White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed concerns Monday evening regarding President Donald Trump’s directive for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and Elon Musk to investigate potential fraud within the Social Security Administration (SSA).

Speaking on Fox News with Sean Hannity, Leavitt emphasized that the administration’s goal is to identify fraudulent Social Security payments and ensure taxpayer funds are properly allocated.

“I’ve been fighting fake news reporters all day long here in the Washington D.C. swamp who are trying to fear-monger the American people into believing that this administration is going after their hard-earned tax dollars and their hard-earned Social Security checks,” Leavitt told Hannity.

“So I want to set the record straight on your show tonight, Sean, and I’m very grateful for the opportunity to do so. President Trump has directed Elon Musk and the DOGE team to identify fraud at the Social Security Administration.”

Leavitt’s remarks come after Musk posted a chart from the Social Security database on X Sunday evening, showing a range of ages from zero to 369 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 pic.twitter.com/ltb06VX98Z

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 17, 2025

The post drew immediate backlash from Democrats, who have been critical of Musk’s involvement with the Trump administration, particularly after DOGE was tasked with overhauling the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

According to Leavitt, DOGE and Musk have not yet reviewed SSA’s records in detail but suspect there are “tens of millions of deceased people who are receiving fraudulent Social Security payments.”

“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. So their goal in going into the Social Security Administration is to identify three things,” Leavitt explained.

Concerns over fraudulent Social Security payments are not new.

In July 2023, the SSA’s Office of the Inspector General released an audit finding that “approximately 18.9 million numberholders” were recorded as having been born in 1920 or earlier but had no death information on file.

A previous 2015 audit reported a similar issue, identifying 6.5 million people with Social Security numbers but no recorded death information.

The July 2023 audit noted, “We believe it likely SSA did not receive or record most of the 18.9 million individuals’ death information primarily because the individuals died decades ago—before the use of electronic death reporting. Resolving these discrepancies will improve the accuracy and completeness of the DMF.”

The DMF, or Death Master File, is the official SSA record of individuals reported as deceased.

The audit findings suggest that a significant number of deceased individuals may still be listed as active in the system, potentially leading to improper payments.

Leavitt outlined the administration’s objectives for the SSA review, emphasizing that the goal is to protect Social Security for legitimate recipients, not disrupt lawful payments.

“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,” Leavitt said.

“Number three, to protect the integrity of this system for hardworking Americans who have been paying into it their entire lives.”

Leavitt also pushed back against media narratives suggesting that the Trump administration was targeting Social Security recipients.

“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 tax checks,” she said.

“Do not buy into the lies from the legacy fake news media who are trying to fear you and scare you into believing otherwise.”

The investigation into potential fraud at SSA is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to address government inefficiencies and ensure taxpayer funds are being used properly.

With Musk and DOGE leading the charge, the administration is moving forward with efforts to eliminate fraudulent payments and restore confidence in federal programs.

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