WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Members of Elon Musk's

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) moved into the

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Friday, according to two

people familiar with the move, as the Tesla CEO's team

extended its influence across the U.S. government.

On Friday Musk posted "CFPB RIP" on X, his social media

platform.

Republican President Donald Trump has tasked Musk, the

world's richest person, to oversee a drastic downsizing and

reshaping of the federal government. Several early targets for

Musk's cost-cutting effort, such as the CFPB, have long incurred

the ire of conservatives in America.

In November, Musk called for elimination of the CFPB, which

polices and regulates consumer financial products, in a post on

his social media platform X, saying it was duplicating the

efforts of other agencies.

Three Musk aides are now listed in the CFPB directory as

"senior advisors", according to the two sources. They include

Gavin Kliger, a Berkeley-educated computer scientist who has

boosted white supremacists and misogynists online. Reuters could

not determine what Kliger and his colleagues were doing at the

CFPB and Kliger did not immediately respond to a request for

comment.

Musk has also said he was working to shut down USAID,

America's main development and humanitarian aid agency. On

Friday, workers removed USAID's signage from its headquarters in

downtown Washington.

A U.S. judge on Friday said he will enter a "very limited"

order temporarily blocking the Trump administration from taking

some steps to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International

Development, adding that 2,200 employees from the agency would

not immediately be placed on administrative leave.

The ruling came after the largest U.S. government workers'

union and an association of foreign service workers sued the

Trump administration in an effort to reverse the dismantling of

the agency. The administration plans to keep fewer than 300

USAID employees out of more than 10,000, sources told Reuters on

Thursday.

On Friday, Ed Martin, Trump's top federal prosecutor in

Washington, announced he had launched an investigation into

government employees who Musk has accused of stealing property

and making threats.

"After your referral, as is my practice, I will begin an

inquiry," Martin wrote in a letter made public on X to Musk and

Steve Davis, the president of Musk's tunneling enterprise The

Boring Company, who has been working with Musk at DOGE.

Musk and his DOGE team of mostly young men are part of a

broader overhaul by Trump to remake the federal government and

purge it of thousands of workers, including those Trump

perceives as enemies or opposed to his conservative "America

First" agenda.

Trump, who says the government is bloated and corrupt, said

on Friday he was "very proud" of the work of Musk's "very

capable" team.

He said Musk was acting on his directives and that no agency

was off limits. "I'll tell him to go here, go there. He does

it." Trump said, adding that the aggressive effort was necessary

to "find the corruption."

Musk aides have entered multiple agencies, often without

notice, and sought access to sensitive government computer

systems since Trump took office on January 20. The visits have

sparked a wave of panic among federal workers, who are also

considering a buyout offer from the Trump administration that

was issued to 2 million of the 2.3 million-strong federal

civilian workforce.

A U.S. judge on Thursday temporarily paused the proposed

buyout plan for federal workers until at least Monday, giving an

initial win to labor unions that sued to stop it.

Even as the program was stayed, more than 65,000 federal

employees have already accepted the buyout offer, a White House

source said.

Opposition Democrats and federal employee unions have

decried the power Trump has bestowed on South African-born Musk,

who is unelected and appears largely unaccountable except to

Trump himself. Musk is classified as a "special government

employee" and is not drawing a government salary.

An Energy Department source told Reuters that three members

of DOGE are also now installed inside that department.

Trump's new Energy Secretary, Chris Wright, told CNBC there

are three DOGE staff inside the department but they do not have

security clearances and do not have access to nuclear weapons

secrets.