Members of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency team have obtained “administrator” email accounts at the Department of Education, just as President Donald Trump announced that the billionaire will soon be examining the agency closely.
NBC News verified that Akash Bobba and Ethan Shaotran, both 22 years old and identified as members of DOGE, have administrator-level status in the department’s email system, allowing them to potentially access sensitive information. Two sources currently employed at the department also said that Shaotran had accessed the back end of the ed.gov website on Friday.
On Friday morning, a group of House Democrats attempted to enter the Education Department headquarters to meet with acting Education Secretary Denise Carter after 95 signed a letter expressing concern about the administration’s plans to possibly try to close the department. The representatives were stopped by security and denied entry, sparking a chaotic scene as lawmakers clamored to get in.
Also on Friday, the watchdog group Public Citizen sued the department on behalf of the University of California Student Association, a group of student government representatives, seeking an injunction to block DOGE staff from accessing “sensitive personal and financial information.” The suit cites reporting that DOGE-affiliated individuals accessed the department’s internal systems containing federal student aid information.
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