New York state Attorney General Letitia James told Capital Tonight that she is working to stop billionaire Elon Musk from accessing the private data of federal employees.
“I want all of you to know that we are considering, and in the process of filing, an action to stop Elon Musk and DOGE and all of his minions from gaining access to our private data,” James said.
Musk’s unofficial Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has alarmed veteran bureaucrats since gaining access to sensitive data at the Department of the Treasury. According to reporting by The Washington Post, the fear is that the information may be used to retaliate against those employees who aren’t sufficiently loyal to President Donald Trump.
According to a press release from her office, James and 11 other attorneys general will be filing suit against the U.S. Treasury Department over providing access to DOGE.
“I think right now we’re in the midst of a constitutional crisis,” James said. “You have the president and all of these agencies issuing executive orders. You have a multi-billionaire who has access to our private data – the finances of all individuals’ personal Social Security numbers. This individual is unelected. This individual has not passed scrutiny.”
During the campaign, Trump promised to use every lever of government to achieve his goals. What that means for New York state is that he may use federal dollars as a tool to implement his executive orders on issues like immigration and DEI. One example of this is his threat on Wednesday to withhold federal money from schools who don’t comply with his executive order to ban trans athletes.
But there’s a conflict here because New York state has its own constitution, and this past November, it was amended when voters overwhelmingly passed an Equal Rights Amendment that prohibits discrimination based on a variety of issues including national origin and gender expression.
The conflict moved a step closer to New York state’s doorstep when the Trump administration announced Wednesday it was suing the city of Chicago, Cook County, Illinois and the state of Illinois for impeding federal immigration enforcement.
When asked if she has a plan to defend the state, James answered yes and gave a full-throated defense of immigration.
“There are dreamers who live here in New York and know no other home than New York. There are individuals who are fleeing persecution and violence from other countries and who have contributed much to our economy,” she stated, citing the problems that the construction, farming and service industry will face if migrants are deported en masse.
While she doesn’t see herself as a bulwark between New York and the Trump administration, James says she is fully prepared to defend the state’s constitution.
“I’ve been working with other state attorneys general, and we’ve been planning for this moment for the past nine months,” she said.
She explained that she and her colleagues have studied Project 2025, anticipated that many of them would be subject of retribution and have been looking at standing, jurisdiction and venue in preparation.
Indeed, newly installed Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a directive Wednesday establishing a "Weaponization Working Group" – the goal of which is to investigate federal cooperation with some of the very attorneys who investigated the President, which includes James.
“I’ve got nothing to hide,” James said as she threw down the gauntlet. “If the attorney general of the United States would like me to bare before the country the fact that the president and Trump entities basically inflated the value of their assets in order to acquire favorable terms, based on a hearing in Congress, I will bare that before the United States.”