CONSTITUTIONAL STANDOFF
*Special Alert from The Contrarian*
Jennifer Rubin
Feb 03, 2025
contrarian.substack.com
Public opposition to the most wholesale and jaw-dropping violation of Americans’ privacy and President Trump’s unilateral outsourcing of the executive branch’s operation to a private individual, Elon Musk, has taken hold. While, as the New York Times reported, “Democratic lawmakers on Monday protested the Trump administration’s proposed closure of the U.S. Agency for International Development, saying they would fight Elon Musk’s attempts to override Congress and gut the federal humanitarian aid agency” and a second federal judge enjoined the freeze Trump attempted to unilaterally impose on appropriated funds, another lawsuit was filed.
Represented by Public Citizen Litigation Group and State Democracy Defenders Fund, the Alliance for Retired Americans, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) filed suit on Monday against the Treasury Department “for sharing confidential data with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), run by Elon Musk.”
As Public Citizen explained on its website:
The Department of Treasury maintains the sensitive personal and financial information of millions of Americans, and federal laws protect such data from improper disclosure and misuse, including by barring disclosure to individuals who lack a lawful and legitimate need for it.
Instead of protecting the private information of Americans as required by law, the complaint explains, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took punitive measures against officials who sought to protect that information from improper access and allowed DOGE full access to the data.
AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a written statement: “It is disgraceful that the Trump administration has allowed unelected billionaires and their lackeys unfettered access to the personal and financial information of Americans. Together, we can stop this violation of American citizens’ privacy.”
Appearing with other Democratic lawmakers outside USAID offices on Monday, Representative Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) thundered:
“Elon Musk, you didn't create USAID. The United States Congress did for the American people … like Elon Musk did not create USAID, he doesn't have the power to destroy it. And who's going to stop him? We are.”
Raskin bluntly concluded: “This a constitutional crisis that we are in today.”
Indeed, Democratic lawmakers seem to have sprung to life, with fervor. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D.-Mass.) put out a blistering statement:
“As long as Musk has this access, he can retrieve people’s sensitive personal information. Social security numbers. Bank account numbers. Tax returns. Musk now has the power to extract that information for his own use, to boost his finances or strengthen his political power.”
The Contrarian will have more on this extraordinary power grab on Tuesday and the impressive pushback from groups seeking to protect our constitutional order and the privacy and financial well-being of Americans, including interviews with key figures and experts.
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