AMNA NAWAZ: Here in the U.S., the Trump administration is moving at a breakneck pace, targeting agencies and slashing the federal work force.

And one man is orchestrating it all, Elon Musk.

Currently the richest man in the world, Musk has been given access to critical systems across the federal government.

Today, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Musk could decide for himself if any government funds that his team has access to are in conflict with his business interests.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, White House Press Secretary: If Elon Musk comes across a conflict of interest with the contracts and the funding that DOGE is overseeing, then Elon will excuse himself from those contracts.

And he has, again, abided by all applicable laws.

AMNA NAWAZ: Alarmed by Musk's influence and growing control, House Democrats on the Oversight Committee attempted to subpoena Musk, but were blocked today by House Republicans.

Our Laura Barron-Lopez has been covering the latest, and she joins us now.

Laura, Musk and his team, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, are moving very fast.

Bring us up to date.

Since Monday, how many more agencies and government systems has he gained access to?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So, to date, Musk and his team have accessed at least 11 agencies, Amna.

And the count is growing every day.

So that includes USAID, Treasury, Education Department, FAA, FBI.

And what does that mean?

That means that, with access to these agencies, he has access to the government's biggest payment systems, to personnel information, to the personal information of many Americans, H.R.

systems, and much more.

The New York Times also recently reported that DOGE has access to the Center -- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which has contracts totaling in $1 trillion.

And, now, we asked the White House about all this access.

And the White House claims that Musk and DOGE have -- quote -- "the appropriate security clearances" and that DOGE employees are employees of relevant agencies.

But it's not just about gaining access, Amna.

Elon Musk has also gleefully tweeted on X about dismantling entire agencies beyond USAID, including the Education Department.

AMNA NAWAZ: You have been reporting on this issue of Musk and his team granting -- getting access to the Treasury payment systems.

What does that mean?

Do we know if he has power to stop payments, for example?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says that Elon Musk and DOGE have -- quote -- "read-only access."

But the White House has not directly answered if Elon Musk and DOGE have the power to stop a number of these payments that go out of that system at the Treasury Department.

The White House press secretary today seemed to imply that he might, citing some very specific payments that DOGE itself was stopping.

But a source familiar that I talked to who was familiar with what happened during the transition said that members of Musk's team were asking the Treasury's Bureau of Fiscal Service if they could stop payments that were going through that system and that DOGE wanted information and access to the underlying code of that system, Amna.

AMNA NAWAZ: So what could all that mean?

What are the implications of that kind of access?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: I spoke to Natasha Sarin.

She's a former Treasury official during the Biden administration.

And she said that Musk and DOGE's access, which DOGE -- the DOGE team has a number of 19-to-24-year-olds who have no government experience.

She said their access poses a risk.

NATASHA SARIN, Former Treasury Department Appointee: I would think about it as like a data security, cybersecurity risks, right, risks of private information about individuals like their Social Security numbers, their bank account information, getting out to the public.

I would think of another category of risks is national security risks.

So you're making it more possible for our adversaries -- the less secure this data is and this infrastructure is, the more possible it is for our adversaries to be able to manipulate it.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So, just to hammer it home, Amna, Natasha said that means that DOGE has access to Social Security numbers, direct deposit bank accounts for everyday Americans.

And we should note that a federal judge did indicate today that he may issue a temporary restraining order against DOGE's ability to access those payment systems.

AMNA NAWAZ: Laura, what do we know about why Musk and DOGE have been given this kind of apparently unfettered access to these government systems?

Elon LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Musk has said pretty publicly that his goal is to cut the deficit by stopping all of these improper payments.

But he's made a lot of sweeping accusations without any evidence, calling USAID payments, they are just totally corrupt.

He claims that the Bureau of Fiscal Service - - that's that Treasury payment system we're talking about -- that they have never stopped improper payments.

Well, experts that we talked to say that that's a fundamental misunderstanding of what those civil servants do.

They're only responsible for cutting checks.

They are not responsible for vetting the payments at all.

That happens at the agency level.

And so there is a concern amongst government workers that Elon Musk is essentially claiming and creating a head fake, saying that he -- that there are all these improper payments going out of the federal government, and claiming that essentially is a permission structure to then eventually stop payments.

AMNA NAWAZ: In the big picture here, we have seen Musk gain access, get control of these systems.

Help us understand the influence.

What kind of a takeover is this we're seeing?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Well, some of the experts that we talked to say that there's a name for this.

And that name is state capture.

What is state capture?

It's when a wealthy individual like Elon Musk is able to capture the mechanisms of government, gain control of them, and then potentially manipulate them for their personal gain.

And I spoke to Tyler McBrien, the managing editor at Lawfare, who said that state capture practically works like this.

TYLER MCBRIEN, Managing Editor, Lawfare: It's rewriting the rules of the game in terms of law and policy.

It's capturing administrative decisions through appointments, budgeting, things like that.

And then it's attacking these accountability structures, so the inspectors general, any sort of congressional oversight that should happen, the media as well.

You see this now with certain government agencies only reporting things on X and no longer issuing press releases.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: He mentioned inspectors general.

A lot of inspectors general are gone now because the Trump administration put them on leave.

One of the only ways, he said, to stop state capture is public awareness.

And we saw today that there were a lot of protests in backlash.

There -- across D.C., outside of the Capitol, hundreds protested the dismantling of USAID.

And you hear them talking about -- chanting against Elon Musk there, Amna.

So that is potentially one of the only ways that state capture could be stopped.

AMNA NAWAZ: Laura Barron-Lopez, thank you.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thank you.