall on Tuesday morning dropped this bombshell: He alleges a Musk associate has made changes to the Treasury's payment systems at the code level.

"Overnight Wired reported that contrary to published reports that DOGE operatives at the Treasury Department are limited to ‘read only’ access to department payment systems, this is not true," Marshall wrote. "A 25 year old DOGE operative named Marko Elez in fact has admin privileges on these critical systems which directly control and pay out roughly 95% of payments made by the US government including Social Security checks, tax refunds and virtually all contract payments."

"I can independently confirm these details based on conversations going back to the weekend. I can further report that Elez not only has full access to these systems, he has already made extensive changes to the code base for these critical payment system," Marshall also stated.

"I’m told that Elez and possibly other DOGE operatives received full admin-level access on Friday, January 31st. The claim of 'read only' access was either false from the start or later fell through. The DOGE team, which appears to be mainly or only Elez for the purposes of this project, has already made extensive changes to the code base for the payment system."

Troy responded to Marshall, saying: "This is insane."

Musk himself appears to have served up some fodder for reports that allege DOGE has the ability to control payments.

On Sunday at 3:14 AM Musk claimed his team "is rapidly shutting down these illegal payments."

He pointed to a post by Mike Flynn, Donald Trump's first National Security Advisor, who became a convicted felon.

Politico reported that those "payments to Lutheran charities provide refugee services."

"Musk also suggested — without offering any evidence — that career Treasury officials were breaking the law in approving some payments and had approved payments to known fraudulent organizations and terrorist groups."

Many Democrats are furious over Musk and his associates gaining unprecedented access, and they not appear to believe what the newly-installed Treasury Secretary reportedly told their Republican colleagues.

“Elon just grabbed the controls of our whole payment system, demanding the power to turn it on for his friends or turn it off for anyone he doesn’t like,” said U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on Monday (video below). “One guy deciding who gets paid and who doesn’t.”

"We don't know what safeguards were pulled down," Warren warned. "Are the gates wide open for hackers from China From North Korea? From Iran? From Russia?"

She alleged it is possible that "black hat hackers from all around the world" might be "finding out" information "about each one of us."

U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), the Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, "rejected the idea that Musk allies’ access to the payments system was as limited as Republicans and the administration are claiming," as Politico reported.

“Some Republicans are trying to suggest that Musk only has ‘viewing access’ to Treasury’s highly sensitive payment system as if that’s acceptable either. But why on earth should we believe that—particularly when he is saying the exact opposite loudly and repeatedly for everyone to see?” Murray declared.

Watch the video above or at this link.

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