White House says some employees were fired by mistake

A 25-year-old associate of Elon Musk and former Treasury Department employee was "mistakenly" given the ability to make changes to a sensitive federal payment system, officials with the Bureau of the Fiscal Service disclosed in a series of court filings late Tuesday.

Treasury Department officials said the "error" was quickly corrected, and a forensic investigation into the actions of Marko Elez – who resigned from his position last week after reporting unearthed a series of allegedly racist social media posts – remains ongoing.

"To the best of our knowledge, Mr. Elez never knew of the fact that he briefly had read/write permissions for the [Secure Payment System] database, and never took any action to exercise the 'write' privileges in order to modify anything within the SPS database—indeed, he never logged in during the time that he had read/write privileges, other than during the virtual walk-through – and forensic analysis is currently underway to confirm this," wrote Joseph Gioeli III, a deputy commissioner at Bureau of the Fiscal Service.

Lawyers with the Department of Justice initially insisted that Elez was strictly given "read-only" access to sensitive records, but the affidavits submitted by BFS employees on Tuesday noted that the 25-year-old was inadvertently given the ability to "read/write" the sensitive system that agencies use to send " large dollar amount transactions" to the Treasury Department.

-- ABC News' Peter Charalambous

In a new Truth Social post Wednesday, President Donald Trump is defending DOGE, claiming the new agency has "found massive amounts of FRAUD, WASTE, INCOMPETENCE, AND ABUSE" while also saying that a "highly political, activist Judge wants us to immediately make payment, anyway."

"In other words pay, even though you know the payment was fraudulently requested to be made. DOGE caught them - The Judge just doesn't care," Trump added.

The post comes as DOGE's actions face lawsuits for their activity at the Treasury, the Department of Education and efforts to dismantle USAID.

-- ABC News' Michelle Stoddart

Two of the top officials responsible for carrying out enforcement actions at Immigration and Customs Enforcement were reassigned, according to a source familiar.

Russell Holt, the acting head of enforcement operations, and Peter Berg, his deputy, were reassigned, according to an email sent to the workforce.

"ICE needs a culture of accountability that it has been starved of for the past four years. We have a President, DHS Secretary, and American people who rightfully demand results, and our ICE leadership will ensure the agency delivers," a DHS spokesperson said.

-ABC News' Luke Barr

The latest federal report on inflation is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday, with observers expecting to see 2.8% growth in January from the same year-ago month.

If the Consumer Price Index matches that exception, it would place inflation slightly lower than last month's reading but still above the Federal Reserve's 2% target.

Investors are watching closely to see if inflation is still headed in the right direction. Tariffs that President Donald Trump has promised to impose on several of the country's largest trading partners, could push inflation higher, adding a potential headwind.

January is also a time when many businesses raise prices that can provide a bellwether for where inflation is headed.

This report will also contain the latest snapshot on egg prices. Last month's data showed that consumers on average were paying 65% more for eggs compared to a year ago.

Economists at Goldman Sachs expect an increase in used and new car prices and a pick up in car insurance prices. They expect shelter price increases to moderate slightly and higher food and energy prices to contribute to inflation.

The Federal Reserve chair said in his congressional testimony on Tuesday that while there has been progress on inflation the Fed is in no hurry to cut rates.

-ABC News' Zunaira Zaki