DOGE Treasury Data Block Wrongfully Limits Bessent, DOJ Says (1)

The Trump administration said that a judge’s order blocking Elon Musk’s government efficiency team from accessing Treasury Department payment systems wrongfully prevents Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent from doing his job, adding a new wrinkle to a fight over the handling of the sensitive payment data.

In a filing Sunday, the government argued that a temporary restraining order limiting “all political appointees” from accessing the data should be vacated because it ties the hands of high-level employees like Bessent, his chief of staff and his deputy secretary.

The temporary order was issued in a lawsuit brought by a group of ...