DOGE staffer accused of racist posts was ‘mistakenly' given power to alter federal payments system
A 25-year-old former staffer for Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency 'mistakenly' gained access to alter a sensitive federal payments database within the Treasury Department, according to a new report.
Senior Treasury officials said Marko Elez was 'mistakenly' and 'briefly' granted 'read/write' privileges to the secure system on February 5, according to sworn declarations reviewed by Politico.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent previously claimed DOGE staffers had 'read-only' access to the federal payment systems, and other Treasury officials have made similar claims in court filings, the outlet reported.
The discovery comes from a series of court filings amid the Trump battle against a judge's order that barred political appointees from accessing the Treasury Department's payment system. The judge later clarified Bessent and other appointees confirmed by the Senate could access the system.
Joseph Gioeli, a deputy commissioner of the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, said the Treasury Department is now investigating how Elez gained read/write access, Politico reports.
Gioeli said an 'initial investigation' showed Elez did not modify the database, despite having access to do so.
'The Bureau used several cybersecurity tools to monitor Mr. Elez's usage and continuously log his activity,' Gioeli said, according to Politico.
'A forensic investigation was immediately initiated by database administrators to review all activities performed on that server and database,' Gioeli added. 'The Bureau is in the process of reviewing the logs of Mr. Elez's activity on his Bureau laptop, and this review remains ongoing.'
Elez, who formerly worked for Musk's SpaceX, resigned from DOGE last week after The Wall Street Journal inquired about racist posts from an account he was linked to. He has not been reinstated as of Wednesday.
'You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity,' one post read.
'Normalize Indian hate,' another post said.
Elez also posted about the Israel-Hamas conflict: 'I would not mind at all if Gaza and Israel were both wiped off the face of the Earth.'
Trump signed an executive order Tuesday requiring agencies to cooperate with DOGE, granting the agency even more power than it already has.
When Musk was asked about critics who have labeled DOGE's activity a 'hostile takeover' of the executive branch, he told reporters: 'The people voted for major government reform and that's what the people are going to get.'
The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.
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