On Thursday (06), the US court ordered a temporary agreement limiting the sharing of sensitive financial data from the US Treasury Department, following a dispute over the access granted to Elon Musk's allies, who are leading a comprehensive review of government spending.

The agreement, brokered by US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington, allows two Musk allies who have been appointed Treasury officials to continue to access a payment system that contains the personal and financial data of millions of Americans.

According to a publication by "The Wall Street Journal"However, the ruling prohibits Tom Krause and Marko Elez from sharing sensitive Treasury data with anyone outside the agency. It also limited Krause's and Elez's access to "read only", which means they can read records but not alter them.

Later on Thursday, the White House announced that Elez had resigned after The Wall Street Journal asked about his connection to a deleted social media account that advocated racism and eugenics.

The court decision follows a lawsuit filed on Monday by a coalition of unions whose members are among the millions of people who receive payments from the federal government.

The agreement does not resolve the legal dispute, but is intended to "preserve the status quo" until Kollar-Kotelly can hear legal arguments, the judge said during a court hearing on Wednesday afternoon. However, the judge asked the lawyers for both sides to discuss the standstill agreement and said she would consider issuing a temporary restraining order if they could not agree on the wording of a provisional order.

Thus, the agreement signed by Kollar-Kotelly, appointed by Hillary Clinton in Washington, will remain in force until it is decided whether the unions are entitled to an injunction.

The lawsuit, filed by the left-wing non-profit organization Public Citizen on behalf of the AFL-CIO and others, seeks a court order preventing Musk's Office of Government Efficiency from accessing the Treasury's payment portal, claiming that doing so would lead to the illegal disclosure of social security numbers, home addresses and banking information.

President Trump appointed Musk, an outspoken supporter and the richest man in the world, to reduce federal bureaucracy. His DOGE task force was initially conceived as an advisory committee, but an executive order from Trump on day one made it a temporary entity within the Executive Office of the President.

Musk's allies have moved quickly to exert control over areas of the US government, including the Treasury and the US Agency for International Development. They have demanded access to sensitive information in federal agencies and planned to block spending they consider excessive.

(Photo DR)