WASHINGTON (AP) — Elon Musk pushed debunked theories about Social Security on Monday while describing federal benefit programs as rife with fraud, suggesting they will be a primary target in his crusade to reduce government spending.

The billionaire entrepreneur, who is advising President Donald Trump, suggested that $500 billion to $700 billion in waste needed to be cut.

“Most of the federal spending is entitlements,” Musk told the Fox Business Network. “That’s the big one to eliminate.”

The comments on the popular program and other benefits provided to Americans could rattle politicians on both sides of the aisle as Musk works to downsize the federal government, especially as he already faces blowback for his chainsaw-wielding approach to laying off workers and slashing programs.

Musk’s estimate for the level of fraud in entitlements far outpaces figures from watchdogs like Social Security’s inspector general, who previously said there was $71.8 billion in improper payments from fiscal years 2015 through 2022. That’s less than 1% of benefits paid out during that time period.

Musk also said there were “20 million people who are definitely dead marked as alive in the Social Security database.” However, the leader of the agency has rejected claims about widespread payments to dead people.

“These individuals are not necessarily receiving benefits,” said Lee Dudek, Social Security’s acting commissioner.

The interview with Fox Business was a reminder of Musk’s deep skepticism and even hostility toward the program, which provides monthly benefits to retirees and some children. Trump has promised to defend Social Security from cuts, but Musk has described it as “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time,” and the administration is shutting down some of the agency’s offices.

Musk said Monday that federal entitlements are “a mechanism by which the Democrats attract and retain illegal immigrants by essentially paying them to come here and then turning them into voters.” The allegation echoed the “great replacement” theory, which claims that politicians are trying to expand their power by reshaping the country’s racial demographics.

The interview was conducted in the White House complex by Larry Kudlow, who served as an economic adviser to Trump during his first term. During the conversation, Musk seemed to acknowledge the unusual nature of his role in the administration.

“Frankly, I can’t believe I’m here doing this,” Musk said. “It’s kind of bizarre.”

Musk is the world’s richest person and still runs his private enterprises as he advises the president on ways to overhaul the federal government.

He also thanked Trump for his confidence, saying, “Without the president’s support, we couldn’t make any progress here.”

Trump has publicly backed Musk and given him extraordinary influence over the federal government. However, the Republican president has indicated a shift in approach, saying that Musk’s team would use a “scalpel” rather than a “hatchet.”

Musk has not often spoken publicly since joining the administration, preferring instead to present a stream of consciousness on X, his social media platform. On Monday, he accused Democrats of attacking Tesla dealerships; bragged about X being “the top source for news on Earth;” and accused Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, a former fighter pilot and astronaut, of being a traitor for visiting Ukraine over the weekend.

Musk’s sitdown with Kudlow was his third interview since joining Trump’s administration, and he hasn’t strayed from his ideological safe space. He previously did a joint interview with the president and Sean Hannity of Fox News, and he sat down with Joe Rogan, a podcaster who endorsed Trump last year.

Republicans have spent decades trying to reduce the size and scope of the federal government, and many have cheered Musk’s work.

“The American people are sick of the swamp. They’re sick of waste, fraud and abuse,” said Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina, who leads the National Republican Congressional Committee. “For the first time ever, we finally have the tools to affect it. So I think the voters are going to reward us.”

But there are signs of backlash and skepticism. Some Republicans have even boasted of blocking budget cuts.

Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole issued a statement saying three federal offices in his state — the National Weather Center in Norman, the Social Security Administration Office in Lawton and the Indian Health Services Office in Oklahoma City — would stay open.

“I am thrilled to announce that common sense has prevailed,” he said. Cole added that “all three of these places provide vital and valuable services to Oklahomans and I am so proud to have advocated for them.”

About half of Americans said it’s “a bad thing” that Trump has given Musk a prominent role in his administration, according to a mid-February CNN/SSRS poll. Only a third saw it as “a good thing.”

Another mid-February survey by The Washington Post and Ipsos found that Americans were divided on whether Musk is mainly cutting wasteful spending or necessary programs, with about a third falling into each camp. Another quarter said they weren’t sure.

Chris Megerian, The Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul waded into the state’s Supreme Court race Monday, renewing an old feud with conservative candidate Brad Schimel over delays in testing sexual assault evidence kits almost a decade ago.

Kaul, a Democrat, ousted Schimel, then a Republican, from the attorney general post in the 2018 elections. Kaul hammered Schimel relentlessly during the campaign for taking more than two years to test about 4,000 kits sitting unanalyzed on police department and hospital shelves.

Kaul brought up the delays again Monday during an afternoon news conference organized by the state Democratic Party. He accused Schimel of not paying close attention to the testing project and prematurely declaring he had completed the work when his administration left hundreds of kits for Kaul’s administration to test.

When asked what the testing delays have to do with being a state Supreme Court justice, Kaul said justices must be straightforward and Schimel isn’t candid about what went on with the kits.

Schimel campaign spokesperson Jacob Fischer didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Schimel defended himself in the days before the 2018 election by saying the state Justice Department needed time to inventory the kits and struggled to find private labs to test them because labs were overwhelmed with untested kits from other states.

Schimel and his opponent, Susan Crawford, are vying for an open seat on the Supreme Court in an April 1 election. The race is officially nonpartisan, but Schimel was a Republican attorney general and has GOP backing while Democrats are rallying behind Crawford.

The race has enormous implications in swing state Wisconsin, with majority control of the state’s highest court on the line as it is expected to face issues that will affect abortion and reproductive rights, the strength of public sector unions, voting rules and congressional district boundaries.

Crawford and her allies are increasingly trying to nationalize the contest against Schimel by focusing on Elon Musk, a top adviser to President Donald Trump. America PAC, a group created by Musk, has spent $3.2 million on digital ads, mailers and canvassing to support Schimel in the Supreme Court race. Another Musk-funded group, Building America’s Future, has spent more than $2 million on TV ads attacking Crawford.

In 2014, the state Justice Department learned of some 6,800 sexual assault evidence kits that had not been tested. They went unanalyzed for various reasons. Prosecutors may have decided cases were too weak to pursue or been forced to drop cases because victims wouldn’t cooperate, according to Schimel’s administration.

The problem wasn’t unique to Wisconsin. A USA Today Network investigation in 2015 found at least 70,000 untested kits nationwide, leading to calls from victim advocacy groups to analyze them all in hopes of getting DNA hits that would identify serial offenders.

Schimel took over as attorney general in 2015. He secured a $4 million federal grant in September of that year to start testing Wisconsin’s kits, but the work didn’t begin until January 2017. He announced in September 2018, two months before the election, that his administration had finished testing 4,150 kits and declared the project finished. He chose not to test the rest because victims in those cases wouldn’t consent to analysis or prosecutors had already won a conviction in those cases, according to Schimel’s administration at the time.

Kaul announced in November 2019 that his administration finished the work after discovering Schimel had left about 300 kits untested.

Todd Richmond, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights is known best for enforcing the right to disability services across America’s schools. But under President Donald Trump, it’s taking a frontline role in his political battles.

Trump appointees have halted thousands of pending cases while they open new investigations aligned with the president’s campaign promises. Career staffers have been sidelined and pressured to quit, and those who remain are being ordered to refocus priorities on antisemitism, transgender issues and anti-DEI complaints.

A memo Friday from the civil rights office’s chief announced antisemitism cases are now the top priority, taking aim at colleges where pro-Palestinian protests brought accusations of anti-Jewish bias. That followed a decision to cut $400 million in federal money going to Columbia University, where on Saturday immigration officials arrested a Palestinian activist who was involved in leading student protests.

Hanging in the balance are the types of cases the office traditionally has focused on — students with disabilities who need services they aren’t getting, or students facing harassment tied to their skin color.

It’s normal for new presidential administrations to pause civil rights cases while they get acclimated, but this transition brought a longer and more rigid freeze than others. Trump officials lifted the freeze for disability cases on Feb. 20, and last week, new Education Secretary Linda McMahon said all cases could resume as normal.

During Trump’s first month in office, the Office for Civil Rights resolved about 50 cases, according to a staffer who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. By comparison, the office resolved more than 3,000 complaints in the same window of Trump’s first term, and almost 500 under former President Joe Biden.

Even the most urgent cases, which are traditionally granted exceptions, sat idle during the freeze. Staff lawyers were told not to respond to outside calls or emails, leaving families in the dark.

Another staff member at the civil rights office described desperate emails from parents whose schools refused to make accommodations for their children’s disabilities. “We were just ignoring their emails,” said the person, who also spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Tylisa Guyton of Taylor, Michigan, filed a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights on Jan. 20 over her 16-year-old son’s repeated suspensions from a suburban Detroit school district, alleging a white administrator was targeting him and a group of other Black children. The teen has been out of school since Dec. 4. Even as investigations resume, she has heard nothing from the civil rights agency.

“He’s still asking every day, ‘When can I go back to school?’” Guyton said of her son.

The memo Friday told staffers antisemitism would be an “investigative and enforcement priority.” It added the memo should not be interpreted as “‘deprioritizing’ any other form of OCR enforcement activity.” But staffers said that’s the most likely outcome as dwindling ranks of employees face heavier caseloads tied to the president’s agenda.

Politics usually play into the office’s priorities to some degree, and Republicans similarly accused Biden officials of going too far when they opened cases into COVID-19 mask bans or in support of transgender students. But several longtime staffers said this is the first time they’ve seen cases tied to political agendas edge out their everyday work.

Trump has called for a total shutdown of the Education Department, calling it a “con job” infiltrated by leftists. At her Senate hearing, McMahon said the civil rights office might be better served if it moves to the Justice Department.

Some cases are moving forward, but others appear to be stalled, Marcie Lipsitt, said a special education advocate in Michigan.

“I’ve said to everyone, ’You’re going to have to fight harder for accountability because there will be no accountability at the U.S. Department of Ed, if there is a U.S. Department of Ed,” she said.

At the same time, Trump’s officials have continued to open their own “directed investigations” — proactive inquiries that depart from the office’s typical work responding to complaints. The office has opened more than a dozen such investigations, many aimed at pressuring universities to stop allowing transgender athletes or to take a harder stance against pro-Palestinian protesters.

It adds up to more work for fewer employees at the office of about 500 workers. Staffers say field offices across the country were hit after dozens of department workers were put on leave in response to Trump’s orders against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Many others took buyouts pushed by the Trump administration, leaving some field offices without administrators in key leadership jobs.

Minor changes to the office’s policies could also carry outsize impact. Complaints to the office can’t move forward unless the filer signs a consent form allowing their name to be disclosed during the investigation. For years, the office sent reminders if the form was not submitted — parents often didn’t know it was required. But an updated case manual from the Trump administration drops the reminders.

Staffers say it means more cases will be dismissed on a technicality.

Some special education advocates have begun filing more cases with state agencies, said Brandi Tanner, an Atlanta-based psychologist and special education advocate. In conversations at a recent conference in California, disability advocates expressed uncertainty and anxiety, Tanner said.

“’It’s kind of like, we’re very scared about what else is going to continue to come down the pike,” she said. “Are students going to lose their rights?”

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Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas.

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The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Collin Binkley And Heather Hollingsworth, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Crews have begun work to remove the large yellow “Black Lives Matter” painted on the street one block from the White House.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced the change last week in response to pressure from activists Republicans in Congress. The work is expected to take about six weeks and the words will be replaced by an unspecified set of city-sponsored murals.

The painting of those words was an act of government-sponsored defiance during President Donald Trump’s first term. The removal amounts to a public acknowledgement of just how vulnerable the District of Columbia is now that Trump is back in the White House and Republicans control both houses of Congress.

Bowser, a Democrat, ordered the painting and renamed the intersection Black Lives Matter Plaza in June 2020. It came after days of chaotic protests at that location over police brutality following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. Bowser had clashed with Trump over her handling of the protests.

But now Bowser has little power to fend off encroachments on D.C.’s limited autonomy. Bowser said last week on X that, “The mural inspired millions of people and helped our city through a painful period, but now we can’t afford to be distracted by meaningless congressional interference. The devastating impacts of the federal job cuts must be our number one concern.”

As construction equipment began tearing up the pavement some gathered to witness the moment.

“I needed to be here today. I can’t just let this go away,” said Starlette Thomas, a 45-year old Bowie, Maryland resident who attended the 2020 Floyd protests. At the plaza, Thomas discretely secured a chunk of pavement and said holding it made her both happy and sad.

“For me to walk away with a piece of that means that it’s not gone,” she said. “It’s more than brick and mortar.”

Also on the scene was Megan Bailiff, CEO of Equus Striping, the pavement marking company that originally painted the letters.

Bailiff called the dismantling of Black Lives Matter Plaza, “historically obscene” and said its presence was, “more significant at this very moment than it ever has been in this country.”

The far right celebrated the shift online, with conservative provocateur Charlie Kirk visiting the site to hail, “the end of this mass race hysteria in our country.”

In Trump’s second term, Bowser has worked to avoid conflict and downplay any points of contention. She traveled to Mar-a-Lago in Florida to meet with Trump after the election and has publicly emphasized their points of agreement.

Trump recently revived a frequent campaign talking point about wanting a federal “takeover” of the nation’s capital, describing Washington as being riddled with crime, graffiti and homeless encampments. Bowser has refused to comment on reports that the White House is preparing an executive order targeting Washington. She publicly said that the greatest threat to the so-called Home Rule autonomy was “some of the people in Congress.”

Congressional Republicans have repeatedly threatened to interfere in city affairs in large and small ways. A measure currently before Congress, named the BOWSER Act, seeks to completely revoke the Home Rule Act of 1973, which grants the capital city limited autonomy.

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Associated Press journalists Nathan Ellgren and Jacquelyn Martin contributed reporting.

Ashraf Khalil, The Associated Press