President Trump declared on Friday that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project would examine the Pentagon’s enormous budget after substantial reductions in other federal sectors, including the US Agency for International Development (USAID). He also criticized opponents of the initiative, accusing them of not having the country’s best interests at heart.
“Pentagon, Education, just about everything. We’re going to go through everything,” Trump said during a joint press briefing with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who was visiting the White House.
“Things were so bad, with what we just went through — with this terrible situation we just went through, and I believe 97% of the people have been dismissed,” Trump said, referring to the significant staff cuts at USAID, which were scheduled to occur at 11:59 p.m. Friday.
“It was very, very unfortunate. You’re not going to find anything like that, but you’re going to find a lot. And I’ve instructed him to go check out Education, to check out the Pentagon, which is the military. And you know, sadly, you’ll find some things that are pretty bad,” the president continued.
The Pentagon holds the highest amount of discretionary spending in the federal government and has a notorious record of overpayments, such as the $10,000 spent on toilet seat covers for Air Force cargo planes, which was halted in 2018 after it became widely known.
Trump commented, regarding the extensive cuts at USAID: “I don’t think proportionally you’re going to see anything like we just saw.”
Under Musk’s DOGE initiative, a group of young staffers has been scrutinizing spending across various agencies. Musk, who owns X, has been highlighting cases of alleged waste on the platform.
Earlier on Friday, Trump spoke from the Oval Office, describing USAID’s expenditures as largely “corrupt or ridiculous,” adding that “the whole thing is a fraud.”
“Elon is doing a great job. He’s finding tremendous fraud and corruption and waste,” the president said, offering additional details about how Musk’s cost-cutting initiative operates.
“I’ll tell him to go here or there and he does it,” Trump explained. “He’s got a very capable group of people. They’ll ask questions and they’ll see immediately, if somebody gets tongue-tied, that they’re either crooked or don’t know what they’re doing.”
The president reiterated: “I will pick out a target and I’ll say, ‘Go in.’ There could be areas that we don’t, but I think everything’s fertile. You know, we’re a government. We have to be open.”
In response to a reporter’s inquiry, Trump again made his usual claim that “Social Security will not be touched,” but clarified that benefits would be cut off for illegal immigrants found to be receiving them.
Democratic lawmakers have vocally opposed Musk’s initiative, with some protesting outside the Education Department on Friday afternoon after rumors circulated that it was the next agency to face cuts.
When asked about the protest, Trump lashed out, saying: “I see Maxine Waters, a low-life, I see all these people, they don’t love our country.”
{Matzav.com}