The acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration resigned after a disagreement with Elon Musk over the 'First Buddy' and DOGE trying to gain access to government records. Musk, who was frequently seen alongside Trump during his second term, has been using DOGE to help reduce government waste, fraud, and abuse.
Social Security is not exempt from this, as Musk presented shocking figures suggesting that millions of dead Americans are still listed as eligible for Social Security benefits. Michelle King, a long-time bureaucrat who has been with the SSA since 1994 and was recently appointed to the top position, clashed with Musk over his efforts to access confidential government records.
In Disagreement with Musk
"What I know is that DOGE wanted access to SSA's sensitive files — the same way they're trying to do at Labor and Treasury — and the acting commissioner wouldn't give it, and she was replaced," Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, told The Washington Post.
The specific records DOGE was trying to access remain unclear.
Trump has already put forward Frank Bisgnano for the permanent role, though he is still undergoing Senate vetting. In the meantime, Leland Dudek, head of the SSA's anti-fraud division, has been named acting commissioner following King's resignation.
"President Trump has nominated the highly qualified and talented Frank Bisignano to lead the Social Security Administration, and we expect him to be swiftly confirmed in the coming weeks," the White House told the Daily Mail in a statement.
"In the meantime, the agency will be led by a career Social Security anti-fraud expert as the acting commissioner."
DOGE is urgently investigating wasteful taxpayer spending after Trump pledged voters huge savings in the federal government.
Musk shared a chart on X showing that more than 20 million Americans are listed as being over 100 years old, including 3.9 million in the 130-139 age range, over 3.5 million between 140-149, and more than 1.3 million in the 150-159 range. The records even show a citizen allegedly over 360 years old.
The Tesla billionaire wrote, "According to the Social Security database, these are the numbers of people in each age bucket with the death field set to FALSE! Maybe Twilight is real and there are a lot of vampires collecting Social Security."
Musk in Full Action Mode
Musk has criticized the Department of Health and Human Services for having records of 60 million more people than the entire U.S. population, suggesting that millions of dead—or possibly non-existent—people could be receiving Social Security checks.
In 2024, 68.5 million people received benefits from the SSA, including retirement, disability, and other payments.
It remains unclear how many of these payments were made due to fraud or errors in the agency's failure to verify beneficiaries' ages and eligibility—especially their living status.
DOGE has said it is "looking into this."
Musk shared a table on Sunday detailing the number of U.S. citizens listed in the SSA records. According to Musk's spreadsheet, over 4.7 million people are listed as being between the ages of 100 and 109. The data also includes at least one person reportedly over 360 years old, and another in their 240s.
In a shocking revelation, Musk's analysis found that 1,039 people in the SSA database are listed as being between 220 and 229 years old.
A 2023 census shows 334.9 million U.S. citizens. However, Musk wrote on X that the actual number of U.S. citizens eligible for Social Security is closer to 310 million.
