The acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration has quit after a disagreement with Elon Musk over the ‘First Buddy’ and DOGE attempting to access government records. Musk, a ubiquitous presence beside President Trump early in his second term, has used DOGE in his quest to slash unnecessary waste, fraud and abuse from government. Social security is no different, as Musk today shared staggering data claiming there are millions of dead Americans still eligible for social security payments.
Michelle King, the acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration, has quit after a disagreement with Elon Musk over the ‘First Buddy’ and DOGE attempting to access government records
Musk has served as a sidekick to Donald Trump early on in his second term, using his role as DOGE chairman to attempt to cut unnecessary waste, fraud and abuse from government
Michelle King – a career bureaucrat who has worked for the SSA since 1994 until being named to the top post this year – apparently clashed with Musk over his attempts to access sensitive government records. ‘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.
It was unclear which records DOGE was trying to access. Trump has already nominated Frank Bisgnano to get the role permanently but he is still being vetted by the Senate. Leland Dudek, who runs the SSA’s anti-fraud division, has been appointed acting commissioner after King’s departure.
‘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 DailyMail.com in a statement. ‘In the meantime, the agency will be led by a career Social Security anti-fraud expert as the acting commissioner.’
DailyMail.com has reached out to the Social Security Administration for comment. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is investigating wasted taxpayer money as a matter of urgency after Donald Trump promised voters huge savings at the federal government.
Musk posted a chart on X showing that there are more than 20 million Americans listed over the age of 100, including 3.9 million in the 130-139 range, more than 3.5 million aged 140-149 and more than 1.3 million in the range 150-159. There is even an ‘alive’ citizen aged over 360, according to the records. The billionaire Tesla boss 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.’
The Department of Health and Human Services agency is under fire from Musk for having on its records 60 million people more than the entire U.S. population, which means millions of people who are no longer alive – or possibly never existed – could be receiving monthly checks. In 2024, 68.5 million people received benefits from SSA through retirement, disability and other payments.
It’s unclear so far yet how many of these payments were distributed due to fraud or mistakes made by the agency failing to confirm the age and eligibility of beneficiaries – including if they are alive or not. But DOGE vowed it is now ‘looking into this.’ Musk posted a table showing the tabulated number of existing U.S. citizens accounted for at the SSA on Sunday.
While the ages of Americans aged zero through 99 was on track for the U.S. population, once the ages got to upwards of 100-years-old it got much more unbelievable. There are, according to Musk’s spreadsheet, more than 4.7 million people aged between 100 and 109. And there is at least one person aged above 360 and another still in the system who is in their 240s.
A shocking 1,039 people are still alive in the SSA database who are between the ages of 220 and 229, Musk’s analysis finds. ‘Yes, there are FAR more ‘eligible’ social security numbers than there are citizens in the USA,’ Musk wrote. ‘This might be the biggest fraud in history.’
A 2023 count shows there are 334.9 million U.S. citizens. But Musk said on X that the ‘number of US citizens eligible for social security is closer to 310M.’ This is impossible considering that would mean approximately 92.5 percent of the U.S. population is eligible to receive retirement, disability or survivor benefits from the federal government. Musk made clear last week that the Social Security Administration was next on his DOGE hit-list for an audit.
During a press availability held in the Oval Office alongside President Donald Trump on Tuesday, Musk revealed DOGE found people who are ‘probably dead’ and still receiving Social Security checks. ‘Reexamination of Social Security – we’ve got people in there that are 150-years-old,’ Musk lamented during an impromptu press conference as Trump signed an executive order. ‘Now do you know anyone who’s 150?’ the billionaire asked. ‘I don’t know. They should be in the Guinness Book of World Records. They’re missing out.’
‘So, you know, that’s the case where I think they’re probably dead, is my guess, or they should be very famous – one of the two,’ he concluded. Already, Musk has entirely dismantled USAID and targeted FEMA by having its four top finance officials fired for paying $59 million to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants.
Additionally, 40,000 federal employees have accepted a buyout Trump offered for them to voluntarily leave their roles in exchange for full pay through September. He has also cut billions in federal government contracts, including those paid out by the Department of Education and National Institutes of Health to outside companies and corporations. Much of the cuts have been aimed at ending diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and practices.
