Trump Admin Threatens to Shut Down Social Security Over DOGE Ruling

The Trump administration has threatened to shut down the Social Security Administration (SSA) over a court ruling that blocks Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing the personal data of millions of Americans.

President Donald Trump’s interim Social Security chief, Lee Dudek—who has been working closely with DOGE—warned that the SSA could be forced to cease operations if Musk’s team continues to be denied access to the information.

“My anti-fraud team would be DOGE affiliates. My IT staff would be DOGE affiliates,” Dudek said in remarks published by Bloomberg. “As it stands, I will follow [the judge’s order] exactly and terminate access by all SSA employees to our IT systems.”

He said that he planned to request an immediate clarification from the judge.

“Really, I want to turn it off and let the courts figure out how they want to run a federal agency,” he added.

The Daily Beast has contacted the SSA for comment.

U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, issued a temporary restraining order on Thursday accusing DOGE of conducting a “fishing expedition” at the SSA and said it had not “identified or articulated even a single reason” it needed access to the private data of millions of Americans.

“To be sure, rooting out possible fraud, waste, and mismanagement in the SSA is in the public interest. But, that does not mean that the government can flout the law to do so,” Hollander said in halting the task force’s work.

She further ordered tech billionaire Musk, his advisory body DOGE, and its affiliates to destroy any sensitive records they’d already accessed.

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About 70 million Americans—including retired workers and people with disabilities—rely on Social Security benefits as their major source of income.

DOGE has been conducting a drastic overhaul of government spending since Jan. 20 as Musk seeks to eventually reduce the deficit by $1 trillion.

“[DOGE] has launched a search for the proverbial needle in the haystack, without any concrete knowledge that the needle is actually in the haystack,” the judge wrote.

Her order expires in 14 days, but it can be extended.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Harrison Fields told Bloomberg that Trump would “continue to seek all legal remedies available to ensure the will of the American people goes into effect.”

“In a 134-page decision, a radical, leftist judge ordered Social Security Administration employees not to implement the President’s government-efficiency agenda,” Fields said. “This is yet another activist judge abusing the judicial system to try and sabotage the president’s attempts to rid the government of waste, fraud, and abuse.”