Amna Nawaz
@PBSNewsHour·5.3M subscribers·62.2K videos
WATCH: Rep. DelBene presses Bessent to take responsibility for letting DOGE access sensitive data
Posted
June 4, 2026
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June 4, 2026
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5:15Now PlayingRep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about a Government Accountability Office report that found a Department of Government Efficiency “employee was inadvertently granted temporary access to create, modify and delete data” from a payment system Bessent gave DOGE access to.
“You failed to impose basic safeguards that left millions of Americans’ personal data vulnerable to unauthorized access and abuse,” Delbene said during a House Ways and Means hearing Thursday. “Do you take responsibility for that?”
Delbene asked Bessent what measures he has taken “to protect the affected individual's data and rebuild confidence in your department's handling of sensitive information.”
“Would you care to look up what does inadvertent mean?” Bessent said.
Delbene told Bessent he is in charge and responsible. “What has been done to make sure that can never happen again?” she asked.
Bessent said he took responsibility and that the access was “read only. They had no ability to edit.” He added that his department has “tightened up all protocols on systems.”
“That's not very specific,” Bessent said. She later listed the GAO report’s recommendations to address weaknesses.
Bessent appeared in a Senate Finance Committee hearing Wednesday, where he was questioned by Democrats about the fate of a legal settlement between Trump and the IRS that granted him immunity from future audits. Bessent refused to say whether that aspect was still operational, after the Justice Department announced this week it was dropping a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization fund” that would potentially aid Trump allies.
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