President Donald Trump in his first Cabinet meeting said the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has likely found fraud that “we’re not gonna be able to prove is fraud.”
“DOGE is very important, and Elon [Musk] is here to give you a summary of what’s happening, some of the things they found — some of the horrible things they found — some of the theft and fraud, and we call it waste and abuse, but a lot of fraud, and probably some fraud that we’re not going to be able to prove is fraud but when you hear the names and the places where this money is going, it’s a disgrace,” Trump said at the meeting, with Musk, who is not a Cabinet member, attended.
DOGE, the initiative Musk has spearheaded with a stated aim to slash government spending, has attempted to drastically reduce the size of the federal government and as Trump tries to put more of the federal bureaucracy’s functions directly under his command. Musk has worked with the Trump administration to gut several federal agencies, alleging these agencies and civil servants have wasted American taxpayers’ money. But they have provided few details to support their claims and often point to policy disputes, such as money allocated for diversity programs. And news outlets reported this week that the administration’s own data show nearly 40 percent of the of the federal contracts that the administration claims to have canceled thanks to DOGE are not expected to save the government any money.
