In an effort to slash government spending, President Trump has asked the world’s richest man, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, to lead his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). In turn, Musk and his team have spent the first few weeks of Trump’s second term waging a largely unchecked war on the federal bureaucracy.

Elon Musk, an unelected Donald Trump ally who spent an estimated $288 million to get the U.S. president elected, has been granted a level of access into the U.S. government's federal payment system that is unprecedented for a private citizen,