Trump backs Musk and tasks him with investigating ‘hundreds of billions’ in military ‘fraud’
The US president says Elon Musk has been a “great help” and says he’s about to
unleash DOGE on the education department and the military.
Sunday 9 February 2025 15:38, UK
Donald Trump has said he trusts Elon Musk and is going to ask him to investigate
billions of dollars of “fraud and abuse” within the US military.
The X owner is spearheading the US president’s efforts to cut costs and
bureaucracy in government, which has already seen the US Aid Agency for
International Development targeted
[https://news.sky.com/story/judge-pauses-donald-trumps-plan-to-put-thousands-of-usaid-workers-on-leave-13305051].
Named the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)
[https://news.sky.com/story/musk-says-trump-has-agreed-to-shut-down-40bn-us-foreign-aid-agency-13302165],
its aim is to find ways to sack federal workers, cut programmes and cut federal
regulations.
However, there have been suggestions the Tesla chief’s access to government
systems could pose a threat to national security.
Speaking to Fox News’s chief political anchor Bret Baier, the president gave Mr
Musk his full backing.
“I’ve had great help with Elon Musk [https://news.sky.com/topic/elon-musk-6730].
He’s been terrific,” he said.
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When asked if he trusted him, Mr Trump
[https://news.sky.com/topic/donald-trump-5711] added: “Trust Elon? He’s not
gaining anything.
“In fact, I wonder how he can devote the time to it – he’s so into it.
“But I told him do that and then I’m going to tell him very soon – maybe in the
next 24 hours – to go check the Department for Education. He’s going to find the
same thing.
“Then I’m going to go to the military – let’s check the military. We’re going to
find billions, hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud and abuse.
“You know, the people elected me on that.”
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Mr Trump’s comments come after it was announced US Homeland Security secretary
Kristi Noem will work with Mr Musk to improve the department’s efficiency.
“We’re working with them at the president’s direction to find what we can do to
make our department much more efficient,” she said in an interview on CNN’s
“State of the Union” programme.
“So this is essentially an audit of the federal government, which is very
powerful.”
