Gallego joins call for independent Inspector General investigation of Treasury Secretary’s role in granting unprecedented access to federal payment systems
WASHINGTON – Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) joined a group of Senate Democrats in calling for an investigation into the Department of the Treasury following reports that Secretary Scott Bessent granted Elon Musk and his surrogates unprecedented and potentially unlawful access to the federal government’s payment systems.
Recent reports suggest that Mr. Musk’s team may have gained access to sensitive financial data, potentially violating laws and policies meant to protect taxpayer information. Secretary Bessent’s response to congressional inquiries failed to answer key questions about how much access Musk and his team had.
Gallego and other Senate Democrats are demanding an independent investigation into whether Bessent or others at Treasury broke any laws or violated policies meant to protect sensitive government financial data. They are asking Treasury’s Inspectors General to review what systems were accessed by Mr. Musk and his team, what information was exposed, the steps taken to protect this sensitive information, and whether the White House pressured Treasury officials to allow this access.
“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.
READ MORE: Democrats ask for an investigation into DOGE’s access to Treasury’s payment systems
In addition to personal and financial information about individuals, the Treasury systems contain confidential information about government contract payments and nonpublic details about the operation of the payment system itself. Two of Mr. Musk’s companies, Tesla and SpaceX, have received more than $15.4 billion over the past decade. If he had access to this system, Mr. Musk could benefit by obtaining payment information on competitors and theoretically having “control over whom the government does business with.” Mr. Musk’s company X has also announced that it plans to work with Visa to launch a new payments system, raising additional conflict of interest concerns.
“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 concluded.
You can read the full letter HERE.