A federal judge blocked Elon Musk control of the US Treasury Payment System after the demand of 19 general prosecutors

A Federal Judge of the United States blocked on Saturday the access of the Government Efficiency Department (Doge)directed by Elon Muskto the records of the Treasury Departmentin response to a lawsuit filed by 19 general democratic prosecutors against the president Donald Trump.

The ruling, issued by the judge of the Southern District of New York, Paul Engelmayerresponds to the demand alleging that the Trump administration allowed “illegally” that the Musk team accessed Central Treasury Payment Systemwhich manages tax reimbursements, social security benefits and payments to veterans, in addition to containing financial and personal data of millions of Americans.

In this way, Engelmayer prohibited access to payment systems and other US treasure data to “all political positions”, “All Government Special Agents”as well as “all government employees assigned to an external body to the treasure.”

The temporal restrictive order, which will remain in force until an audience on February 14, also says that anyone who has accessed data from the Treasury Department records since Trump assumed as president on January 20 It must “immediately destroy each and every one of the copies of the discharged material.”

New York Attorney General, Letitia JamesHe said that the measure represents a security risk and could be used to interfere with federal funds. “This not elected group, led by the richest man in the world, is not authorized to have this information. They sought this unauthorized access to illegally block payments that millions of Americans need for medical care, child care and other essential programs”He said in a video broadcast by his office.

The Treasury Department, under the direction of the Secretary Scott Besentmodified internal policies to allow Musk’s access to payment records, which, according to demand, exceeds the authority of the agency and violates federal laws and the principle of separation of powers from the Constitution.

Elon Musk has dismissed criticism of Doge on its platform Xensuring that the initiative is saving Millions of dollars to taxpayers when eliminating unnecessary government spending.

Musk, the richest person in the world, is leading Trump’s efforts to cut federal costs under the call Government Efficiency Department (Doge).

Meanwhile, Connecticut Attorney General, William Tonghe described the situation as “The biggest data filtration in the history of the United States”.

“Doge is an illegally constituted group of ‘renegade technocrats’ reviewing confidential records, sensitive data and critical payment systems. What could go wrong? ”Said Tong in a statement.

The Trump administration and the Treasury Department have defended the access of Dogearguing that your mission is to audit public spending and detect fraud.

However, sources cited by The Associated Press indicated that the review began with the aim of suspending payments of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)an institution that Trump and Musk have sought to dismantle.

The order of Engelmayer said that the states that demanded “They would face irreparable damage in the absence of a precautionary measure.”

“This is due to the risk presented by the new policy of dissemination of sensitive and confidential information and the greatest risk that the systems in question are more vulnerable than before piracy”wrote.

The case is still ongoing in the Federal Justice, while Democratic legislators have requested a treasure investigation into Doge access and unions have submitted additional demands to block the review of government payment systems.

(With information from The Associated Press and AFP)