In a Jan 24 email to a small group of #Treasury ofcls, the chief of staff, #DanKatz, wrote that Krause & his team needed access to the system so they could pause #USAID payments & comply w/ #Trump’s Jan 20 #ExecutiveOrder to halt #ForeignAid.
“To the extent permitted by #law, we would like to implement the pause as soon as possible in order to ensure that we are doing our role to comply with the EO,” Katz wrote.
#TheCrueltyIsThePoint #WhiteNationalism #enmity #USpol #geopolitics
The emails viewed by NYT undercut #Treasury’s explanation for why Krause & his team were given access to the payment system. That system disburses >$5T in funding on behalf of much of the federal govt.
The department, now led by Secy #ScottBessent, has said that Krause, a Treasury staff member, & his team are conducting an “operational efficiency assessment” that does not involve blocking agency payments.
#Trump #ElonMusk #TheCrueltyIsThePoint #WhiteNationalism #enmity #law #USpol #geopolitics
The possibility of systems at the #Treasury’s little-known Bureau of the Fiscal Service being used to stop congressionally authorized spending has stoked alarm among #Democrats, who have called for investigations & led protests at the Treasury building.
#DavidLebryk, formerly the top career official at the Treasury, rebuffed the request to grant access & pause the #aid payments.
#Trump #ElonMusk #TheCrueltyIsThePoint #WhiteNationalism #enmity #law #USpol #geopolitics
“I don’t believe we have the legal authority to stop an authorized payment certified by an agency,” he wrote to the group on Jan 24. #DavidLebryk, who had been a federal employee for >35 years, was pushed out of his job days later for refusing to give Krause access to the system. Late on Jan. 31, a Friday, #ScottBessent authorized entry for a team led by Krause after Lebryk’s departure.
#Trump #ElonMusk #USAID #Treasury #TheCrueltyIsThePoint #WhiteNationalism #enmity #law #USpol #geopolitics
…After public sector #unions sued over the issue, a #Trump #DOJ lawyer said in court on Wed that only #TomKrause & #MarkoElez, both *#Treasury employees*, had been given access to info in the system, which they have not shared outside the Treasury.
Marko Elez, a fmr employee of #ElonMusk’s at both X & xAI, is one of several staffers that #DOGE had planned to install at the Treasury. They also include Krause, a well-established #SiliconValley software exec;
