Nevada AG Aaron Ford part of coalition suing over Elon Musk Treasury access

Democratic Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford has joined a coalition of 18 other attorneys general suing to stop Donald Trump’s political ally Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) task force from accessing confidential information and payment systems.  

“The Trump Administration has illegally provided Elon Musk and the so-called ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ unauthorized access to the Treasury Department’s central payment system,” Ford said in a statement. “And therefore to Americans’ most sensitive personal information, including bank account details and Social Security numbers.”  

The action comes as DOGE received access to the U.S. Department of the Treasury payment system, which handles Social Security and Medicare benefits. Federal U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly for the District of Columbia temporarily limited DOGE’s access to the system Thursday in a separate ongoing lawsuit. 

Kollar-Kotelly’s order will remain until Feb. 24, when the court proceedings will continue. In the lawsuit Ford is a part of, the attorneys general are also seeking an injunction preventing access to the payment system, and declaration that “the Treasury Department’s policy change is unlawful and unconstitutional.” 

Musk’s task force, which exists due to a decree from Trump, was assigned the task of reducing federal spending.

Since the president regained office last month, DOGE has stirred mass controversy among advocates and Democrats in Congress, sparking conversations of overreach by an unelected individual. 

Ford isn’t alone in his concerns about Musk and DOGE’s level of access; every Democratic member of Nevada’s congressional delegation has been speaking out about the billionaire’s involvement in Trump’s agenda. 

“Donald Trump turned the presidency over to Elon Musk,” Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., wrote on social media. “And now an unelected billionaire is coming for the government programs and services Nevadans depend on.” 

House Democrats are also backing the Taxpayer Data Protection Act, which would ensure only authorized personnel can access the Treasury’s public money receipt or payment system “or any data from any such system.”

Both Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., sent a letter to Secretary of Veterans affairs Doug Collins alongside 24 other Democrats, asking him to “immediately secure any personal and related information regarding veterans provided by VA or other agencies to Elon Musk and associates under the auspices of the “‘Department of Government Efficiency.’”

“Elon Musk was snooping around sensitive data that could have included hundreds of thousands of Nevada veterans’ private information,” Cortez Masto wrote on social media. “@SecVetAffairs, you have a duty to protect our veterans.” 

DOGE’s efforts to “maximize governmental efficiency and productivity,” as Trump wrote in his executive order establishing the force, have included terminating diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and government agency subscriptions to media including the Associated Press, Politico and New York Times, according to posts from the group on X.  

Concerned Nevadans also took to the Carson City in protest earlier this week during a national day of protest across the country, standing outside the Capitol building and expressing discontent with the Trump administration. 

“Nobody elected Elon Musk,” said Reno resident Sally Lawes during Wednesday’s protest. “We have three equal branches of government, but it would seem that both Congress and, frankly, the judiciary are happy to abdicate to a dictator.”

The Trump administration has vocally stood by Musk amid the backlash, with Vice President JD Vance engaging in online back-and-forth with Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., after Vance encouraged Musk to rehire a DOGE employee who had been let go for racist remarks on social media. 

“‘No one voted for Elon Musk,’” Vance posted on X. “(They did however vote for Donald Trump who promised repeatedly to have Elon Musk root out wasteful spending in our government.)”

Ford has also sued the Trump administration for its attempted federal funding freeze, which struck mass confusion and panic for nonprofits and agencies reliant on national spending, and the president’s executive order limiting access to birthright citizenship. 

The DOGE lawsuit includes the attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin.