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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Associated Press

What’s behind Trump’s false claim dead people are receiving social security payments?

man in suit sits at a desk as a man in black wearing a black baseball cap stands and gestures
Donald Trump and Elon Musk have made the claims on social media and in press briefings. Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

The Trump administration is falsely claiming that tens of millions of dead people over 100 years old are receiving social security payments.

Over the past few days,Donald Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk have said on social media and in press briefings that people who are 100, 200 and even 300 years old are improperly getting benefits – a “HUGE problem”, Musk wrote, as his so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) digs into federal agencies to root out waste, fraud and abuse.

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