Social Security official resigns after DOGE clash
By: Joey Garrison
USA Today
WASHINGTON - The top official of the Social Security Administration quit over the weekend [02/15-16/2025] after Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency team sought access to sensitive records containing the private information of Americans, according to a source familiar with the dispute.
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The White House confirmed the departure of Michele King, the acting commissioner of the Social Security Administrator, who had worked 30 years in the agency that oversees the retiree and disability benefits received by 73 million people.
..... President Donald Trump replaced King as acting commissioner with Leland Dudek, who ha sled Social Security's anti-fraud office, according to The Washington Post, which first reported
King's exit. trump is seeking Senate confirmation of Frank Bisignano, president and CEO of financial services firm Fiserv, to lead the Social Security Administration full-time.
..... "President Trump has nominated the highly qualified and talented Frank Bisignano to led the Social Security Administration, and we expect him to be swiftly confirmed in the coming weeks," spokesperson Harrison Fields said in a statement. "In the meantime the agency will be led by a career Social Security anti-fraud expert."
..... Fields added, "President Trump is committed to appointing the best and most qualified individuals who are dedicated to working on behalf of he American people, not to appease the bureaucracy that has failed them for far too long."
..... The clash came as Musk's team of DOGE employees has fanned out across federal governments in a push to drastically cut federal spending and gut the federal bureaucracy. in recent days, DOGE also sought direct access to IRS computer systems that have vast amounts of sensitive data.
..... Dudek, the new action of Social Security previously praised DOGE's efforts to cut government costs and search for fraud in multiple social media posts, the Post reported.
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Musk has alleged widespread fraud in the Social Security Administration and made unsubstantiated claims that Social Security payments are going to Americans listed as 150 years old.
..... A 2023 report from the inspector general for the Social Security Administration found 18.9 million Americans born before 1920 were listed in the Social Security database but lacked death information on their records. However, the report said almost none of the deceased individuals were receiving payments.
..... In a Monday [02/17/2025] night interview on Fox News, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt strongly rejected any suggestion that DOGE's work in the Social Security Administration will jeopardize American' Social Security checks.
..... Leavitt accused the media of "trying to fear-monger the American people" into believing the Trump administration is going after their Social Security benefits. She said Trump directed Musk and the DOGE team to "identify fraud in the Social Security Administration" by finding duplicat4e payments and erroneous payment to decease Americans. She said Trump wants to protect the integrity of the system.