Assessing Elon Musk’s Misleading Claims About Fraud in Government Spending

Elon Musk, the billionaire leading a government efficiency initiative, has for weeks made broad and unsupported claims of rampant fraud in federal spending.

In a series of interviews on conservative podcasts and television interviews, Mr. Musk has defended attempts by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency to target popular entitlement programs like Social Security and access sensitive payment systems with a series of inaccurate claims. A representative for DOGE did not respond when asked for evidence of Mr. Musk’s claims.