The Trump administration has placed two senior officials at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on leave after they initially refused to hand over classified documents to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), multiple sources confirmed.
According to reports, the two officials, John Vorhees and his deputy Brian McGill, withheld the classified materials from Musk’s inspection team, arguing that the DOGE employees lacked the necessary security clearances.
However, the administration ultimately overruled their objections, and the classified materials were turned over to DOGE on Saturday.
Despite the controversy, Trump administration officials have maintained that no classified materials were accessed without the proper security clearances.
White House Communications Director Katie Miller reaffirmed this position in a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter), saying, “No classified material was accessed without the proper security clearances.”
No classified material was accessed without proper security clearances. https://t.co/dwgYKvT9Dm
— Katie Miller (@katierosemiller) February 2, 2025
Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, an initiative launched by President Trump to root out wasteful spending and inefficiencies in the federal government, has been rapidly expanding its reach. The team has already gained access to critical financial and data systems within multiple federal agencies.
As part of its efforts, DOGE has been granted access to classified intelligence reports within USAID, a key agency responsible for distributing U.S. foreign aid. The information obtained reportedly includes sensitive data related to global aid operations, intelligence briefings, and financial reports detailing government expenditures abroad.
A former U.S. official told The Associated Press that the DOGE team’s access to these materials represents a significant shift in how government oversight is conducted, with Musk’s team playing a direct role in monitoring classified operations.
In a related development, longtime Treasury official David Lebryk has also stepped down after clashing with Musk and the DOGE team over access to a highly sensitive federal payment system. This system processes over $6 trillion annually, including Social Security and Medicare payments.
Lebryk’s departure marks another shake-up in the Trump administration’s push to overhaul federal financial oversight. The DOGE team is actively investigating the Treasury Department’s payment approval process, and Musk has alleged that government officials were routinely approving payments without proper scrutiny.
In a statement posted on X, Musk claimed that “Treasury payment approval officers were instructed to always approve payments, even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups.” He further asserted that in some cases, payment officers had never once denied a transaction, regardless of red flags or concerns over fraudulent activity.
The @DOGE team discovered, among other things, that payment approval officers at Treasury were instructed always to approve payments, even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 1, 2025
They literally never denied a payment in their entire career.
Not even once. https://t.co/kInoGWdw4C
Musk’s accusations have fueled concerns about the lack of accountability in government spending, and his team’s ongoing efforts to uncover inefficiencies are expected to continue drawing scrutiny from both political allies and critics.