Musk’s DOGE Preparing to Audit IRS, Other Agencies After Court Win

The head of the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk, along with his team, has been granted access to crucial financial data from several additional federal agencies following a court victory on Tuesday. A member of the DOGE team is also set to receive information regarding the operations of the Internal Revenue Service.

According to a report by The New York Times, “The I.R.S. is preparing to provide Gavin Kliger, a young software engineer associated with [DOGE], with access to sensitive taxpayer information in his capacity as a senior adviser to the acting commissioner of the I.R.S. The agency is still finalizing the terms of his role.”

Concerns have been raised by critics regarding the implications of such actions, which could afford Musk and his team unprecedented oversight. Lily Batchelder, a former Treasury Department official during the Biden administration, remarked on X that she could not recall any political appointees ever having access to the IRS database, as reported by the outlet.

A significant concern is the possibility of utilizing this access to target political adversaries or to leak private citizens’ information. Batchelder cautioned that such actions could infringe upon federal laws that prohibit executive branch interference in taxpayer audits. In the meantime, Democratic Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts have called for more information regarding the extent of the access granted, as noted by The Times.

While Democrats and their allies in the mainstream media continue to assert — thus far without any substantiation — that Musk and his DOGE team will be “accessing sensitive taxpayer information” and may leak it, The Times report did highlight a recent incident involving Musk. His tax returns from 2014 to 2018, along with those of other billionaires disfavored by the left, were leaked by an IRS official to the publication ProPublica in 2021.

President Donald Trump, who appointed Musk to his position, remains steadfastly supportive of the billionaire founder of Tesla and SpaceX’s mission.

“Waste, fraud, and abuse have been deeply ingrained in our flawed system for far too long,” stated Harrison Fields, a spokesman for the White House, in a statement. “

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan dismissed a request from 14 Democratic state attorneys general to swiftly implement extensive restrictions on Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Chutkan rejected their request at this point in the proceedings, indicating that they had failed to provide sufficient evidence of irreparable harm.

“The plaintiffs raise legitimate concerns regarding what seems to be the unchecked power of an unelected individual and an organization that was not established by Congress and lacks its oversight,” Chutkan stated in her decision.

“In these circumstances, it must be beyond dispute that this court operates within the limits of its authority,” she added. “Thus, it cannot grant a TRO [temporary restraining order], particularly one as extensive as the plaintiffs seek, without clear proof of imminent, irreparable harm to these plaintiffs. The existing record does not satisfy that criterion.”

In a footnote, the judge indicated that the Justice Department may have overstated in court documents the degree of DOGE’s impact on personnel matters. “Defense counsel is reminded of their obligation to provide truthful representations to the court,” Chutkan noted.

Since the inauguration of Trump, Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has rapidly sought to place personnel within federal agencies, with the goal of reducing government expenditures by trillions—a movement that has already triggered legal disputes.

This swift transformation has positioned Chutkan, an appointee of Obama, at the forefront of yet another legal confrontation involving the president. Chutkan had previously overseen the now-dismissed criminal case related to January 6 against the former president.