SACRAMENTO — California Attorney General Rob Bonta moved forward Friday with a lawsuit to stop Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing federal payment systems housing American citizens’ sensitive personal information.
Bonta is one of 13 Democratic attorneys general who vowed a day earlier to take legal action.
“President Trump has no constitutional, statutory or regulatory authority to expand unauthorized access to the payment system for political appointees or special government employees, no matter how wealthy they are or how many companies they’ve led,” Bonta said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday evening.
Musk, the world’s richest man, was picked by President Donald Trump to shrink the size of the U.S. government.
In addition to seizing taxpayer data and appearing to close the U.S. Agency for International Development, DOGE has gained access to sensitive payment data within the Treasury Department.
The Treasury Department’s payment system is “critical, sensitive and undeniably vital to the economic stability and security of our nation, which is why federal law strictly limits access to a select group of civil servants who have appropriate clearances,” Bonta said.
The attorneys general suit seeks an immediate end to “this dangerous access” and to “permanently prevent political appointees, special government employees or employees outside of the Treasury Department” from accessing the data, Bonta said.
“It’s unclear all that Musk and his team would do with this expanded access, but we know what they could do,” Bonta said. “With a click of a button, they could block federal funds for health care, child care and other critical services,” he continued. “They could interfere with billions of dollars that states rely on for law enforcement, public education and infrastructure repairs.”
“We can’t wait around and see what DOGE does with our data,” Bonta said. “We need to protect it now.”
Joining Bonta in the lawsuit were the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. Check back for updates.