<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-0"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Elon Musk keeps talking about Social Security.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Two weeks ago, <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/03/us/politics/elon-musk-joe-rogan-podcast.html" title="">he called it a Ponzi scheme</a>. This week, he suggested that his Department of Government Efficiency <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/11/us/politics/musk-doge-social-security-entitlement-spending.html" title="">would scrutinize the agency’s spending</a>. And he has repeatedly suggested, without evidence, that Social Security payments are flowing to undocumented immigrants and dead people.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The latest sign of his interest in the agency came today, when my colleagues Theodore Schleifer, Kate Conger and Ryan Mac <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/14/us/politics/elon-musk-antonio-gracias-social-security-administration.html" title="">reported</a> that one of Musk’s closest advisers had taken a position there.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The adviser is Antonio Gracias, a private equity investor who lent Musk $1 million during Tesla’s early days and has vacationed with his family in places like Jackson Hole, Wyo. Gracias’ involvement may be the clearest sign yet that Musk considers the agency a key priority. He is one of nine members of the Department of Government Efficiency who have arrived there in recent days, my colleagues wrote. Two others work at Gracias’ investment firm.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">We don’t know exactly what Gracias’ role is. But a <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/documents/e08aeb0c-ec70-4235-91a0-290da92067b5.pdf?itid=lk_inline_manual_5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">court filing</a> last week offered one glimpse of DOGE’s early activities in the agency. In the filing, <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/03/10/musk-social-security-data-doge-trump/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">which The Washington Post covered in detail</a>, Tiffany Flick, a career agency official who retired in mid-February, said the group’s representatives appeared to be seeking sensitive information and data that fell into three categories: allegations about benefits being paid out to deceased people; concerns about multiple benefits going to a single Social Security number; and payments going to people without a Social Security number.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-1"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-1"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Flick said all of those concerns were “invalid.” But they do align with the false allegations about fraud that Musk and President Trump have been making in public — which <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/05/us/politics/musk-social-security-democrats.html" title="">Democrats say Republicans intend to use as a pretense</a> for scrutiny and cuts.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Trump and his allies have repeatedly denied that they have plans to cut Social Security benefits, which Republicans have long avoided doing for fear of political blowback.</p><div class="css-1336jj"><div class="css-121kum4"><div class="css-171quhb"></div><div class="css-asuuk5"><noscript><div class="css-7axq9l" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="css-1b5b8u1" height="24" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24"><path clip-rule="evenodd" d="M2.5 12a9.5 9.5 0 1 1 19 0 9.5 9.5 0 0 1-19 0Zm8.5 1.75v-7.5h2v7.5h-2Zm0 2v2h2v-2h-2Z" fill="currentColor" fill-rule="evenodd"></path></svg><div class="css-6yo1no" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript-message"><p class="css-3kpklk">We are having trouble retrieving the article content.</p><p class="css-3kpklk">Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.</p></div></div></noscript><div class="css-1dv1kvn" id="optimistic-truncator-a11y" tabindex="-1"><hr/><p>Thank you for your patience while we verify access. 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