President Trump Vows to Send Elon Musk's DOGE to Probe Department of Education and Military: ‘We Will Find Hundred of Billions of Dollars of Fraud'
In the 20 days since Donald Trump took office, he has unleashed a whirlwind of activity designed to cut government spending and the slash the federal workforce. According to his pre-Super Bowl interview on Fox News, the campaign won't stop anytime soon.
While speaking to Fox News anchor Bret Baier Sunday ahead of Super Bowl LIX, Trump said he will plans to send Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency into the U.S. Military and the Department of Education, possibly within the next '24 hours.'
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When asked if he trusted Musk and his efforts to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, Trump responded, 'Trust Elon? He is not gaming anything. I wonder how he can devote the time to [DOGE]. He is so into it. I'll tell him very soon, maybe in 24 hours, to go check the Department of Education. He is going to find the same thing [as USAID]. Then I will go to the military. Let's check the military. We will find hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud and abuse.'
Trump doubled down on his previous promises to abolish the Department of Education days after news broke that he is preparing an executive order that would eliminate the federal department established by Congress in 1979, according to multiple news sources. Defense spending is a newer target for Trump, with the 47th president first announcing at a Friday press conference that Musk's DOGE will soon be looking to cut down at 'the Pentagon, which is the military,' per the New York Times.
Although Trump has made many promises about the far-reaching power of DOGE, not all attempts at increasing its influence have been successful. U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer on Saturday blocked DOGE from accessing the Treasury Department's payment system, citing the potential for 'irreparable harm,' per CNN.
'I disagree 100%. I think it's crazy. And we have to solve the efficiency problem,' Trump told Baier of the Treasury ruling. 'We have to solve the fraud, waste, abuse, all the things that have gone in government.'
Baier pressed Trump on whether 'significant things' had been found through DOGE's investigations of organizations like USAID. Trump responded, 'We're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars of money that's going to places shouldn't be going. If I read a list, you would say this is ridiculous. You've read the same lists. There are many you haven't even seen. It's crazy. It's a big scam.'
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