Elon Musk will walk through Capitol Hill on December 5, 2024 in Washington on the day he met with Senate Republican leader John Tune (R-SD).
Benoit Tessier |Reuters
Five former Treasury secretaries warned Monday of a recent Treasury lawsuit by Trump administration officials and Elon Musk's Doge team.
“While serving in the Treasury, the American default exile faces a moment of crisis that is upon us,” the former secretary wrote in the New York Times' Opeda.
“The hint for a selective suspension of payments approved by Congress is a violation of trust and ultimately becomes a default form.
“The Treasury Secretary in his first weeks of office should not be placed in the necessary position to reassure the nation and the world of a commitment to integrity in the payment system or fulfilling its financial obligations.”
But Kevin Hassett, president Donald Trump's top economic adviser, dismissed the former secretary's concerns in an interview about CNBC's “Squawk Box.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent said he found controls for previous spending. [Biden] Management was not accepted. They were sending money without knowing where it was heading. ”
Hassett also said Musk, in his words, is acting as the “doll master” for the Ministry of Finance.
“Elon Musk is in the office next to me,” Hassett said. “He's not under control.”
The original departments who wrote OP-ED were Robert Rubin, Lawrence Summers, Timothy Geytner, Jacob Lou and Janet Yellen.
Kevin Hassett
Ashley Stringer | CNBC
The duel story comes amid the escalation of the legal battle over access to the Treasury's highly sensitive payment system, granted by members of Musk's Ministry of Government Efficiency.
As Doge and other elements of the Trump administration move to cut federal spending and employee workforce, the government's payment and payment system run by the Treasury Finance Services has attracted attention.
By the time last week, when the Chief of Treasury staff promoted members of Tom Klaus, originally a member of Musk's doge team, their OP-ED “received access to a closely held payment system and was able to qualify for financial services. “US International Development Agency” so that the department can freeze payments.
The emails seen in The Times' “Treasury Explanation” show why Krause and other members of Musk's team were granted access to a payment system that pays more than $5 trillion in federal funds.
The Treasury Department has “conducted” an “operational efficiency assessment” that Klaus and his team “documentation efficiency assessments” that do not involve blocking agency payments,” the Times reported.
The former secretary said that access “reversed” the long-standing practices of payment systems run by “a very small group of nonpartisan career civil servants.”
“The role of these nonpartisan officials is compromised by so-called government efficiency political actors,” Op-Ed said.
“We take the extraordinary step of writing this work because we are arbitrary and whimsical political control of federal payments that are illegal and corroded to our democracy. Because we are wary of risks,” the former secretary wrote.
Hassett, who heads the National Economic Council, opposed and argued Monday to the premises of the OP-ED.
“Can I talk about the Treasury letter first?” Hassett asked the “Scoebox” host. “There's a lot of misinformation out there.”
“Let's make it clear that Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent is in charge of the Treasury Department,” Hassett continues.
“We discovered that control over previous spending has that control,” Bescent said. [Biden] Management was not accepted. ”
“They were sending money without knowing where the money was going. They were sending money without flagging it, you said, 'What was it for?' They sent money We didn't check if it was assigned before,” Hassett said. “And when we go in and look, there are a lot of things that shouldn't be sent out.”
Hassett said, “There's a lot to do to clear it.”
“This idea is that there is a puppet master who tells the Treasury what to do, and therefore, all Treasury Secretaries need to be Poppicok, as you know, as you know. There is.”
“Why are you making up fakes about what Elon is doing because you're trying to see where the money is heading,” Hassett said.
“And I think maybe, after all, we'll discover that a lot of money went to a bad place.”
