Elon Musk said last month that the federal government was involved in the “completely crazy” activity, claiming no evidence that it had distributed $ 100 billion to people without social security numbers.
Two days after Mr Musk’s comments, one of his main lieutenants, Steve Davis, began to push the Social Security Service for information. Mr Davis called on the organization’s leaders to insist that they are giving a young engineer from the so -called Department of Government Efficiency Musk in databases containing sensitive information about Americans.
Mr Davis’s demand was “unprecedented”, said Tiffany Flick, a former social security official, in a chartered statement this month for a lawsuit filed by federal employees trying to prevent access to the data. He added that he could feel that Mr Davis is growing impatient in the hours before the Doge engineer was finally allowed to investigate “the general myth of the alleged wide social security fraud”.
The development of staff in federal services is just one task that Mr Davis has recently carried out for Mr Musk, as the richest man in the world continues an effort to reshape the US government. In each shift, Mr Davis has supported his boss, laying the foundations for costing costs during the presidential transition, reducing diversity initiatives, legislators’ treatment and assistance to the “Guin” mail on the road that prompted them.
These actions show how Mr Davis, 45, became the daily leader of Doge effectively. He has more power than Amy Gleason, Trump’s Doge administrator, two people close to trying, adding that Mrs Gleason was sometimes in the dark for Mr Davis’ decisions.
The way Mr Davis reached this position is almost secret. For more than 20 years, the engineer has devoted himself to fulfill Mr Musk’s wishes, following the billionaire to his various companies, including SpaceX missiles and social media platforms. officials.
For Mr Musk, Mr Davis represents the ideal employee – an engineer who will throw himself into any project, even if he has no know -how in the area, two former colleagues said. Mr Musk particularly praised Mr Davis’s ability to understand the waste when likening his lieutenant to a treatment that kills cancer.
“Steve is like chemotherapy,” Mr Musk said in a transition before President Trump took over. “A little chemotherapy can save your life. Many chemotherapy could kill you.”
Mr Musk and Mr Davis are deeply committed over cost cuts. At SpaceX, Mr Davis devised ways to build the rockets cheaper. He also oversees the redundancies on Twitter, which was renamed X. to Doge, coordinates engineers and lawyers to find $ 2 trillion that Mr Musk has promised to eliminate the federal budget.
Mr Davis is so loyal to Mr Musk that he and his associate, Nicole Hollander, 42, who joined the administration of the General Services to reduce federal real estate expenses, have created a basis for businesses on the sixth floor of the Organization in Washington. It is stored by a full security detail, three employees of the service said.
Adam Green, a progressive organizer who worked with Mr Davis about a decade ago when they lived in Washington, said Mr Davis was once a “fun outside the thinker” who had become a “blind servant” to Mr Musk.
Mr Davis, Mr Musk, Ms. Hollander and the White House did not respond to requests for comments.
Mr Davis began working for Mr Musk in 2003, when the technology businessman removed him from a postgraduate program of Stanford Aeronautics. Mr Davis became the 14th employee at SpaceX. He quickly attracted Mr Musk, finding less expensive ways to develop missile components, including creating a bus address device for one inches of price.
His austerity led to mistakes. In 2007, Mr Davis removed components from SpaceX’s Falcon 1 rocket that prevented the fuel from climbing the vehicle, three former colleagues said. This caused the fuel to balance the rocket during a test flight and closed the middle of the air before reaching the orbit.
By 2008, Mr Davis had moved to Washington and later named SpaceX’s advanced director. It had a wide range of responsibilities in the company, including finding land around Boca Chica, Texas, for what would become a Starbase, the SpaceX missile launch installation.
For his part, Mr. Davis followed a doctorate and opened Mr Yogato, a frozen yogurt shop that offered discounts to customers who answered Trivia questions. He joined the Board of Directors of Atlas, a non -profit organization dedicated to the teachings of the libertarian author Ayn Rand.
In 2018, Mr Musk appointed Mr Davis to drive the boring company, a starting start to build tunnels under large metropolitan areas to facilitate congestion.
“In general there is almost zero r&D in tunnels in America,” Mr Davis said in a presentation for that year. “So the effort new things is really useful to us.”
The boring company opened a tunnel in Las Vegas in 2021, but has run on regulatory barricades elsewhere. He was frustrated by Mr Musk, who excluded Mr Davis and threatened to shoot him, said three people who worked with Mr Davis. The stress weighed Mr. Davis, and sometimes he pulled his hair, five people near him.
After Mr Musk bought twitter in 2022, Mr Davis helped reduce the company’s expenses, telling people that he hoped to eliminate more than $ 500 million. He was so dedicated that he stayed with Ms Hollander and their newborn baby at Twitter’s San Francisco office in a few nights.
Mr Davis also oversees the installation of a personal bathroom for Mr Musk there, telling an employee not to disturb the acquisition of a construction permit.
“We do not need to follow the rules,” Mr Davis said, according to a 2023 lawsuit by former Twitter workers who accused the company and Mr Musk of violating the terms of their employment agreements.
Some workers complained about Mr Davis’ cost cut to Linda Yaccarino, who became X CEO in 2023 and asked her to strengthen him, reported two people with knowledge of the discussions. Leave the X soon after.
When Mr Musk fell for Mr Trump in Pennsylvania during last year’s pre -election campaign, Mr Davis was transferred to hotels in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh to oversee a super PAC supported by Mr Musk. Mr Davis helped capture a $ 47-a-head report that Mr Musk promoted to prove Trump’s voters and reported the cost of Twitter as a way to make things cheap in the Super Pac.
After Mr Trump won the election, Mr Davis joined a “landing group” transition and interview for candidates for Mr Musk’s effectiveness committee. He also met with organizations that employed engineers to evaluate the technical talent that Doge could hit, three government officials said. Mr Musk included Mr Davis in hiring stadiums in possible government hires, according to an internal email seen by the New York Times.
Following Mr Trump’s inauguration, Mr Davis pushed the administration officials to let him send e -mail to all government officials, two people with knowledge of his efforts. This led to a January e -mail burst known as a “fork on the road”, which included a government resignation offer.
When leaks on the resignation was released in the media, Mr Davis rejected officials that they were not saying their staff and accused them of annoying Mr Musk, two people said.
Mr Davis is pushing Mr Musk’s priorities daily with Mr Trump’s advisers, two people with knowledge of talks reported. He has notified administration officials of the diversity, justice and integration programs aimed at cuts and people to move away from government councils.
Mr Davis, who may be blunt and indefinable, especially in late night texts, has also clashed with some of Mr Trump’s personalities. He and his colleagues upset some White House consultants in the way Doge tried to place some of their recruits in the Pentagon, three people said.
Throughout, Mr Davis has avoided carefully. Mr Musk and the White House did not mention him. In Washington, Mr Davis has for the most part to have taken his image until this month, when he spoke to Caucus Doge, a team of delegates working with the Cost Cutting Working Group.
“Wrapped a big meeting with @elonmusk and Steve Davis for their @doge goals,” Aaron Bean, a Republican of Florida, published in X. The message included a photo of Mr Davis holding a microphone and smiling next to Musk.
The report was contributed by State; Eric Smitt; Jonathan swan and Maggie Haberman. Susan C. Beachy He contributed research.
