Musk, DOGE to investigate ‘tens of millions of deceased people’ getting Social Security payments, Karoline Leavitt says

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Donald Trump has directed Elon Musk and the DOGE team to identify fraud at the Social Security Administration.

The White House confirmed on Tuesday, February 18, that the Trump administration has put an "anti-fraud expert" temporarily in charge at the Social Security Administration. This came after acting commissioner Michelle King resigned following an apparent clash with Elon Musk's cost-cutting team. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has directed Musk and DOGE to identify fraud at the agency, with White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt saying several dead people have been receiving fraudulent Social Security payments.

Musk, DOGE to investigate ‘tens of millions of deceased people’ getting Social Security payments (REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo)(REUTERS)

‘There are tens of millions of deceased people who are receiving fraudulent Social Security payments’

Leavitt said that Trump has directed Musk and the DOGE team to identify fraud at the Social Security Administration.

"They haven't dug into the books yet, but they suspect that there are tens of millions of deceased people who are receiving fraudulent Social Security payments and so their goal in going into the Social Security Administration is to identify three things: Number one, to identify duplicate payments and to end them, Number two, to identify payments that are going to deceased people who are no longer living and should no longer be receiving that money and number three, to protect the integrity of the system for hardworking Americans who have been paying into it their entire lives,” Leavitt told Fox News.

She added, “So rest assured to all of the people watching your show tonight, if you paid into the system, honestly, you will continue to receive your Social Security checks. Do not buy into the lies from the legacy fake news media, who are trying to fear you and scare you into believing otherwise. This is what we've seen them do about President Trump for years with every promise that he has made, and he's going in there to protect your hard-earned money. That is the ultimate goal.”

Musk, too, previously shared that some “crazy things” had come to light in just the “cursory examination of Social Security” his team was undertaking. “We’ve got people in there that are 150 years old,” he said on February 11. “Now, do you know anyone who’s 150? I don’t, OK. They should be in the Guinness Book of World Records. … I think they’re probably dead, is my guess, or they should be very famous, one of the two.”

Democrats have been criticising the Department of Government Efficiency and Musk in recent weeks, possibly more than ever before. Over the past week, they have been arguing that Trump’s project is a violation of the Constitution. They have been filing several lawsuits in an attempt to bring DOGE’s momentum to a halt.