DOGE sets up IRS, SEC accounts on X
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has set up X accounts for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), seeking 'insights on finding and fixing waste, fraud and abuse' at the two agencies.
Elon Musk, who is leading DOGE's efforts to cut trillions of dollars in government spending, reposted messages from both accounts Monday.
The new X accounts come as the DOGE team is reportedly seeking access to a sensitive IRS system, known as the Integrated Data Retrieval System (IDRS), that the agency uses to access taxpayer accounts.
Two top Democrats, Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), wrote to acting IRS commissioner Douglas O'Donnell on Monday, asking for information about DOGE's access to the sensitive IRS system and voicing concerns about potential privacy violations.
'No executive order requiring agency heads to provide DOGE personnel access to IRS records or information technology systems supersedes the federal tax code,' they wrote.
'Software engineers working for Musk seeking to gain access to tax return information have no right to hoover up taxpayer data and send that data back to any other part of the federal government and may be breaking the law if they are doing so,' the senators continued.
As the DOGE team has moved from agency to agency on its cost-cutting mission, it has frequently sought access to technological infrastructure, sparking concerns over data privacy and security.
Late last month, DOGE staffers clashed with longtime Treasury official David Lebryk as they sought access to a sensitive federal payment system at the agency. Lebryk, who served as acting Treasury secretary before Scott Bessent's confirmation, was placed on leave and ultimately resigned.
Two DOGE-affiliated employees, tech executive Tom Krause and 25-year-old Marko Elez, received access to the system known as the Fiscal Service, which handles 90 percent of federal payments.
While they were meant to receive read-only access, Elez 'mistakenly' received read and write access for a brief period in early February, a recent court filing revealed. However, Elez never utilized the write privileges to make any changes to the system, a Treasury official wrote in a declaration to the court.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
19 minutes ago
- CNN
Trump Deploys National Guard To L.A. Amid Immigration Protests - Inside Politics with Dana Bash and Manu Raju - Podcast on CNN Audio
Trump Deploys National Guard To L.A. Amid Immigration Protests CNN Inside Politics 43 mins First: California clashes. Trump deploys the National Guard to crack down on immigration protests. As sources say the president could cut funding for the Golden State. How will this end? And: Breakup. Trump's feud with Elon Musk threatens his coalition. Can the president's agenda survive the onslaught? Congressman Mike Lawler joins us live. Plus: Election night. What will the first big primaries in Trump's second term tell us about how voters feel.
Miami Herald
35 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
Tesla Just Bucked An EV Trend In Europe, And It's A Huge Problem For The Company
Tesla's reputation has taken a significant hit since January, when CEO Elon Musk created the DOGE task force, billed as a means to decrease spending across the United States government. In doing so, Musk damaged his standing with the public, which has carried over to Tesla. New data shows that Tesla's reputational hit is not limited to the United States, as sales in Europe are down for Tesla amid a surging electric vehicle market. According to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, sales of battery electric vehicles across the European Union (EU) increased by 26.4 percent in 2025 compared to 2024, year-to-date. Tesla registrations in the EU have declined by 46.1 percent through April 2025, with a 52.6 percent year-over-year decrease in April alone. For 2025 (January through April; all figures are year-over-year comparisons), Tesla has sold 41,677 units. In the same period in 2024, Tesla registrations (sales) were 77,314 units. If this downward trend continues, Tesla will be one of the five worst-selling brands in the EU by mid-2025. In April alone, Tesla only sold 5,475 vehicles in the EU. Though the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association didn't break out its data by month, it's easy to conclude Tesla sales have been in decline since the beginning of the year. If April were a "normal" month, Tesla would have sold about 22,000 vehicles in the EU. Expanding the scope doesn't help much. In the EU, the UK, and across the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which includes Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland, Tesla sold 61,320 vehicles compared to 100,255 in the same timeframe in 2024, representing a 38.8 percent decline. In April, Tesla sold 7,261 vehicles, down from 14,228 last year, signaling a 49 percent drop. Battery-electric vehicle sales in the EU from January through April 2025 are up 26.4 percent, which is the same percentage decline for ICE vehicles, suggesting that Europe is embracing the concept of replacing combustion engine vehicles with EVs. France and Estonia were the only countries to experience a decline in EV registrations year over year. EVs account for only 15.3 percent of the market in the EU, trailing behind petrol vehicles (28.6 percent) and hybrids (35.3 percent). Though total car sales dipped 1.2 percent year to date, EV sales were up 3.3 percent. Diesel and petrol sales have dropped over ten percent year over year. As Elon Musk quietly slips away from his work in government, the damage done to Tesla may be irreversible. Less than ten percent of overall Tesla sales occurred in one out of four months in 2025, which is an indicator that Tesla is a brand non grata in Europe and sales are declining sharply every month. Upstart Chinese automaker BYD, a brand some consider Tesla's main existential threat, outsold Tesla in the EU in April by about 60 cars, according to data from analyst firm JATO. BYD doesn't have a vehicle in the top 10, according to JATO, but both of Tesla's main vehicles - the Model Y and Model 3 - saw sales decline 49 percent and 41 percent, respectively. Copyright 2025 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Live Updates: Tensions Flare Between Protesters and Law Enforcement in L.A.
News Analysis National Guard troops in Los Angeles on Sunday. Gov. Gavin Newsom of California has formally asked the Trump administration to remove them. It is the fight President Trump had been waiting for, a showdown with a top political rival in a deep blue state over an issue core to his political agenda. In bypassing the authority of Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, a Democrat, to call in the National Guard to quell protests in the Los Angeles area over his administration's efforts to deport more migrants, Mr. Trump is now pushing the boundaries of presidential authority and stoking criticism that he is inflaming the situation for political gain. Local and state authorities had not sought help in dealing with the scattered protests that erupted after an immigration raid on Friday in the garment district. But Mr. Trump and his top aides leaned into the confrontation with California leaders on Sunday, portraying the demonstrations as an existential threat to the country — setting in motion an aggressive federal response that in turn sparked new protests across the city. As more demonstrators took to the streets, the president wrote on social media that Los Angeles was being 'invaded and occupied' by 'violent, insurrectionist mobs,' and directed three of his top cabinet officials to take any actions necessary to 'liberate Los Angeles from the Migrant Invasion.' 'Nobody's going to spit on our police officers. Nobody's going to spit on our military,' Mr. Trump told reporters as he headed to Camp David on Sunday, although it was unclear whether any such incidents had occurred. 'That happens, they get hit very hard.' The president declined to say whether he planned to invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act, which allows for the use of federal troops on domestic soil to quell a rebellion. But either way, he added, 'we're going to have troops everywhere.' Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, posted on social media that 'this is a fight to save civilization.' Mr. Trump's decision to deploy at least 2,000 members of the California National Guard is the latest example of his willingness and, at times, an eagerness to shatter norms to pursue his political goals and bypass limits on presidential power. The last president to send in the National Guard for a domestic operation without a request from the state's governor, Lyndon B. Johnson, did so in 1965, to protect civil rights demonstrators in Alabama. Image President Donald Trump in New Jersey on Sunday. On social media, he, his aides and allies have sought to frame the demonstrations against immigration officials on their own terms. Credit... Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times But aides and allies of the president say the events unfolding in Los Angeles provide an almost perfect distillation of why Mr. Trump was elected in November. 'It could not be clearer,' said Newt Gingrich, the former Republican House speaker and ally of the president who noted that Mr. Trump had been focused on immigration enforcement since 2015. 'One side is for enforcing the law and protecting Americans, and the other side is for defending illegals and being on the side of the people who break the law.' Sporadic protests have occurred across the country in recent days as federal agents have descended on Los Angeles and other cities searching workplaces for undocumented immigrants, part of an expanded effort by the administration to ramp up the number of daily deportations. On social media, Mr. Trump, his aides and allies have sought to frame the demonstrations against immigration officials on their own terms. They have shared images and videos of the most violent episodes — focusing particularly on examples of protesters lashing out at federal agents — even as many remained peaceful. Officials also zeroed in on demonstrators waving flags of other countries, including Mexico and El Salvador, as evidence of a foreign invasion. 'Illegal criminal aliens and violent mobs have been committing arson, throwing rocks at vehicles, and attacking federal law enforcement for days,' wrote Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary. Mr. Newsom, whom the president refers to as 'Newscum,' has long been a foil for Mr. Trump, who has repeatedly targeted California and its leader as emblematic of failures of the Democratic Party. 'We expected this, we prepared for this,' Mr. Newsom said in a statement to The New York Times. 'This is not surprising — for them to succeed, California must fail, and so they're going to try everything in their tired playbook despite the evidence against them.' Image Law enforcement officers and members of the California National Guard engaged protesters in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday. Credit... Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York Times On Sunday, the governor sent a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth formally requesting that Mr. Trump rescind the call-up of the National Guard, saying federal actions were inflaming the situation. He was echoed by other Democratic officials, who said the mounting demonstrations were the result of Mr. Trump's own actions. The president and his aides 'are masters of misinformation and disinformation,' Senator Alex Padilla of California, a Democrat, said in an interview. 'They create a crisis of their own making and come in with all the theatrics and cruelty of immigration enforcement. They should not be surprised in a community like Los Angeles they will be met by demonstrators who are very passionate about standing up for fundamental rights and due process.' Republicans defended Mr. Trump's moves, saying he was rightfully exercising his power to protect public safety. 'The president is extremely concerned about the safety of federal officials in L.A. right now who have been subject to acts of violence and harassment and obstruction,' Representative Kevin Kiley, Republican of California, said in an interview. He added: 'We are in this moment because of a series of reckless decisions by California's political leaders, the aiding and abetting the open-border policies of President Biden.' Trump officials said on Sunday that they were ready to escalate their response even more, if necessary. Tom Homan, the president's border czar, suggested in an interview with NBC News that the administration would arrest anyone, including public officials, who interfered with immigration enforcement activities, which he said would continue in California and across the country. Image Protesters in Pasadena, Calif., on Sunday. Credit... Alex Welsh for The New York Times Mr. Trump appears to be deploying against California a similar playbook that he has used to punish universities, law firms and other institutions and individuals that he views as political adversaries. Last month, he threatened to strip 'large scale' federal funding from California 'maybe permanently' over the inclusion of transgender athletes in women's sports. And in recent days, his administration said it would pull roughly $4 billion in federal funding for California's high-speed train, which would further delay a project that has long been plagued by delays and funding shortages. 'Everything he's done to attack California or anybody he fears isn't supportive of him is going to continue to be an obsession of his,' Mr. Padilla said. 'He may think it plays smart for his base, but it's actually been bad for the country.' White House officials said there was a different common denominator that explains Mr. Trump's actions both against institutions like Harvard and immigration protests in Los Angeles. 'For years Democrat-run cities and institutions have failed the American people, by both choice and incompetence,' Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement. 'In each instance,' she added, 'the president took necessary action to protect Americans when Democrats refused.'
