According to TASS, American entrepreneur and “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) Secretary Elon Musk stated on social media platform X on February 8 that the U.S. Treasury distributes over $100 billion in benefits annually to unidentified individuals, calling it “utterly absurd and something that must be addressed immediately.”
Musk said, “Yesterday, I learned that more than $100 billion in benefits is distributed annually to individuals who do not even have a Social Security Number (SSN) or even temporary identification. If true, this is highly suspicious.”
He added, “When I asked Treasury officials to estimate what portion of this amount is unequivocally fraudulent, their unanimous consensus was around half—meaning $50 billion per year, or $1 billion per week!”
Musk described the situation as “utterly absurd and something that must be addressed immediately.”
On February 7, a group of 19 attorneys general, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, filed a lawsuit arguing that President Trump’s authorization for Musk to access government computer systems violated constitutional safeguards and “failed to faithfully execute laws passed by Congress.”
Earlier on February 8, U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued a preliminary injunction temporarily barring Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing sensitive Treasury materials, citing a “risk of irreparable harm.”
According to CNN, the White House condemned the ruling as “judicial overreach” and labeled the judge who issued it a “radical.”
