The acting head of the US Social Security Administration (SSA) resigned over the weekend following a contentious dispute with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
According to the Washington Post, the resignation of Michelle King, who had served as a career federal worker since 1994, took place last Saturday.
BREAKING: The acting head of the US Social Security Administration has resigned after a dispute with DOGE, per NY Post. https://t.co/VBxYLxEz34 pic.twitter.com/J3xQl89Hqo
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) February 18, 2025
King was replaced by Leland Dudek, who will serve as the acting commissioner until President Trump’s nominee to head the office, Frank Bisignano, is given the “thumps up” by the Senate.
Disagreement over sensitive data access
Tensions between King and DOGE reportedly grew from the latter’s efforts to gain access to sensitive government records. While the exact nature of the records was not initially disclosed, its known that DOGE got data outlining the ages of American citizens from the SSA database.
Since President Trump first entered the White House in January 20, Musk’s associates have pursued access to closely guarded data across several government agencies. This includes seeking records from the Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and Labor Department, which have all led to several resignations.
One source vividly familiar with the matter, Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, suggested that King did not sit well with DOGE’s request for access to SSA’s sensitive files.
“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,” Altman reckoned, explaining why Leland Dudek is now the SSA head.
Musk’s scrutiny of ‘Social Security Fraud’
Elon Musk’s involvement in King stepping down centers around his recent scrutiny of potential fraud within the Social Security program. On social media, Musk has made several claims to uncover instances of 150-year-old individuals listed as beneficiaries and has raised concerns over federal workers who acquired their wealth “suspiciously.”
In an X post on Sunday, the Tesla CEO shared a chart that showed 20 million people in the SSA database were listed as over 100 years old.
“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 billionaire said jokingly.
On Monday evening, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to claims made by some reporters, accusing them of spreading misinformation and attempting to stoke fear over Social Security payments.
Leavitt clarified that President Trump had instructed Musk solely to focus on identifying fraud within the program, insisting that seniors’ retirement benefits “will not be touched.”
White House: Musk is not an employee of DOGE
As part of his advisory role to President Trump, Elon Musk has led efforts to identify and combat fraud in various federal programs, including Social Security. However, the White House now claims he is not part of DOGE in any capacity.
According to a filing by White House official Joshua Fisher, Musk does not hold any formal decision-making authority within the government. Fisher cleared the air on how the Trump’s administration ally serves solely as a senior advisor to President Trump and is not an employee of any government agency.
“Like other senior White House advisors, Mr. Musk has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself. Mr. Musk can only advise the President and communicate the President’s directives,” concluded the official.
Last Thursday, a coalition of 14 states filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk and President Donald Trump, challenging the constitutionality of the authority granted to DOGE.
The lawsuit, which was brought to halt the department’s plan to access any government data, by Democratic attorneys general from states including Arizona, Michigan, and Rhode Island.
Still, the Tesla CEO has a massive number of supporters, with the most vocal ones being netizens on his social media platform X.
“We have a once in a lifetime chance to clean up the government and fix our spending issues. Perhaps we will even get to a balanced budget and curb spending across a variety of services. DOGE is existential to America staying the dominant world leader,” denoted one X user.
