California AG Bonta, other states sue Trump over DOGE access to Americans’ information

Attorney General Rob Bonta and 18 of his counterparts from other states sued President Donald Trump’s administration Friday for allegedly jeopardizing Americans’ private information by giving the new Department of Government Efficiency — or DOGE — access to a U.S. Treasury Department’s payment system.

The lawsuit alleges the Trump administration provided DOGE and its leader, billionaire Elon Musk, unlawful access to the Treasury’s central payment system, which contains Americans’ Social Security numbers and bank account information.

The system is used to disburse Social Security, veterans’ benefits, federal employee salaries, tax refunds and other payments to tens of millions of Americans every year.

The suit was filed Friday in the Southern U.S. District Court in New York.

It asks the courts to halt expanded access to the payment system after the Treasure Department granted “special government employees” including Musk and DOGE workers, access earlier this week.

“As a people, we should be able to entrust our federal government with our sensitive personal information. We should be able to trust that the people who have access to it are qualified, vetted and trustworthy,” Bonta said in a press conference.

Trump established DOGE on his first day in office with the goal of cutting government spending, but it is not an officially sanctioned government office. The attorneys general allege Musk intends to use the system to block payments, and that funding for states and individuals is “in peril.”

The Treasury Department has said DOGE employees have “read only” access to the system, meaning they can view the information but can’t modify it.

The suit, though, alleges the “true limitations on DOGE’s access remain unclear” and that DOGE may still be able to “collect data.”

“Our private data isn’t Mr. Trump’s to share. It isn’t Mr. Musk’s to mine,” Bonta said. He said the access to the information “blatantly violates the American people’s right to privacy and puts financial payment systems at risk.”

This story was originally published February 7, 2025 at 5:59 PM.