The Alliance Defending Freedom is demanding answers from the federal government about the Biden administration&#8217;s weaponization of government against conservatives as part of its push to combat alleged domestic extremism. 
On Monday, ADF filed Freedom of Information Act requests with the Treasury Department, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security about their work to combat so-called extremism under President Joe Biden. ADF believes that the information gleaned from the requests will shed greater light on how the Biden administration ordered banks to spy on the financial records of conservative Americans. 
“We sent these requests based on the belief that big banks and Big Tech are just as threatening to freedom as big brother,” Alliance Defending Freedom legal counsel Mercer Martin told The Daily Wire. “We have been going through the mounting evidence that the government, through these organizations, was enlisting big business and banks in its censorship schemes.” 
The FOIA request focuses largely on two aspects of the government’s actions under Biden.
First, ADF wants to know more about how the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) flagged conservative-coded transactions for potential investigation. Second, ADF wants to know the nature of the government’s work with private organizations, to identify domestic extremism and target so-called misinformation. 
Overall, Martin said the is was to identify how the Biden administration worked to “outsource censorship to private organizations and businesses.&#8221;
The FOIAs filed with the Treasury Department seek information on FinCEN’s “relationship with private organizations purportedly to combat domestic violent extremism” and “the government’s warrantless surveillance of Americans’ private financial information.”
It was previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/feds-flagged-terms-like-trump-maga-for-banks-to-comb-through-customer-data-jordan-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revealed</a> that top officials at FinCEN ordered banks to comb through customer data if terms like “TRUMP” or “MAGA” were used in transactions. Banks were also provided to provide information if customers had purchased religious texts or subscriptions to “extremist” media outlets. 
ADF’s requests would require the Treasury Department to provide documents and communications with key words like “Christian,” “Catholic,” “radical traditional,” “Southern Poverty Law Center,” “capitol riot,” and January 6. 
The FOIAs also asked for communications between the Treasury Department and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, an organization that labeled ADF a “hate group” in a report that was linked to by FinCEN. 
ADF’s FOIAs of the FBI seek information on the any documents related to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a far-Left organization the bureau <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2023-12-04-the-fbis-breach-of-religious-freedom-the-weaponization-of-law-enforcement-against-catholic-americans.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cited</a> in a memo warning about the radical about “radical-traditional Catholic” ideology
“The reason we’re interested in their work with the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue is that [the government was] using those organizations’ lists of so-called hate groups or targeted groups, they were using those lists to then encourage banks and financial organizations to target their customers based on those lists,” Martin told The Daily Wire. 
The FOIAs also request information on the FBI’s work with the Domestic Security Alliance Council to “collect Americans’ personal financial information from private financial institutions and encourage private financial institutions to monitor Americans’ financial activity.”
The Domestic Security Alliance is a public-private partnership that purportedly <a href="https://www.dsac.gov/about">exists</a> to promote “the timely and effective exchange of security and intelligence information between the federal government and the private sector.”
In a third FOIA to the FBI, ADF requested that the bureau provide any communications with key words like “disinformation,” “election integrity,” “election interference,” “hate speech,” or “lab leak” and Big Tech companies like Google, Instagram, Facebook, and others. 
Along similar lines, the request to the DHS ask for documents on its work to combat alleged domestic extremism with private organizations and the flagging of Americans’ banking transactions. 
Martin said that the goal of the requests was to bring accountability to the government and determine whether individuals’ constitutional rights had been violated. 
“If we find that the Biden administration was violating individuals constitutional rights, we are interested in taking action to vindicate those rights as well,” he said.

President Biden Addresses NAACP Convention In Las Vegas

EXCLUSIVE: Alliance Defending Freedom Demands Answers On Biden Admin Censorship

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)

Biden Administration

Censorship

Department of Homeland Security

Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)

Treasury Department

Oklahoma Senator James Lankford urged his colleagues to permanently overturn an “absurd” Biden-era regulation that requires small business owners to report personal information to the federal government. 
Lankford told The Daily Wire that the Senate should <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-wont-enforce-outrageous-biden-era-small-business-reporting-rule" target="_blank" rel="noopener">follow</a> the Trump administration&#8217;s lead and prohibit enforcement of the beneficial ownership information reporting requirements for American companies. The rule, as promulgated by the Biden administration, required people who had direct or indirect control of a company to report their name, birthdate, address, and a unique identifying number to the Treasury Department.
“There is no way anyone is going to ever tell me and convince me that the Constitution allows the federal government to go to every small business and say, ‘tell me who your influences are and send me that in a form’. That is not the job of the federal government to go do that,” Lankford told The Daily Wire. 
The Trump administration announced on Sunday that it would stop enforcing the rule for domestic businesses and that it would be promulgating a new rule only applicable to foreign companies. 
Lankford said that the Biden administration had taken a statute that was “snuck” into a National Defense Authorization Act to supposedly combat money laundering and created an “over-burdensome” and “quasi-Orwellian” unconstitutional rule that did more to harm honest small business owners than illicit companies. 
He said the rule made a massive &#8220;assumption that companies that are laundering drug money will suddenly at that moment become honest and report that they are actually being controlled by a drug kingpin. The practical effect of the rule was to force small business owners to prove that they were laundering drug money,&#8221; Lankford said. 
Consequences for not complying with the form, which Lankford said many small businesses were unaware of, could include a $10,000 fine and up to two years in prison. 
“Small businesses don’t get up every day and read the federal register to be able to find out what it is the federal government is now imposing on them as a new regulation for a new piece of paper to be able to get in or face jail,” he said. “They’re getting up and turning lights on, cleaning toilets, and doing all the things they need to do to get their business going that day.”
Senate Republicans have previously introduced multiple bills to challenge the rule and Lankford said that the Senate Banking Committee is expected to hear one of the proposals in light of the decision from the Trump administration. Recently, Republicans on the committee <a href="https://www.banking.senate.gov/newsroom/majority/scott-leads-effort-to-ease-burdens-on-small-businesses" target="_blank" rel="noopener">introduced</a> a measure that would have bumped the deadline for small businesses to report the required information. 
Last month, the House of Representatives voted unanimously to extend the deadline for businesses to respond to the Treasury Department, which had previously been scheduled for March 21. 
“This is one of those things that every small business just wants this gone so that they don’t have to think about it all the time and be worried about if they are going to go to jail tomorrow because of a form not being filled out,” Lankford told The Daily Wire.

Congressional Lawmakers React To The Expiration Of The Title 42 Border Policy

Lankford Urges Senate To Permanently Overturn ‘Absurd’ Biden Small Business Reporting Rule

James Lankford

Senate

Small Businesses

Trump Administration

The Trump administration announced on Sunday that it would end an “outrageous” Biden-era regulation that required business owners to report personal data to the federal government. 
The Treasury Department <a href="https://x.com/USTreasury/status/1896348155522039985" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that it would no longer be enforcing penalties or fines for domestic companies in relation to beneficial ownership information reporting requirements that were implemented under former President Joe Biden. The rule required people who had direct or indirect control of a company to report their name, birthdate, address, and a unique identifying number to the Treasury Department. 
“Exciting news! The Treasury Department has announced that they are suspending all enforcement of the outrageous and invasive Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting requirement for U.S. Citizens,” Trump said in a <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114096106742782827">post</a> on Truth Social. “This Biden rule has been an absolute disaster for Small Businesses Nationwide. Furthermore, Treasury is now finalizing an Emergency Regulation to formally suspend this rule for American businesses. The economic menace of BOI reporting will soon be no more.”
Advocates for the rule, which was imposed through the Corporate Transparency Act, argue it was necessary to combat money laundering while opponents said it was overly burdensome and harmed American small businesses. 
“Treasury takes this step in the interest of supporting hard-working American taxpayers and small businesses and ensuring that the rule is appropriately tailored to advance the public interest,” the department <a href="https://x.com/USTreasury/status/1896348162039935338">said</a> on X. 
 The department said it would still enforce the rule against foreign companies, but would be issuing a new rule to remove the requirements for American companies. 
“This is a victory for common sense,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. “Today’s action is part of President Trump’s bold agenda to unleash American prosperity by reining in burdensome regulations, in particular for small businesses that are the backbone of the American economy.”
Last month, Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee <a href="https://www.banking.senate.gov/newsroom/majority/scott-leads-effort-to-ease-burdens-on-small-businesses" target="_blank" rel="noopener">introduced</a> a measure that would have bumped the deadline for small businesses to report the required information. 
“Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and we need to ensure they have the necessary time and information to comply with reporting requirements from the federal government,” said Senator Tim Scott (R-SC). “This commonsense bill will ensure small businesses are protected and not overly burdened by unclear and unnecessarily complicated regulations – allowing them to focus on serving their customers while following the law.”

Trump Says Mexico, Canada, New China Tariffs Take Effect March 4

Trump Admin Won’t Enforce ‘Outrageous’ Biden-Era Small Business Reporting Rule

Donald Trump

Joe Biden

Scott Bessent

On Wednesday, a House Republican unveiled articles of impeachment against a federal judge in New York who temporarily restricted Trump administration officials, including the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), from accessing a payment system of the Treasury Department.
The articles of impeachment introduced by Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) accuse U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer, an Obama appointee, of high crimes and misdemeanors after his recent <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-takes-action-after-obama-judge-blocks-doge-from-searching-for-waste-in-treasury-system" target="_blank" rel="noopener">order</a> that favored 19 Democrat state attorneys general who had sued over DOGE&#8217;s ability to access the system that reportedly oversees trillions of dollars in payments each year.
When Crane shared his articles to X on Wednesday, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-musk-is-not-the-doge-administrator" target="_blank" rel="noopener">presidential adviser</a> Elon Musk — who has been spearheading the DOGE effort to reduce government waste — <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1892324956135989334" target="_blank" rel="noopener">responded</a>, &#8220;Good.&#8221; Crane <a href="https://x.com/RepEliCrane/status/1892344868174799074" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a reply: &#8220;If these activist judges want to be politicians, they should resign and run for office.&#8221;
One of two articles that appear in Crane&#8217;s resolution, which is <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-resolution/143/text/ih?overview=closed&amp;format=xml" target="_blank" rel="noopener">available online</a>, alleges Engelmayer &#8220;engaged in judicial misconduct&#8221; when the judge halted Trump&#8217;s executive order establishing and implementing DOGE on &#8220;purely political grounds, demonstrating clear bias and prejudice against the President and the 74,000,000 Americans who voted for him.&#8221;
It further states that Engelmayer &#8220;acted outside the bounds of judicial propriety,&#8221; including &#8220;by submitting this ruling that demonstrates clear bias and prejudice against the President;&#8221; and &#8220;by willfully disregarding established legal precedent in the issuance of rulings, by submitting this injunction in the middle of the night, which may have been done with the intent to influence the outcome of cases to favor certain parties.&#8221;
The second article says Engelmayer &#8220;has abused his judicial office by using his authority to further personal or political interests, contrary to the constitutional responsibility to apply the law impartially, including the improper handling of this case in a manner that demonstrates favoritism or undue influence, undermining the fundamental principles of justice.&#8221;
Judges have been the subject of impeachment proceedings over the course of United States <a href="https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/impeachment/impeachment-list.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">history</a>. Some cases have resulted in a guilty verdict and removal from office. It remains to be seen whether this latest push will be taken up by leadership in the House, which is currently led by Republicans.
Crane revealed last week he would be drafting articles of impeachment after Engelmayer issued the temporary restraining order and before a second federal judge <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/judge-continuing-block-musk-doge-accessing-treasury-payment/story?id=118825220" target="_blank" rel="noopener">kept it in place</a> while considering a preliminary injunction.
&#8220;Partisan judges abusing their positions is a threat to democracy,&#8221; Crane said on X. &#8220;The left has done &#8216;irreparable harm&#8217; to this country. President Trump and his team at @DOGE are trying to fix it.&#8221; In a second post, the congressman <a href="https://x.com/RepEliCrane/status/1889325208009338884" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added</a>: &#8220;This is obviously judicial overreach. Judge Engelmayer is attempting to stop White House employees from accessing the very systems they oversee. Where in the constitution does it say a President and his team cannot root out obvious waste, fraud and abuse?&#8221;

Elon Musk

Republican Moves To Impeach Obama Judge Who Restricted DOGE Access To Treasury Payment System

Congress

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

Impeachment

Judge

U.S.

U.S. House of Representatives

About $4.7 trillion in payments from the Treasury Department were missing a code that allowed them to be tracked, according to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project.
DOGE, led by billionaire Elon Musk, announced its discovery on X.
“The Treasury [Account] Symbol (TAS) is an identification code linking a Treasury payment to a budget line item (standard financial process),” the post said. “In the Federal Government, the TAS field was optional for ~$4.7 Trillion in payments and was often left blank, making traceability almost impossible. As of Saturday, this is now a required field, increasing insight into where money is actually going.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The Treasury Access Symbol (TAS) is an identification code linking a Treasury payment to a budget line item (standard financial process).
In the Federal Government, the TAS field was optional for ~$4.7 Trillion in payments and was often left blank, making traceability almost…
— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) <a href="https://twitter.com/DOGE/status/1891614960452522187?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 17, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Musk also touted the announcement, calling it a “[m]ajor improvement in Treasury payment integrity.”
“This was a combined effort of <a href="https://x.com/DOGE">@DOGE</a>, <a href="https://x.com/USTreasury">@USTreasury</a> and <a href="https://x.com/federalreserve">@FederalReserve</a>,” Musk added. “Nice work by all.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Major improvement in Treasury payment integrity going live!
This was a combined effort of <a href="https://twitter.com/DOGE?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DOGE</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/USTreasury?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@USTreasury</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/federalreserve?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FederalReserve</a>. Nice work by all. <a href="https://t.co/MDJXS4oaqP">https://t.co/MDJXS4oaqP</a>
— Elon Musk 𝕏 (@Elonmusk49018) <a href="https://twitter.com/Elonmusk49018/status/1892106330430701584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Treasury Department was one of the first agencies DOGE looked into following President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/02/17/us-news/doge-discovers-4-7-trillion-in-treasury-payments-were-missing-critical-code/">reported</a>. DOGE is looking for waste, fraud, and abuse, and said it has so far exposed billions of wasted taxpayer dollars. Just recently, DOGE said it could save taxpayers “at least $750 million” a year by “deleting paper checks.”
DOGE said that the Treasury Department has to keep a “physical lockbox” to collect more than 100 million checks it processes each year, according to the Post, costing taxpayers around $2.40 per check to maintain. In fiscal year 2023, DOGE found, around $25 billion in tax refunds were lost or delayed because of returned or expired checks.
“This is not some roving band … This is methodical and it is going to yield big savings,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Bloomberg TV last week, referring to DOGE’s efforts.
The Treasury is not the only department DOGE has scrutinized in the first few weeks of the Trump administration. It has focused heavily on USAID, which spent millions of dollars on DEI and left-wing politics around the world and even paid the college tuition <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/usaid-paid-college-tuition-for-al-qaeda-terrorist-records-show">of an Al-Qaeda terrorist</a> who lied about his resident country.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/doge-finds-shocking-government-expenditures-not-approved-by-congress-mike-johnson">recently praised</a> DOGE’s work, saying it was effectively an outside audit exposing hidden expenses.
“We are applauding that, this is what we have been wanting and trying to do for a long time,” Johnson said. “So this is a good development. I wish the courts would allow the executive and the legislative branches to work, but we’ll see how all that develops.”

DOGE Says $4.7 Trillion In Treasury Payments Missing Code To Trace Where Money Went

DOGE Finds $4.7 Trillion In Treasury Payments Missing Code To Trace Where Money Went

General

Politics

A North Carolina citizen group is asking the Trump administration to intervene after local leaders prioritized Hurricane Helene small business relief grants on the basis of race and sex. 
Western North Carolina Citizens for Equality filed a <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/OCRUSTreasury.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">complaint</a> with the Treasury Department last month after Buncombe County announced that it would “focus” on supporting small businesses damaged by Helene that were “BIPOC” and “women” owned. Buncombe County, home to liberal Asheville, funded the program by using repurposed federal COVID relief funds. 
“In this situation, there is no doubt that Buncombe County intended to discriminate against white business owners in its Helene Relief Project. The County directed that the funds be used in manner that prioritizes one group of business owners over another based solely on skin color,” WNC for Equality President Carl Mumpower wrote in a civil rights complaint filed with the Treasury Department. 
The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, all Democrats, <a href="https://www.buncombecounty.org/common/Commissioners/20241119/PH%203_PRESO_Helene%20Relief%20Small%20Business%20-%2011_19_24%201.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rolled out</a> its small business relief grant program in November, announcing it would prioritize helping businesses not owned by white men. The program would make business owners eligible for tens of thousands of dollars in repurposed American Rescue Plan funds.
The county said that the “focus” area of the small business support program would be “BIPOC-owned businesses,” “women-owned businesses,” and “sole proprietorships.” 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-876733" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/Screen-Shot-2025-02-13-at-12.17.51-PM.png" alt="" width="2719" height="1388" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/Screen-Shot-2025-02-13-at-12.17.51-PM.png 2719w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/Screen-Shot-2025-02-13-at-12.17.51-PM-300x153.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/Screen-Shot-2025-02-13-at-12.17.51-PM-1024x523.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/Screen-Shot-2025-02-13-at-12.17.51-PM-768x392.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/Screen-Shot-2025-02-13-at-12.17.51-PM-1536x784.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/Screen-Shot-2025-02-13-at-12.17.51-PM-2048x1045.png 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 2719px) 100vw, 2719px" />
From November 13-17, the county partnered with non-profit Mountain Bizworks to administer $1.5 million in funds appropriated for the program. The non-profit, which <a href="https://www.mountainbizworks.org/about-us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">says</a> that it focuses on working with  “people of color, women, and immigrant entrepreneurs” and <a href="https://www.mountainbizworks.org/about-us/equity-statement/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">works</a> to promote “racial equity,” was also targeted in the complaint from WNC for Equality. 
“Further, Mountain Bizworks used the repurposed federal ARPA funds and furthered the County’s objective: culling applicants and awarding grant money based, in part, on the skin color of applicants. These actions are clearly illegal,” the complaint says. 
To evaluate businesses for relief, Mountain Bizworks <a href="https://archive.ph/uEpdn" target="_blank" rel="noopener">developed</a> “scoring” criteria that included “underserved entrepreneurs,” which were defined as “women-owned businesses,” “businesses owned by people of color,” “veteran-owned businesses,” and lower-income individuals. 
The non-profit added that it would “prioritize independent small business owners who lack access to traditional funding resources” and that the application would be “equity focused.” A screenshot included in the complaint showed that both race and sex were required fields for the application through Mountain Bizworks. 
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-876739" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/Screen-Shot-2025-02-13-at-12.20.33-PM.png" alt="" width="1712" height="963" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/Screen-Shot-2025-02-13-at-12.20.33-PM.png 1712w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/Screen-Shot-2025-02-13-at-12.20.33-PM-300x169.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/Screen-Shot-2025-02-13-at-12.20.33-PM-1024x576.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/Screen-Shot-2025-02-13-at-12.20.33-PM-768x432.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/Screen-Shot-2025-02-13-at-12.20.33-PM-1536x864.png 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1712px) 100vw, 1712px" /></div>
Statistics shared by the county showed that grants were disproportionately awarded to women and minorities. Of the 137 awards given out, 28.5% were given to “minority owned businesses,” and 60.6 were given to “women-owned businesses.” The county is nearly 90% white, <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/buncombecountynorthcarolina/RHI125223" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Census Data. 
The county did not respond to questions about how many applications were sent in and the demographics of the applicants 
Mumpower believes that the process not only violates federal law, but also Buncombe County’s own <a href="https://www.buncombecounty.org/i-want-to/contact/file-discrimination-complaint.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">anti-discrimination law</a>. That ordinance describes discrimination as treating people differently for a number of different factors, including race and sex. 
He told The Daily Wire that he was &#8220;optimistic&#8221; that the complaint, filed on January 22, will get a fair hearing under the Trump administration.
“We want our local government to follow the law and not use color as a consideration for application for public dollars. And that’s all we want,” Mumpower told The Daily Wire. 
Because Buncombe County and Asheville are completely controlled by Democrats, Mumpower said they were “ruthless in their willingness to ignore the law” and believed they could get away with anything. He also said that his group has mainly seen a negative response from the broader Asheville community, an area that backed Kamala Harris by over 60%. 
“It’s very disappointing that a society has worked so hard to get color off the table as to how we measure one another that we would have so many misguided local leaders who are willing to ignore the progress we’ve made and even try to set us back,” he said. “It’s very ironic.”
President Donald Trump has been critical of the federal and local response to Hurricane Helene, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-rips-into-fema-says-it-is-getting-in-the-way-of-everything" target="_blank" rel="noopener">saying</a> that North Carolinians “were treated very badly by Democrats.” Most of his criticism has been aimed at FEMA, which he has floated getting rid of completely in favor of more state responsibility over natural disasters.

US-HURRICANE-HELENE

North Carolina Residents Ask Trump To Intervene After Officials Prioritize Hurricane Relief By Race

COVID

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Hurricane Helene

North Carolina

The Trump administration is asking a federal judge to end a controversial court order that has barred top officials access to the Treasury Department&#8217;s massive payment system, which oversees trillions of dollars in payments each year.
U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer, an Obama appointee, ruled Saturday that nearly all Trump administration officials, including those from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project, cannot access Treasury records for at least a week.
The ruling effectively sided with 19 Democrat attorneys general who sued the Trump administration over DOGE&#8217;s access to the system. DOGE says it wants access to view potential waste, fraud, and abuse. The agency does not have the authority to take any actions on its own but can make recommendations based on its findings.
Trump&#8217;s DOJ, in a motion filed this week, asked Manhattan-based U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas to end or amend Engelmayer&#8217;s order, which they called a “remarkable intrusion” and unconstitutional.
“Basic democratic accountability requires that every executive agency’s work be supervised by politically accountable leadership, who ultimately answer to the president,” the DOJ <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/10/trump-administration-treasury-payment-system-access-00203341" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> in the filing, according to POLITICO.
The order asks that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and top officials in the department be briefed on the payment system and perform their legally required roles, the outlet noted.
The administration is fighting numerous legal efforts by Democrats and their allies to block DOGE from effectively auditing the federal government to find waste. On Friday, DOGE scored a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/doge-scores-legal-win-after-labor-unions-sue-to-stop-access-to-view-potential-waste" target="_blank" rel="noopener">legal win</a> when a federal judge decided not to immediately block the department&#8217;s access to U.S. Labor Department systems.
DOGE Chair Elon Musk has been the subject of numerous personal attacks, too. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NYC), for example, has <a href="https://x.com/RealDanZak/status/1886834419282919584" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://x.com/RealDanZak/status/1886834419282919584&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1739107639500000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1k1orHvP1qwTDoOZfi429Q">said</a> that the billionaire is “not smart” and “lacks intelligence.” Other prominent Democrats have argued that no one “elected” a billionaire to oversee government waste.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded last week to the criticisms, emphasizing that the American people overwhelmingly elected Trump to, in part, find waste with the help of Musk.
&#8220;President Trump was elected with a mandate by the American People to make this government more efficient,” she told reporters on Wednesday. “He campaigned across this country with Elon Musk, vowing that Elon was going to head up the Department of Government Efficiency, and the two of them, with a great team around them, were going to look at the receipts of this federal government and ensure it’s accountable to American taxpayers. That’s all that is happening here.”
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/a-horror-film-usaid-workers-panic-lash-out-as-trump-admin-guts-agency-over-waste" target="_blank" rel="noopener">‘A Horror Film’: USAID Workers Panic, Lash Out As Trump Admin Guts Agency Over Waste</a>

Donald Trump Watches SpaceX Launch Its Sixth Test Flight Of Starship Spacecraft

Trump Admin Takes Action After Obama Judge Blocks DOGE From Searching For Waste In Treasury System

Courts

Department of the Treasury

The Department of Justice (DOJ) ripped a sweeping court order that ostensibly blocked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent from accessing much of his department’s records and systems.
Manhattan-based U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer, an Obama appointee, issued a broad <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.636609/gov.uscourts.nysd.636609.6.0.pdf">order</a> Saturday temporarily blocking “political appointees, special government employees, and any government employee detailed from an agency outside the Treasury Department” access to vast swaths of Treasury data. The DOJ filed its <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.636609/gov.uscourts.nysd.636609.12.0.pdf">response</a> Sunday, blasting the order as overly broad and unconstitutional.
“On its face, the Order could be read to cover all political leadership within Treasury—including even Secretary Bessent. This is a remarkable intrusion on the Executive Branch that is in direct conflict with Article II of the Constitution, and the unitary structure it provides,” the DOJ filing said.
“A federal court, consistent with the separation of powers, cannot insulate any portion of that work from the specter of political accountability. No court can issue an injunction that directly severs the clear line of supervision Article II requires,” the filing continues.
“There is no sound reason that it should extend to Treasury’s leadership, who are charged with overseeing and administering the Department without interruption. To the extent the Order applies to senior political appointees at Treasury, it is an extraordinary and unprecedented judicial interference with a Cabinet Secretary’s ability to oversee the Department he was constitutionally appointed to lead,” the filing says.
Despite the strenuous objections to the order’s legality, the Trump administration’s filing makes clear that the Treasury Department is abiding by it. The department has shut off access to Treasury data containing personal information from all but career staff who have passed all background checks and security clearances.
Judge Engelmayer issued the injunction against the Treasury Department at the request of 19 Democratic attorneys general. The blue-state prosecutors filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over an audit of the department being conducted by Treasury officials in conjunction with allies of Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency program.
A different judge had already limited the access of outsiders to Treasury Department data, but Engelmayer’s order took the injunction a step further. It will remain in place until February 14, when a hearing is scheduled on the issue in another court.
Trump officials publicly ripped the order over the weekend.
“If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal. If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that&#8217;s also illegal. Judges aren&#8217;t allowed to control the executive&#8217;s legitimate power,” Vice President JD Vance posted on X.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal.
If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that&#39;s also illegal. 
Judges aren&#39;t allowed to control the executive&#39;s legitimate power.
&mdash; JD Vance (@JDVance) <a href="https://twitter.com/JDVance/status/1888607143030391287?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

‘Extraordinary And Unprecedented’: Trump Admin Blasts Judge’s Order Blocking Treasury Audit

Department of Justice

Manhattan

President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a> said on Sunday that he told the Treasury Department to stop minting pennies to cut down on costly government waste.  
Trump made the <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113977224933701762" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announcement</a> on Truth Social, noting that pennies cost more than double the amount to mint than they are worth. 
“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies. Let&#8217;s rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it&#8217;s a penny at a time,” Trump posted Sunday night. 
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) program, run by Elon Musk, first flagged the cost of minting a penny last month. 
“The penny costs over 3 cents to make and cost US taxpayers over $179 million in FY2023,” DOGE <a href="https://x.com/DOGE/status/1881928086305870127" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> on X. “The Mint produced over 4.5 billion pennies in FY2023, around 40% of the 11.4 billion coins for circulation produced. Penny (or 3 cents!) for your thoughts.”
The cost of producing all coins increased across the board in the last fiscal year, <a href="https://www.usmint.gov/content/dam/usmint/reports/2024-annual-report.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the 2024 annual report from the U.S. Mint. 
“The penny’s unit cost increased 20.2 percent, the nickel’s unit cost increased by 19.4 percent, the dime’s unit cost increased by 8.7 percent, and the quarter-dollar’s unit cost increased by 26.2 percent,” the U.S. Mint reported. “The unit cost for pennies (3.69 cents) and nickels (13.78 cents) remained above face value for the 19th consecutive fiscal year.”
If Trump were to move to get rid of the penny entirely, he would likely need Congressional approval. 
&#8220;The process of discontinuing the penny in the U.S. is a little unclear. It would likely require an act of Congress, but the Secretary of the Treasury might be able to simply stop the minting of new pennies,&#8221; said economics professor Robert K. Triest, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-penny-treasury-mint-192e3b9ad9891d50e7014997653051ba">according</a> to The Associated Press. 
Led by Musk, DOGE has pushed to cut spending across the federal government. For example, the Trump administration slashed the size and scope of the U.S. Agency for International Development after Musk pointed out ideologically driven spending programs. DOGE is currently looking at both the Department of Education and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/musks-says-fema-spent-60m-housing-illegal-immigrants-in-luxury-hotels-last-week?topStoryPosition=undefined" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FEMA</a>.

President Trump Orders Department Of Treasury To Stop Minting New Pennies

‘So Wasteful’: Trump Tells Treasury Department To ‘Stop Producing New Pennies’

Executive

Money

spending

On Monday, the GOP-led <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/u-s-senate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Senate</a> confirmed the nomination of hedge fund manager <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/scott-bessent" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Scott Bessent</a> to become U.S. Treasury Secretary in President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a>&#8216;s second term.
The vote was 68-29 with some Democrats joining Republicans in supporting Bessent.
&#8220;Scott Bessent brings a wealth of private-sector experience in the economy and markets to his new role, as well as a concern for the needs of working Americans,&#8221; Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said on X. &#8220;I am committed to working with Mr. Bessent and the Trump administration to continue to protect American businesses.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Scott Bessent brings a wealth of private-sector experience in the economy and markets to his new role, as well as a concern for the needs of working Americans.
I am committed to working with Mr. Bessent and the Trump administration to continue to protect American businesses. <a href="https://t.co/MUY577Y77b">pic.twitter.com/MUY577Y77b</a>
&mdash; Leader John Thune (@LeaderJohnThune) <a href="https://twitter.com/LeaderJohnThune/status/1883962535529042077?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 27, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&nbsp;
Bessent, the founder of Key Square Group — who worked as the chief investment officer for a firm owned by Democrat mega-donor George Soros — has also served as an economic adviser to Trump.
In November, Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-taps-billionaire-hedge-fund-manager-scott-bessent-for-treasury-secretary" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nominated</a> Bessent, saying that his pick is &#8220;widely respected as one of the World’s foremost International Investors and Geopolitical and Economic Strategists&#8221; and &#8220;has long been a strong advocate of the America First Agenda.&#8221;
The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/11/business/scott-bessent-treasury-divest.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that Bessent said he plans to divest from assets worth hundreds of millions, aiming to &#8220;avoid any actual or apparent conflict of interest.&#8221;
At his confirmation hearing this month, Bessent testified that he believes Trump &#8220;has a generational opportunity to unleash a new economic golden age that will create more jobs, wealth, and prosperity for all Americans.&#8221; Bessent also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-nominee-scott-bessent-shuts-down-elizabeth-warren-over-billionaire-tax-codes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">clashed</a> with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) over billionaire tax codes and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/treasury-nominee-scott-bessent-schools-dem-senator-on-energy-race-with-china" target="_blank" rel="noopener">explained</a> to another Democrat how the United States is in an &#8220;energy race&#8221; with China rather than a &#8220;clean energy race.&#8221;
Bessent, who advanced out of committee last week, is the fifth person to be confirmed to Trump&#8217;s Cabinet after Secretary of State <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/marco-rubio" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marco Rubio</a>, CIA Director <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/john-ratcliffe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">John Ratcliffe</a>, Defense Secretary <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/pete-hegseth" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pete Hegseth</a>, and Homeland Security Secretary <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/kristi-noem" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kristi Noem</a>.
Sean Duffy, Trump&#8217;s pick for transportation secretary, may be confirmed later this week. Other nominees are making their way through the process, including <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/pam-bondi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pam Bondi</a>, Trump&#8217;s pick for U.S. Attorney General; Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nominee for Health and Human Services secretary; Tulsi Gabbard, who has been tapped for the director of national intelligence role; and Kash Patel, the nominee to become FBI director.

Senate Confirms Trump’s Pick For Treasury Secretary

Cabinet

Presidential nomination

U.S. Senate

Cabinet-Burgum

Burgum, Bessent, And Zeldin Are Latest Trump Noms To Face Senate: Live Updates

Doug Burgum

Lee Zeldin

Republican lawmakers are demanding that the Biden administration provide answers on which China-sponsored group it believes is responsible for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/chinese-hackers-breach-treasury-dept-in-major-cyber-security-incident" target="_blank" rel="noopener">successfully hacking</a> the Treasury Department last month. 
Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) and Rep. French Hill (R-AR) demanded this week that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen brief them on the breach of department employee workstations and the unclassified documents stored on them. Scott is the top Republican on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, while Hill is the vice chair of the House Committee on Financial Services. 
“This breach of federal government information is extremely concerning,” the lawmakers <a href="https://www.banking.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/lettertosecretaryyellenonccpcyberbreach.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> on Tuesday. “As you know, Treasury maintains some of the most highly sensitive information on U.S. persons throughout government, including tax information, business beneficial ownership, and suspicious activity reports.”
“This information must be vigilantly protected from theft or surveillance by our foreign adversaries, including the Chinese Communist Party (&#8216;CCP&#8217;), who seek to harm the United States,” Scott and Hill added. “As such, the fact that a CCP-sponsored APT actor was able to access Treasury’s information systems is unacceptable and raises serious questions about the protocols for safeguarding sensitive federal government information from future cybersecurity incidents.”
The Treasury Department first publicly commented on the hack on Tuesday but said it was first notified of the breach on December 8. In a letter to senators, Assistant Secretary for Management Aditi Hardikar noted that the department believed a Chinese-backed intelligence group was behind the breach, calling it a “major cyber security incident.”
Hardikar added that the department believed China could no longer access its systems. 
In response, Scott and Hill want the Treasury Department to provide a briefing on the hacking no later than January 10. The briefing should provide more specific information on who the department believes was behind the breach and the extent of the information accessed. They also want details on what specific preventive measures have been taken to prevent similar incidents. 
China has denied involvement with the breach. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said the accusation was “groundless” and lacked evidence. 
China has previously been accused of being behind major hacking operations targeting the American government, including <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/china-based-hackers-accessed-60k-u-s-state-dept-emails-in-microsoft-breach-senate-staffer-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one breach</a> that accessed tens of thousands of emails from State Department employees.

Treasury Secretary Yellen And President Clinton Mark 30th Anniversary Of The Community Development Financial Institution Fund