President Donald Trump reluctantly said Friday that the U.S. government doesn't "have very good security" following concerns the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) easily gained access to sensitive information.
During a news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, a reporter asked why DOGE needs access to Americans' personal information, like bank accounts and Social Security numbers. Trump responded, "Well, it doesn't, but they get it very easily, I mean we don't have very good security in our country."
Trump has asked that Elon Musk and his DOGE team trim federal spending by $2 trillion and indicated that "just about" every agency will be audited. "Pentagon, education, just about everything," the president said. "We're gonna go through everything." The president told reporters he lets Musk know where to go look next, and then he goes to that agency. "I will pick out a target, and I say, 'go in,'" Trump said.
As Trump looks to slash spending across the board, Democrat lawmakers have requested a Treasury Department investigation into the level of access that the DOGE team was given to the government's payment system citing "threats to the economy and national security, and the potential violation of laws protecting Americans' privacy and tax data." The payments system handles trillions of dollars over the course of a year, including tax refunds, Social Security benefits and much more. That raises questions about whether the review by the DOGE team is legal.
Trump noted that the massive layoffs at the U.S. Agency for International Development won't be typical, but to expect to find a lot more government waste. "It was so bad, with what we just went through – with this horrible situation we just went through, and I guess 97% of the people have been dismissed," Trump said.
"It was very, very unfortunate. You're not going to find anything like that, but you're going to find a lot. And I've instructed him to go check out Education, to check out the Pentagon, which is the military. And you know, sadly, you'll find some things that are pretty bad," Trump added.
On Friday evening, a federal judge temporarily blocked the administration from placing thousands of USAID employees on paid leave.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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