Attorney General William Tong has announced that Connecticut is joining several other states in filing a lawsuit against Donald Trump’s administration and the overreach of his Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency.
Tong is one of 19 Democratic attorneys general who have sued Trump in an effort to block Musk from accessing the systems of the Treasury Department that contain the sensitive data of millions of Americans, including social security and bank account numbers. Speaking of the lawsuit — which is also against the Trump-nominated Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent — in a TikTok video, Tong said Musk’s access to the systems is “utterly unlawful” and “unconstitutional.”
“It represents the largest data breach in American history,” the attorney general added, before concluding that “we’re fighting back.” The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New York City, claims that the Trump administration violated federal law by allowing Musk and his DOGE team of young techies to access the Treasury’s payment system, which includes sensitive data and is responsible for disbursing trillions of dollars and government payments every year, from tax refunds to veterans’ benefits.
In filing the lawsuit, Tong said his goal is to remove both Musk as the co-leader of DOGE, and remove the entire organization from government. To bolster his argument, Tong said Musk is an unelected official who hasn’t gone through the process of being confirmed by the Senate. The lawsuit also expresses concern about Musk’s elevation to the status of “special government employee”, which allows him to circumvent the conflict of interest clauses that apply to regular government workers.
If successful, the lawsuit will prohibit Musk from accessing the Treasury’s data, and require any copies of this data already transferred out of the system to be destroyed.
Elon Musk has seized control of the government’s payment system.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) February 4, 2025
He wants the power to decide if your grandpa gets his Social Security check or your mom’s doctor gets paid by Medicare.
I'm at the Treasury Department to speak out and push back. https://t.co/wzOimHqmqC
Tong is joined in his efforts by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who spearheaded the multistate lawsuit filing, as well as the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin. “As the richest man in the world, Elon Musk is not used to being told ‘no,’ but in our country, no one is above the law,” James said in a press statement. “President Trump does not have the power to give away Americans’ private information to anyone he chooses.”
Tong, James and the other attorneys general aren’t the only ones fighting back against Musk’s increasing political overreach, which in recent weeks has seen the billionaire interfere with everything from the Department of Labor to the Department of Education and the foreign aid agency, USAID. Protests erupted outside the USAID offices last week in response to Musk’s move to dismantle the department entirely, and many Democratic politicians have voiced public condemnations against the billionaire.
A look inside the room where Attorney General William Tong announced he’d joined a lawsuit to stop the Trump admin’s proposed federal funding pause.
— Mike Cerulli (@MikeCerulliCT) January 29, 2025
And yes…pretty much everyone gathered around the podium took a turn speaking. pic.twitter.com/VDwkW6BR0W
Along the way, legal experts have warned that Musk is breaking the law, all while he has mocked the criticisms of his manoeuvres on social media. It marks the most recent wave of backlash leveled Musk since assuming his increased political role. Earlier this month, received swift rebuke for his response to the Blackhawk mid-air collision in Potomac, and before that, he attracted controversy for delivering a Nazi salute at Trump’s inauguration.
Published: Feb 11, 2025 04:34 am