Legal issues behind Trump Administration’s actions in White House

Many of the Trump Administration’s latest actions have come under intense legal scrutiny, presenting legal issues.

Reports that DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) employees have been granted access to files at the Treasury Department brought a wave of criticism and concern. That individuals with no security clearance and no experience had access to U.S. citizens’ sensitive and private financial information. The Treasury Department responded to these concerns, saying the individuals have “read-only” access. Additionally under scrutiny is the legality of letting go of FBI personnel who worked on January 6 cases.

Roy Herrera, founding partner of Herrera Arellano LLP, joined “Arizona Horizon” to talk about these legal questions.

Elon Musk’s push for government efficiency

“This is not really sort of your traditional or official government agency, which is created by Congress, usually a set appropriated amount of money for a particular agency,” said Herrera.

Herrera explained they’re political appointees; essentially, the White House appointed Elon Musk, and Musk has appointed his people to do this review. Herrera said the purpose is to root out government waste and efficiency.

“What we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks is DOGE is landing on the official departments,” said Herrera.

Also, the Department of Treasury and the Department of Education are coming in and being given access to the systems of these departments. The idea behind this, Herrera believes, is to find out what’s inefficient or wasteful in that department and close things down. 

In one of several lawsuits, the judge temporarily restricted the access the officials had at the Department of Treasury.