Musk Spews Crazy Claims After Seizing Federal Payment System

Elon Musk speaks onstage during The New York Times Dealbook Summit 2023 at Jazz at Lincoln Center on November 29, 2023 in New York City.
Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for The New York Times

Elon Musk took aim at a pair of federal agencies Sunday, shortly after his Department of Government Efficiency team received access to the massive system that manages government payments.

Specifically, Musk targeted the U.S. Treasury Department and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), alleging with little evidence that both were “breaking the law” by approving “fraudulent” payments.

“Career Treasury officials are breaking the law every hour of every day by approving payments that are fraudulent or do not match the funding laws passed by Congress,” Musk wrote on X Sunday. “This needs to stop NOW!”

To back up his claim, Musk shared a summation of a relevant statute compiled by Grok, an artificial intelligence service run by his social media app, X.

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The explosive claims come just hours after the billionaire and his DOGE team were reportedly granted full access to a federal payment system by President Donald Trump’s newly confirmed treasury secretary, Scott Bessent.

The system contains sensitive personal information for millions of Americans and is used to distribute Social Security checks, tax refunds and other federal payments. The New York Times was the first to report that Musk’s team had been granted access Saturday, citing five sources familiar with the matter.

Meanwhile, Oregon senator Ron Wyden, who is on the Senate Finance Committee, further confirmed reports Saturday and wrote on social media app Bluesky: “Sources tell my office that Treasury Secretary Bessent has granted DOGE *full* access to this system.

“Social Security and Medicare benefits, grants, payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Musk’s own companies. All of it,” he continued.

Musk’s tirade against supposed fraudulent payments within federal institutions continued Sunday, with USAID taking the majority of the heat.

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“Did you know that USAID, using YOUR tax dollars, funded bioweapon research, including COVID-19, that killed millions of people?,” Musk claimed on X.

He then wrote, “USAID has been paying media organizations to publish their propaganda.”

Earlier on Sunday, CNN—citing multiple sources familiar with the situation—reported that two top security officials at USAID were put on administrative leave the night prior after trying to block Musk’s DOGE team from accessing classified information and systems.

Musk meanwhile responded to the reports on X writing: “USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die.”

On Saturday, the tech mogul wrote that he and his DOGE team were looking to gain this unprecedented access to the federal payment system after supposedly finding red-flag payments.

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“The @DOGE team discovered, among other things, that payment approval officers at Treasury were instructed always to approve payments, even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups,” Musk claimed on X Saturday. “They literally never denied a payment in their entire career. Not even once.”

He did not offer any evidence to support the bombshell claim.