Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has once again revealed staggering levels of waste, fraud, and abuse within the federal government. In a recent interview with Fox News, Musk alleged that one Social Security scammer was able to “rip off” 400,000 Americans by selling their Social Security information.
“They call in, they claim to be a retiree, and they convince the Social Security person on the phone to change where the money is flowing,” Musk explained. “It actually goes to some fraudster. This is happening all day, every day. And then somebody doesn’t receive their Social Security, it’s because of all the fraud loopholes in the Social Security system.”
Musk has also highlighted apparent evidence of the Biden administration adding enormous numbers of illegal aliens to the Social Security system – which he alleged was part of a broader scheme to grant noncitizens access to the ballot box.
Speaking at an event in Wisconsin, Musk shared a chart showing a dramatic spike in the number of new Social Security numbers during the Biden administration. “In 2021, you see 200,000 people [gaining Social Security numbers],” Musk said. “It goes all the way to 2.1 million in 2024. These are non-citizens that are getting Social Security numbers.”
“This literally blew us away,” said venture capitalist Antonio Gracias, who was on stage with Musk at the event. “If I hadn’t seen this myself, I’m not sure I would have believed it. I went through it myself and mapped it. And Elon is right. This is true… We found some by sampling that actually did vote.”
If the legacy press were concerned at all about holding those in power accountable and exposing corruption in Washington, both of these stories would have received wall-to-wall coverage.
But the corporate media has had no interest in investigating these or any other similar claims from Musk and his DOGE team. Instead, they’ve insisted that the real threat to Social Security is not the fraudulent behavior Musk is uncovering, but rather Musk himself and the Trump administration’s waste-cutting agenda.
Last month, for instance, Axios covered Social Security fraud with this headline: “In DOGE Effort to Combat Fraud, Social Security’s Core Mission Is at Stake.” Similarly, ABC News ran with the headline, “Elon Musk’s Disclosure of Planned Social Security Fraud Arrests Troubles Top Law Enforcement Officers.”
These two stories are representative of a consistent trend in how the media and elected Democrats are treating DOGE’s efforts. In essence, the narrative is that the problem isn’t the waste, fraud, and abuse in Social Security, but the fact that Elon Musk and DOGE have dared to expose how Americans have been ripped off by that waste, fraud, and abuse for decades. Any good-faith criticism of how Social Security is being run is, according to Democrats and the media, tantamount to saying that Social Security should not exist at all.
Of course, the great irony in Democrats’ claims that Musk and Trump want to cut Social Security is that eliminating fraud is one of the most surefire ways to protect Social Security benefits.
Even the most liberal partisan can’t deny that significant levels of Social Security fraud exist. A Government Accountability Office [GAO] report from April 2024, issued when Joe Biden was in office, revealed that Americans were defrauded via government programs to the tune of between $233 billion and $521 per year from 2018 to 2022.
Another report out last August from the Office of the Inspector General at the Social Security Administration found nearly $72 billion in improper payments from 2015 to 2022. Musk and DOGE have provided evidence that the actual figure may be orders of magnitude greater than that.
Democrat presidents have themselves championed efforts to eliminate fraud in Social Security. Back in 2010, Barack Obama made a big show of signing the “Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act.” It didn’t amount to much of anything in the way of reducing improper payments, but the media nonetheless celebrated him as a champion of transparency and accountability. Now the media is treating Trump and Musk as villains for taking action to expose and eliminate fraud and improper payments.
The liberal establishment’s dismissal of serious allegations of fraud simply because they come from someone they don’t like should trouble all Americans, regardless of their political affiliation. Waste and theft in government programs don’t discriminate – they hurt everyone, especially the elderly who rely on Social Security the most.
The unfortunate reality is that Democrats and the media have become so cynical and tribal that, in their crusade to “get Trump,” they’ll sink to any low – even covering for thieves stealing from the American people and politicians possibly weaponizing Social Security to rig elections.
Andrew Shirley is a veteran speechwriter and AMAC Newsline columnist. His commentary can be found on X at @AA_Shirley.
Why isn’t the Justice Department taking action on what Musk’s DOGE team has found?
I want to see some perp walks !!
The media and the Democrats are one in the same. If you say media you are saying Democrat. I don’t understand why the Democrats and the media are one on the same but they are the media supports and apologizes for everything the Democrats do and I have no idea why. I used to work in TV. I didn’t used to be that bad in the late seventies and early 80s, today is off the scale. The Democrat Party in the media are one in the same. The FCC should pull the broadcast license of every Network including PBS because they are not broadcasting in the public interest. And that is a requirement to utilize the public Airwaves. All they do is reiterate the Democrat point of view
Well now, Clearly this is NOT Shocking!! Bozo Biden announced publicly that he was authorizing ILLEGALS to be able to VOTE and to get Social Security Benefits, even though “NONE OF THEM”, were ever entitled to it. This was and is CRIMINAL, yet Bozo Biden walks free!!! Musk has done more to reveal the enormous amount of Government Waste that has been going on for decades, that has been “Concealed” by the Democratic Socialists Liberals Regime to DESTROY AMERICA!!! The amount fraudulently given to ILLEGALS is “Mind-Blowing” and everyone connected to this “Scheme” needs to be held Accountable and Prosecuted with “Maximum Sentences of Confinement” for their deeds that have “Severely” weakened the Social Security System for all those American Citizens “fully” entitled to.
This does not shock me. Maybe people living under rocks? What should be SHOCKING is that no one has actually gotten in trouble for allowing this. Not going to hold my breath.
RNC and wealthy donors: Get with the WH (they have videographers already being paid). Make videos and BUY TIME ON NETWORK TV!!! Then the truth will get out. If they must run slimy attack ads during election season, then they must run the truth videos. Get on this before more Americans believe the lies the Dems are spewing. It is absolutely shameful that the lying Dems are causing so many seniors to not sleep at night. They are flooding SS and groups like AMAC and AARP with calls about how worried they are about losing benefits when NONE of that will happen!!! These people are starting to show up at the stupid protests and are talking with their friends and neighbors. Nip this in the bud NOW, before the 2026 campaign season starts. Otherwise, Trump will end up a lame duck President.
As an older woman, I still remember when lying on a newscast was a big deal and that was true of all public networks. Many in our nation no longer think lying is serious. Lying about what our government is REALLY doing behind our backs is VERY serious and it gave Biden the election in 2020. The decline of honesty is the worst thing that has happened in a long,long time and its affects have been brutal to our Republic. Even after the Democrat’s lies have been uncovered, they keep on lying. It is so refreshing to now have a president who is very transparent.
It’s the people participating in fraud that complain about Musk & Trump.
I watched a clip of a woman who worked for Social Security and they were coached to ask illegal immigrants certain questions such as do you have headaches, bad headaches, like migraines? Do you have back pain, excruciating, back pain, etc. this alone would deem them as disabled and that to me is fraudulent BS by the Biden administration. Then once they get disability, they automatically are now in the Social Security system. This is just crazy! The Biden administration and his peons should be arrested in jail.
The fact that none of the liberals want to see that fraud and corruption in DC agencies should show the entire country that they hate the U.S. and we, the people. Their DC politicians and their far-left media outlets continue to lie about everything they don’t like. They actually want and are working towards bankrupting our country which makes them traitors.
GOD BLESS AMERICA.
Good to see proof but some of us knew this was going on. It started a long time ago and no one cared that had the power to do anything about it.
Truth,Logic and Common Sense leads me to believe that HIGH TREASON is not an offense that a Presidental Pardon will cover. Maybe Bondi is putting the necessary paperwork to file criminal charges of Treason on the whole damn lot of them. That is the ONLY solution and recourse to undertake to hold accountability to these vile, Globalist Marxists.
Even with the media and the traitorous demoncrats against them, Trump and Elon’s team need to QUICKLY move forward and stop this fraud in the Social Security system. DO IT NOW!!!!!
There should be a “Media Malpractice” statue where a story as big as this must be covered and accurately. To not cover something this HUGE… is the very essence of media malpractice. Obviously, the heads of these media outlets are “in on it” and they should be investigated for conspiracy.
Calling these people journalists is as accurate as calling Democratic Party democratic, why should it shock anyone that they only “report” that which suits the political agenda, which is never the truth and if the statement should be accurate then it is an accident.
This is why the MSM has lost their credibility. They are not reporters, they are propagandists. MSM is worse than a gossip rag.
Damn Dems behind SS fraud
More lies and deception by the Democrats asshats in the media…
Anything Trump does the dems oppose. How many signs were not held up by seniors during the hands off demonstration last weekend, that said “hands off my Social Security”. The democrats word it in such a way that Elon is taking checks away from people. Everything in the paper is close to the truth but worded in such a way that Trump is going against the people. Yesterday the stock market rose, the average investor made some money including tge elites. Today the elite billionaires sold off their profits. Trump mustn’t or shall succeed. And their lies go on and on. They want to break America and every citizen and have all the illegals which are by now, if you add those in who have come here over the years illegally, close to 50 million plus people, will rise up and destroy this country. January 6 was a trial run orchestrated by Pelosi et al how to create a coup. They have been lying since Obama. He readied the voters for a power grab. After all he was a neighborhood organizer. We still put words to what Biden did the past 4 years. Why is there no one to stand up and impeach Biden. Giving Social security numbers to illegals, by flying them into the country by planeload after planeload. Losing 325,000 children and young adults and women. This is what you get when a non compos mentis person is made president. And everyone knew it and let it happen. Check it out who the ones were behind the scenes the past four years. You be surprised who was running the country.
Anyone who can vote for these corrupt Marxist Democrats, is truly a moron, and deserves to be broke.
The DESPICABLE CORRUPT, LYING FAKE NEWS MEDIA IS AMERICA’S #1 ENEMY WITHIN. COMPLETELY WITHOUT MORALS OR INTEGRITY. THEY ARE PURE EVIL.
If you watch news from CBS, ABC, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, and even Fox now, you are not getting the truth, and haven’t been for the last 10 or more years. They have been biased and are owned by the democrats totally. Personally, I believe the mainstream media is guilty of treason, and have lost all integrity that journalists had been respected for in the past. Remember when judges would lock up reporters for not giving up their sources? Now, the journalists need to locked up for treason and should be held accountable for any story they publish that can be proven to be false. Do what I do for now, totally boycott all of the stations with BS news, I watch Real America’s Voice, and Newsmax, and a local station for local news, and never watch anything on the stations I listed above, ever. That way we hit them in the pocket, and ruin advertising revenues for them. If advertiser’s know nobody is watching, they will not spend their money there.
Social Security is the 800 pound gorilla quietly ripping off and stealing from All the American citizens. Besides stopping this fraud and corruption ASAP, which is a monstrous challenge, we have to make these thieves address restitution and jail! They have to pay! Restitutions is unlikely but we have to put them in prison!!! Jail will be the most effective instrument!!!
The frightening fact is that some respond to this reality with “kill the messenger” or blow up his car. If the law is contorted, we can put the messenger in jail. We have to pray for the continued blessing that we can continue to hold free elections. This country is still in great peril.
C’mon, did you really expect anything different from mainstream media and the nitwit dems,
This should surprise no one. It’s been happening for eons. The only way it will be covered by the media is if a Demo-rat President were to come up with the idea and actually follow through.
I bet the AARP didn’t tell their readers the truth about all this! Social Security would have been completely bankrupted by this in a couple of years if the Democrats were still in charge!
The media is controlled by Soros and the elitist which work together with our biggest enemies the Democratic Party to destroy America and the American people! Based on the findings of DOGE and Elon Musk the Democratic Party has been stealing from the American people for years! The Democrats need to be tried treason! They should be dealt with swift with severe punishment and consequences!
Yellen, Schumer and others keep repeating the lie that the Biden economy was strong. $2 trillion/yr deficits every year biden was in office (plus a trillion, before Trump in FY 25) and a national debt exceeding $37 trillion. Biden economy was a complete and utter disaster, unsustainable spending, trillions going to fund illegal aliens, new regulations everywhere and lets not forget the “green new deal”. Trillions down the drain of inoperable and extremely expensive environmental projects, no reliable new base power (nuclear or nat gas), and absolutely no accountability. Would any of you write a $ 2 Billion check to Stacie Abrams for a startup “charity” to provide appliances to low income folks? If she actually has a single appliance delivered I will be shocked. This is the garbage Biden funded.
DOGE has shed so much light on our government it is truly outrageous. Treasury writes checks as requested, no backup, no one responsible, no proof Congress has approved the expenditure, no way to prove what the check actually paid for? The overlap and redundancy is also shocking. We still can’t understand how people are on both Medicare and Medicaid, is anyone surprised the government is double billed for services? The FED spent $14,000 per employee last year for “new” office furniture, weren’t most of them working from home anyway, completely unacceptable.
Stick with President Trump and republicans, they are obviously not perfect but the choice at this point appears to be complete insanity!
Those responsible for all this should go to jail and repay the money lost, especially those sitting in Congress right now! And I’m sure it’s not just the Dems who are perps. There are Rhinos in the mix, too.
Why is there no accountability for this theft? Why are they allowed to get by with this? Anyone else would go to prison! Why is there no one going to prison for this theft this fraud this waste and this abuse? It is not right and someone needs to pay for this wrong!
The mainstream media, once considered the protector of the public by exposing corruption and fraud, is, today, nothing more than the progressive/socialist party propaganda machine. It is the same as the preacher preaching to the progressive choir while,at the same time, working hard to recruit the uncertain.
The leftist media should be dumbstruck! New York’s Ocasio is their best choice for representative??? How blatant must the craziness be. Teachers teach our young people how effective socialism is in others countries! It isn’t. I hope the Democratic voters can see why people still come to America hoping it is a better place than where they came from. Plenty are coming here to cause the demise of virtue, without which freedom cannot exist!
The MSM and the DemoKKKRATS have zero credibility! They lie and distort facts as easily as breathing. This Social Security scam, if not discovered by Musk and Co, would have speedily bankrupted the system, which as already damaged by the DemoKKKRATS and RINOS. Ignore the whines of the useful fools on the MSM; many are paid to demonstrate in the streets.
It’s one thing to uncover the fraud in government. It’s quite another thing to determine the “Who” that is at fault. So prosecutions are unlikely.
IF some type of investigative team/office isn’t set up by Congress, the fraud will just start up again, especially in Social Security.
Yep millions of Americans will never see any of this. I don’t know why we don’t have a conservative national network on TV, democrats have three, ABC, NBC, CBS, we have none.Without a six o;clock national news to tell the truth without democrat propaganda, NPTV will continue to reach millions who see no other real news. It will have a limited life span, but it extremely important right the f*ck now. NPTV – National Propaganda TV, a big part of the Democrat Party misinformation media networks.
Serious tax payers are not confused by the attacks from LEFT politicians and crap media. Amazing how none of the naysayers address the findings, merely attack the messengers. That is somewhat typical for auditors to get pushback. Even honest people dislike being made to look bad. In this case we have politicians actually ordering violence from their useful stooges and FED employees trying to sabotage the audit efforts.
We need a permanent DOGE. Congress needs to act to make this tax payer led audit function permanent and pay attention to the findings! No other audit function used previously by Congress has produced!!
In 2006 Dan Rather was dismissed by CBS News for falsifying a story about George W.
DISMISSED!!!!! THOSE WERE THE GOOD OLD DAYS
Of course, expected. They did it, they are guilty, they cannot escape, and say what you will, do not believe anything you say.
MusK HURRAY!~!!
And there are still people wondering why we just can’t seem to recruit enough personnel into the various branches of the military. My God, would you put your life on the line for what this country has become? No sane person would.
How many of these fraudsters are a part of our government or media? The absolute only way they would NOT want to stop this, is because they are benefitting from it & don’t want to expose or give up their golden goose! How else do they become so wealthy while living a lavish lifestyle in one of the most expensive cities in America on a government salary? We honest common folk couldn’t do it.
It’s no secret that the media will not support anything Trump. That DOGE is bad. That any story about those two subjects are subject to media twisting. The truth and the reality of how disfunctional our government has become will never get shared by our mainstream media outlets. So, if you want anything near truth, DO NOT watch or listen to them. Go to sources that document their results, that are not spinning the message and are not grinding an axe or pushing some propagandized agenda. That’s hard to do, and it takes work, and that’s the problem….too many lazy dolts out there getting their ears tickled and never asking if it’s true, right, or even accurate.
Some years ago I read in the Senior Citizens League newsletter that to avoid fraud on Social Security, you can have Social Security put a “block” on your SS. The very next day I went in person to the S.S. office and told them I wanted a block on my Social Security. That way, to make any changes to my bank, address, etc. I would have to come IN PERSON to my Social Security office. No on who has your Social Security number, etc. can just go on a computer to make the changes. I have never had any problems with fraud on my Social Security as a result. A very simple solution. It’s a shame most people do not know this.
Because of all the crazy things democrats do with their dossiers let me give you my paranoia dossier about Democrats. I have been given the impression in the state of Arizona that my social security number has been compromised or stolen by a stranger to put it nicely. My Az drivers was printed in the Democrat state of Minnesota and California prior to voting season where the Democrats were so desperate for votes to steal identity or partial identity of Trump voters for their “strangers” to vote and be given us citizenship and identity theft me. I was evicted at my apartment unfairly for no reason as I followed the rules of the apartment but the noisy vomiting partying tenants stayed. So what? All anyone can do for me is give me credit monitoring so the Democrats can follow me and strike again or find me to do something worse. Happy Easter!
Regards
Danika.
It’s SO OBVIOUS that Dems are ACTIVELY TRYING TO BANKRUPT America at every turn – to what END??? (I believe they KNOW Repubs will always work hard in Office to ‘repair the damages’ done by Dems, and restore things BACK to NORMAL levels again. Then when the Dems again take over (which they always seem to manage to do…), everything has gone from ‘decrepit’ back to ‘Normal’ or higher, so Dems can do whatever their hearts desire!!! and bankrupt the country again to leave for Repubs to fix again! At least that’s the way it LOOKS to ME for the last 45 years since I have been ‘aware’ of ‘politics’!) WHEN will Repubs WAKE UP, and bring this TO THE ATTENTION OF THE PEOPLE, so The People will QUIT voting IN the same gangster/robbers that keep robbing them over and over and over again! Maybe we’re finally THERE.
It gets better. The noncitizens get social security numbers and presto! Theyre in eVerify too, competing for jobs with Americans! Thanks Democrats!
If they ever have an Article V Convention, they should modify the 1st Amendment so that the Freedom of the Press is contingent on separating opinion from fact.
Everyone who knows of this should be outraged. This is beyond ridiculous. When are we going to see someone being held accountable?!?!??? It’s great that everything is being found and put out to the public; however, it means absolutely nothing if those responsible get away with their crimes.
I have relatives who only watch CNN(Communist News Network) and PBS(Proleteriot broadcast system). Thier minds are forever closed to looking at both sides of an issue, They will not change and therefore become more set in their ways. No, I do not only watch Fox but also PBS, and Network News. This allows me to look at both sides of an issue and pick my own course. Most people don’t do this and because they know they are being fed manure have tuned out and have no clue as to what goes on in the world.I feel like there is no way to resolve this problem therefore it will continue or get worse.
What or how should it corrected! To many loop holes created over the years!
When are all these drunken spend thieves, that spent our tax money and stole from the US Treasury behind our backs, going to be held ACCOUNTABLE???? They are walking around like nothing ever happened!!