Federal judge orders limited DOGE access to sensitive Treasury Department payment system records

Treasury officials "will not provide access to any payment record or payment system of records maintained within the [Treasury] Bureau of Fiscal Service," Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote in a temporary restraining order.

The order comes after the Justice Department on Wednesday agreed in a proposed court order to limit access to the sensitive records to only two "special government employees" within DOGE, who will have read-only permission. Kollar-Kotelly approved the motion in a brief order Thursday.

Several government employee unions brought suit over who could access the material as part of a government-wide evaluation of programs and systems, led by DOGE. 

Under the order, only Musk ally Tom Krause, CEO of Cloud Software Group, and Marko Elez - an engineer and former Musk company employee - will continue to have access to Treasury's Fiscal Service, but they will not be allowed to make any changes to the program. 

The order identifies both Krause and Elez as "Special Government Employee[s] in the Department of the Treasury."

Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, claimed Thursday on X that "Billions of taxpayer dollars to known FRAUDULENT entities are STILL being APPROVED by Treasury." 

"This needs to STOP NOW!" he added.