Elon Musk criticized a federal judge for issuing an order that temporarily restricted access of the DOGE team to U.S. Treasury payment systems and data. Attorneys General from 19 states filed a lawsuit alleging that by granting Musk nearly unrestricted access to the Treasury Department, Donald Trump violated constitutional law. Musk had previously accused judges of corruption and called for the removal of those who did not decide in his favor.

Elon Musk has demanded the removal of federal judge Paul Engelmayer in New York for issuing an order that temporarily restricted access of the DOGE team to U.S. Treasury payment systems and sensitive data. Over the weekend, Musk shared messages on his social media platform X where he referred to Engelmayer as a “corrupt judge protecting corruption” and stated that he “MUST be removed immediately.” He also published a text outlining his plans related to the Treasury Department on X. Certain government officials involved with Musk and the DOGE initiative were tasked by Donald Trump to reduce the federal budget, make large scale cuts in the federal workforce, and find ways to eliminate as many federal regulations as possible.

The DOGE team primarily targeted foreign humanitarian organizations that received very little from the budget, especially USAID (United States Agency for International Development), as part of this mission. According to the Associated Press, the team attempted to access the U.S. Treasury payment system to cut funds being transferred to USAID. Regional Judge Engelmayer, appointed by former President Barack Obama, issued an order temporarily restricting access of DOGE to these systems within the context of the lawsuit brought against President Trump, the Treasury Department, and newly appointed Secretary Scott Bessent by attorneys general from 19 states.

In response, Musk described the decision as “completely insane” in his post on X and stated: “How will we stop fraud and waste without knowing where taxpayers’ money is going? It’s literally impossible! There is something very dark going on protecting fraudsters.” The attorneys general of 19 states claimed in their complaint that Trump granted Musk and the team “unique” access to the infrastructure where sensitive taxpayer data is stored or processed within Treasury computer systems, alleging that he did not faithfully comply with laws passed by Congress.

After the decision was announced, Musk liked and shared a post on X from a follower advocating for DOGE to disregard the court order.